Harold Wilson
The Winner
Seiten
2023
Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Verlag)
978-1-4746-1196-1 (ISBN)
Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Verlag)
978-1-4746-1196-1 (ISBN)
A Times Book of the Year: a revelatory new biography by Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds positions Wilson as Labour's most significant leader
Harold Wilson is the only post-war leader of any party to serve as Britain's Prime Minister on two separate occasions. In total he won four General Elections, spending nearly eight years in Downing Street. Half a century later, he is still unbeaten, Labour's greatest ever election winner. How did he do it - and at what cost?
Critics then and now have painted him as an opportunistic political calculator, even as a Soviet secret agent. In this powerful new portrait, drawing on previously unavailable sources and first-hand parliamentary insight, acclaimed biographer Nick Thomas-Symonds reveals a more complex figure. Wilson was a new kind of politician but, in his own way, this media-savvy harbinger of modernity was also a deeply traditional man, whose actions often suggest nothing less than a spiritual mission.
In an intriguing paradox, Wilson, influenced by the distinctively democratic faith of his Yorkshire boyhood, united a fractured Labour Party, ushering in the cultural and social changes of the 'swinging sixties'. His was the government to decriminalise homosexuality, legalise abortion and abolish capital punishment. With a brilliant mind, sure-footed political moves and a feel for public opinion, he was a survivor who over and over again emerged from desperate crises - even, perhaps, conspiracies - to lead his party to victory. It is time at last to learn his secrets.
Harold Wilson is the only post-war leader of any party to serve as Britain's Prime Minister on two separate occasions. In total he won four General Elections, spending nearly eight years in Downing Street. Half a century later, he is still unbeaten, Labour's greatest ever election winner. How did he do it - and at what cost?
Critics then and now have painted him as an opportunistic political calculator, even as a Soviet secret agent. In this powerful new portrait, drawing on previously unavailable sources and first-hand parliamentary insight, acclaimed biographer Nick Thomas-Symonds reveals a more complex figure. Wilson was a new kind of politician but, in his own way, this media-savvy harbinger of modernity was also a deeply traditional man, whose actions often suggest nothing less than a spiritual mission.
In an intriguing paradox, Wilson, influenced by the distinctively democratic faith of his Yorkshire boyhood, united a fractured Labour Party, ushering in the cultural and social changes of the 'swinging sixties'. His was the government to decriminalise homosexuality, legalise abortion and abolish capital punishment. With a brilliant mind, sure-footed political moves and a feel for public opinion, he was a survivor who over and over again emerged from desperate crises - even, perhaps, conspiracies - to lead his party to victory. It is time at last to learn his secrets.
Nick Thomas-Symonds is the current Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade. Previously a barrister and academic, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2012 and has been the Member of Parliament for Torfaen since 2015. He is the author of two acclaimed political biographies: Attlee: A Life in Politics and Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan.
Erscheinungsdatum | 09.09.2023 |
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Verlagsort | London |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 126 x 196 mm |
Gewicht | 400 g |
Themenwelt | Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte |
Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik | |
Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte | |
Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung | |
ISBN-10 | 1-4746-1196-6 / 1474611966 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-4746-1196-1 / 9781474611961 |
Zustand | Neuware |
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