Introduction

During his speech to the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in September 2003 Tony Blair (2003) spoke of the “privilege” of being “the first Labour leader in 100 years” to have held office for six-and-a-half consecutive years. Historic achievements of this kind inevitably lead to comparisons being made between the previous and present record holders. To this end, this chapter will attempt to compare the achievements of the Attlee governments during their six years in office between 1945 and 1951 with those of Blair’s New Labour administrations during their first six-and-a-half years in power. Although the focus will be on social policy, attention will also be given to the related sphere of economic policy and the broader ‘vision’ of each administration.

In comparing the two governments it is useful, as Powell (2002) reminds us, to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic assessments:

Conflicting accounts of the success or failure of a particular government can arise in part because of different ‘scoring’ mechanisms of this kind.

In the first section of this chapter, attention will be given to the record of the Attlee government. This will be followed by a review of the first six-and-a-half years of New Labour rule and, finally, by a discussion of the ‘progressive’ aspirations and achievements of each of these administrations.

The Attlee government 1945-51

Background

When Clement Attlee was asked to form a government by George VI in May 1945, he might well have allowed himself a wry smile as he reflected on the train of events that had transformed the position of the Labour Party since 1939. Although Labour had gained 38% of the popular vote (securing 154 out of a possible 617 seats) in the 1935 general election, there seemed little prospect of the party achieving an electoral breakthrough in the foreseeable future.