ABSTRACT
Labour relied upon a number of myths: believing the old system to have been 'passive' demonstrated a self-imposed amnesia regarding full employment and Beveridgean social insurance. Joyce and Sibieta provide a comprehensive analysis of Labour's record on addressing inequality and poverty. Gordon Brown was as much a victim of New Labour as he was its architect. The zenith of Labour's environmentalist aspirations came with the 2008 Climate Change Act. Additionally, Blair, Brown and Mandelson had created a Third Way project which, by only needing to surf the good times of global capitalism, became complacent. Frequently pegged as an Atlanticist, Brown was arguably as influenced by European thought to prefer a social model of capitalism. With its electoral support and intellectual energies flagging, Labour would have struggled to construct a new political apparatus around environmental and welfare reform. The 2007 Welfare Reform Act, a subsequent White Paper and a 2008 Green Paper tightened up on welfare entitlements and conditionality.
