This book explores the use of the past in modern British politics. It examines party political perspectives on British history and the historical process, and also looks at the ways in which memory is instituted within the parties in practice, through archives, written histories and commemorations. Krista Cowman finds it to be of much interest. History, Heritage and Tradition in Contemporary British Politics: Past Politics and Present Histories. Emily Robinson. Manchester University Press. June 2012

Cowman, Krista

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LSE Research Online

blogs.lse.ac.ukhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/08/31/book-review-history-heritage-and-tradition-in-contemporary-british-politics-emily-robinson/History, heritage and tradition in contemporaryBritish politics  Aug  31  2012 This book explores the use of the past in modern British politics. It examines partypolitical perspectives on British history and the historical process, and also looks atthe ways in which memory is instituted within the parties in practice, through archives,written histories and commemorations. Krista Cowman finds it to be of much interest.History, Heritage and Tradit ion in Contemporary Brit ish Polit ics: Past  Polit icsand Present Histories. Emily Robinson. Manchester UniversityPress. June 2012.   You might think that polit icians engage with history at  their peril.From the furore surrounding Nicolas Sarkozy’s at tempts toappropriate the memory of  young Communist  resistance martyrGuy Môquet for his centre-right  agenda in 2007 to MargaretThatcher’s praise of  ‘Victorian values’, historical f igures and trendscan sit  uncomfortably on the lips of  contemporary leaders,especially when it  appears that the intent ion is to draw ref lectedglory by aligning the speaker with someone who is hardly in theposit ion to argue back, or when the era evoked turns out to havebeen somewhat less than perfect .Yet despite this, polit ics and history remain deeply entwined. Indeed, as Emily Robinson’s newbook demonstrates, their interconnect ion goes way beyond a penchant for placing references tohistorical f igures into keynote speeches. Elected polit icians and polit ical act ivists have turned topolit ics, most obviously in order to legit imise contemporary act ions by claiming analogies ordrawing precedents, but for a range of  more complex reasons.  Robinson begins by explaininghow, in the case of  Brit ish part ies between 1979 and 2010, an interest  in history in a broad sensewas never the sole preserve of  lef t  or right . Polit ical t radit ions linking to a broader historicalprocess that seem to lend themselves to one or other side of  the lef t /right  divide are not so easyto divide. Categories such as ‘conservat ive’ and ‘progressive’, with their implicat ions of  looking tothe past or the future, no longer divide neat ly along party lines.Robinson dates this temporal reposit ioning to the f irst  Thatcher government, which merged“aggressive modernity and….nostalgia” (p . 42) in an at tempt to mould modernity to its ownagenda. Robinson argues that such shif ts in thinking about the past were not unique to theConservat ive Party; policy debates in the Labour Party f requent ly retreated into the language of‘t radit ionalists’ versus ‘modernisers’. The results of  this could be unpredictable, as her case studiesshow. Very public contests over who could legit imately lay claim to the legacy of  groups such asthe Levellers, t radit ionally linked to the lef t , saw contributors arguing dif ferent interpretat ions oneach side, with Conservat ive MEP Daniel Hannan laying claim to a Roundhead tradit ion of  dissentfor his party in the face of  more predictable defenders such as Billy Bragg.One of  the book’s strengths is in the detail it  provides about the various methodologies throughwhich polit ical part ies create their own histories. Looking at  the three main part ies, Liberal, Labourand Conservat ive, it  reveals a number of  similarit ies. Each party has its own archive, albeit  onewhich replicates certain party stereotypes. The Labour Party archive, for example, is at tached tothe People’s History Museum, whilst  Conservat ive Party papers are to be found in the BodleianLibrary, a site chosen in part  as bef it t ing their importance as “a collect ion of  nat ional interest” ( p.50). Interest ingly, given the Labour Party’s own tradit ion as a party concerned with its own history(it  began to chronicle its own key events and personalit ies very early on through projects such asHerbert  Tracy’s edited Book of the Labour Party in 1925), Robinson claims that is now less linked toits own archive than the Conservat ive Party, which is managed by a Trust  whose Secretary is “asenior member of  party staf f ” (p. 50). Other means of  collect ing and preserving party history arealso described. These range from off icial party history groups such as the Liberal Democrat HistoryGroup to the grass-roots ef forts of  party act ivists, of ten concentrated around commemorat ing asignif icant anniversaries like the centenary of  Battersea Labour Party in 2008. Robinsondemonstrates how performat ive memory too plays a role here, with examples ranging fromLevellers’ Day to the singing of  certain songs at  party conferences or gatherings.Having described the varying sources available, Robinson then goes on to of fer some detailedinvest igat ions into the ways in which historical narrat ives funct ion in a number of  individual part ies.Her main concern is their use as “signif iers of  party polit ical ident ity” as well as “rhetorical tools” (p.88). She shows how part ies have turned to history for many dif ferent reasons. The Conservat iveParty “turned in on itself ” following its resounding electoral defeat of  1997 and sought both“consolat ion and inspirat ion” in the past (p. 90, 91). The Social Democrat ic Party and New Labour,by contrast , looked to a common Labour Party past as a means of  portraying themselves aslegit imate heirs to a ‘t rue’ polit ical history whilst  they each simultaneously presented themselvesas new mould-breakers on the polit ical scene. No party achieved full consensus around itsapproach to history, however, with dissent over interpretat ions of  past events being every bit  ascontent ious as those that sought to shape present policy. The Labour Party’s at tempts to reviseClause IV in the 1990s showed the strength of  the weight that  history could bring to bear onpresent-day act ivists. Robinson situates her discussion of  this debate in the context  of  an earlierattempt at  revision in 1959/60, showing similarit ies (with ‘modernisers’ pit t ing themselves against‘t radit ionalists’) as well as contextual dif ferences as, in the wake of  the Conservat ive Party’s drivetowards private ownership, discussion of  how far the Labour Party should commit  itself  tonat ionalisat ion took on a dif ferent meaning.Robinson of fers an interest ing discussion of  the Communist  Party of  Great Britain, anorganisat ion rarely af forded equal space in comparat ive analyses of  Labour, Conservat ive andLiberal Part ies. However, whilst  there is fascinat ing detail here, the Party’s very dif ferentcircumstances in the period covered by the book put this sect ion somewhat at  odds with much ofthe remaining text . Debates over the shape and interpretat ion of  the Party’s own history (which areading of  certain academic history journals of  the 1990s would suggest to be even morecontent ious than Robinson suggests here) have parallels in the other party studies, but the CPGBwas not coming to terms with taking or losing power in government, which lessens thecomparat ive value of  this discussion. There is also something of  lacunae here in analysis of  theLiberal Party for much of  the 1980s, although its entry into the coalit ion of fers the start ing pointfor Robinson’s introduct ion.  Nevertheless, the book says much of  interest  regarding thecont inued ef forts of  polit icians and part ies to shape and invoke the past, and the many reasonswhy they do this. As the author concludes, “it  is clear that  the past – or at  least  ideas about thepast – matter”.——————————————————————–Krista Cowman is Professor of  History in the School of  Humanit ies, University of  Lincoln. She haspublished widely on the history of  women in polit ical movements in Britain, and on the history ofwomen’s suf f rage. Her most recent book, ‘Women in Brit ish Polit ics 1689-1979′ was published byPalgrave Macmillan in 2010. Read more reviews by Krista.Related posts:1. The rules of  the game: leadership coups in Brit ish party polit ics (13)2. Clement Att lee: “the enigma of Brit ish 20th-century history” (11.5)3. Book Review: Women in Brit ish Polit ics, c. 1689-1979 by Krista Cowman (9.5)4. Book Review: The Cameron Clegg Government: Coalit ion Polit ics in an Age of  Austerity (9.1)5. Book Review: A History of  the Northern Ireland Labour Party: Democrat ic Socialism andSectarianism by Aaron Edwards (8.2)

Book review: history, heritage and tradition in contemporary British politics

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