Men Who Made Labour

Book excerpt: Celebrating the centenary of the Parliamentary Labour Party, this fascinating book commemorates the twenty-nine founding Labour MPs elected in 1906, including Labour’s first Prime Minister, first Chancellor of the Exchequer, first Minister of Labour, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. With a foreword by Tony Blair, Men Who Made Labour focuses on the pioneers’ origins, expectations, world vision and achievements in the context of early twentieth-century conditions, when the prospect of any Labour government was still a distant dream. Drawing upon a vast array of previously unpublished material, and with obituaries primarily written by the twenty-first century successors to those original MPs, the text provides a unique insight into how today’s politicians view their party’s past – ensuring that it is an excellent resource for all politics and modern history students, as well as general readers with an interest in the area.