Comment: Thatcher, Blair and a history of class in British politics Published on: 15 October 2024 Martin Farr takes part in this podcast for The Conversation, discussing why Tony Blair鈥檚 decision to move Labour away from the working class was such a watershed moment. When Tony Blair came to power in 1997 as the first Labour prime minister in a generation, his government became associated with the phrase 鈥渨e鈥檙e all middle class now鈥�. In the second part of Know Your Place: what happened to class in British politics, a podcast series from , we look back at a century of class in British politics to understand why Blair鈥檚 decision to move Labour away from the working class was such a watershed moment. The British Labour party was created in 1900 by trade unionists who wanted to give a voice to working class people. At the time, the class structure was rigid and only property-owning men over the age of 21 could vote. But the rupture of the first world war ushered in universal adult suffrage, and with it, says Mark Garnett, senior lecturer in politics at Lancaster University, a feeling among opponents of the Labour party that it would eventually become the main electoral force. He says: When we get to the middle part of the 20th century, being a supporter of the Labour party was something that one inherited almost 鈥� it would certainly be very peculiar if you were a very conscious member of the working class who didn鈥檛 also see yourself as a Labour party supporter. After the second world war and the election of Clement Attlee as Labour prime minister, class still looked firmly cemented into British political allegiances, as Martin Farr, senior lecturer in contemporary British history at 缅北禁地 explains. The most dramatic illustration of class I can give you is in the 1951 general election: 98% of voters voted Conservative or Labour. No other parties mattered. Thatcher鈥檚 greatest achievement For Farr, the political and economic turmoil of the 1970s, ending in the winter of discontent under the Labour government of James Callaghan, marked the beginning of the end of this political arrangement, paving the way for the election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative prime minister. Margaret Thatcher said that her greatest achievement was Tony Blair. The Thatcher years created a different sort of Labour Party 鈥� which necessarily wasn鈥檛 the party of trade unions to the same extent because there were weaker trade unions and fewer trade unionists. After 17 years of Conservative rule, Blair鈥檚 election in 1997 brought Labour back into power. But its attitude toward its working class base had changed. Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, says Blair鈥檚 advisers realised that the working class in Britain was shrinking and that, unlike the past, Labour couldn鈥檛 put together a winning electoral coalition based purely on working-class voters. But he also says they wanted to build a cross-class coalition. They spent more time rhetorically appealing to the middle-class votes and thought the working-class vote will look after itself as long as they got the economy and public services right. And perhaps they should have done more 鈥� to appeal to both sides of that electoral coalition, that cross-class coalition that they hoped to build.鈥� For more analysis, listen to the full episode of on The Conversation Documentaries, which also includes interviews with the former Labour MPs Reg Race and David Hanson, who is now a member of the House of Lords and minister of state for the Home Office. A transcript is available on Apple Podcasts. Know Your Place: what happened to class in British politics is produced and mixed by Anouk Millet for The Conversation. It鈥檚 supported by the National Centre for Social Research. Newsclips in the episode from , , , , and . Listen to The Conversation Documentaries via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our or find out . , Host, Know Your Place podcast, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . Share: Latest News 缅北禁地 expert highlights climate crisis in a new film A leading 缅北禁地 climate scientist is featured in a new film about how the climate and nature breakdown will affect the UK. published on: 14 April 2026 Neolithic tombs reveal ancient kinship ties Male individuals buried in Neolithic chambered tombs in northern Scotland were often related to each other through the paternal line and some were interred in the same or nearby tombs, research shows. published on: 14 April 2026 We are our Memories New exhibition by Fine Art graduate Trish Hudson-Moses, 22 April 鈥� 4 May 2026 published on: 10 April 2026 Facts and figures
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