Since Attlee and Churchill - The Podcast

Two weeks to go before the launch of @TomChidwick's new book at @QMUL. Sign up now to attend! Tom tells the story of Scotland's first devolution referendum in 1979, which contributed to the early demise of the Callaghan government. The book includes a great cast of characters -- including one of my favourites Tam Dalyell, a wise Labour devosceptic. @LeeDavidEvansUK and I will also be interviewing Tom for @SAAC_Podcast later this month. eventbrite.co.uk/e/now-or-ne…

My book on this week's @SAAC_Podcast was 'Social Europe, the Road not Taken: The Left and European Integration in the Long 1970s' by Aurélie Andry. A fascinating look at how the European Left tried (and failed) to refashion the European Economic Community from an essentially right-wing project, created by Christian Democrats to limit domestic socialist parties' control of the economy, to a left-wing one. Contrary to many accounts which make out that the Commission presidency of Jacques Delors brought about a 'social Europe', Andry shows these supposed victories were mainly a fig leaf for the real victor: the Single Market, championed by right-wing politicians and market liberals. Ironically, the Left became dogmatic in its support for an EU which does not conform to the vision that it had tried to set out.

Really glad to see Labour MPs like @BrianLeishmanMP speaking out against efforts to bring the UK back into the Single Market and European Union. As I discussed on @SAAC_Podcast, the EU was a creation of the Right, which aimed in part to limit socialist governments in Europe. 'Social Europe' has always been a mirage. scotsman.com/news/politics/s…