Add free shipping to your order with these great books
The Wild Men : The Remarkable Story of Britain's First Labour Government - David Torrance

The Wild Men

The Remarkable Story of Britain's First Labour Government

By: David Torrance

Hardcover | 30 April 2024

Sorry, we are not able to source the book you are looking for right now.

We did a search for other books with a similar title, however there were no matches. You can try selecting from a similar category, click on the author's name, or use the search box above to find your book.

'Thoroughly researched… brings superbly to life figures whom history should not have forgotten.' - Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph

'A highly readable, enjoyable and informative book.' - John McTernan, Financial Times

'A meticulously researched collective biography.' - Andrew Marr, New Statesman


In 1923, four short years since the end of the First World War, and after the passing of the Act which gave all men the vote, an inconclusive election result and the prospect of a constitutional crisis opened the door for a radically different sort of government: men from working-class backgrounds who had never before occupied the corridors of power at Westminster. Who were these 'wild men'? Ramsay MacDonald, their leader and Labour's first Prime Minster, was the illegitimate son of a Scottish farm labourer; Arthur Henderson was a Scottish iron moulder; J. H. Thomas, a Welsh railwayman; John Wheatley, an Irish-born miner and publican; and William Adamson, a Fife coal miner. Never before had men from such backgrounds occupied the corridors of power in Westminster.

The Wild Men tells the story of that first Labour administration – its unexpected birth, fraught existence, and controversial downfall – through the eyes of those who found themselves in the House of Commons, running the country for the people. Blending biography and history into a compelling narrative, David Torrance reassesses the UK's first Labour government a century after it shook up a British establishment still reeling from the War – and how the establishment eventually fought back.

This is an extraordinary period in British political history which echoes down the years to our current politics and laid the foundations for the Britain of today.

About the Author

David Torrance is a constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library and a widely published historian of Scottish and UK politics. He has written biographies of SNP politicians Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the authorized biography of David Steel.

More in Political Parties

The Book of Paul : The Wit and Wisdom of Paul Keating
The State and Revolution : Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin - Vladimir Lenin
So Greek : Confessions of a Conservative Leftie - Niki Savva
The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx

RRP $22.99

$21.90

Burma : Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity - Martin Smith

RRP $69.99

$47.35

32%
OFF
Sociology of Deviant Behavior - Marshall Clinard

RRP $217.95

$172.35

21%
OFF
The Conservative Party After Brexit : Turmoil and Transformation - Tim Bale
An Introduction to Middle East Politics - Benjamin MacQueen

FREE SHIPPING

RRP $72.00

$56.50

22%
OFF
Cadre Country : How China became the Chinese Communist Party - John Fitzgerald
The Morrison Government : Governing through crisis, 2019-2022 - Brendan McCaffrie
Erdogan Rising : A Warning to Europe - Hannah Lucinda Smith

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Electoral Malpractice : Comparative Politics - Sarah Birch

RRP $254.00

$130.25

49%
OFF
An Introduction to Middle East Politics - Benjamin MacQueen

FREE SHIPPING

RRP $268.80

$241.95

10%
OFF
Corbynism : A Critical Approach - Matt Bolton

FREE SHIPPING

RRP $39.99

$35.95

10%
OFF
Diaries Volume Two : Power and the People - Alastair Campbell

RRP $48.99

$38.25

22%
OFF