ABSTRACT
Over the last two decades under the leadership of Neil Kinnock (1983-92), John Smith (1992-4), and Tony Blair (1994-2007), the Labour Party went through the most pronounced reform process of all western European social democratic parties. A workers’ party in tatters1 was transformed into a modern catch-all party with a charismatic leader that took power in a landslide electoral victory in 1997 to begin the longest social democratic incumbency the United Kingdom has ever experienced. The transformation of the Labour Party stems from changes the country experienced under 18 years of Conservative rule, particularly the Thatcher era. After failed attempts to implement Keynesian-inspired economic policies in the 1970s, the UK changed course and began a neoliberal program of monetarism, privatization, labor market deregulation, and radical anti-union policies under the New Right administration of Margaret Thatcher, which was to shape the 1980s (Rhodes 2000). Despite the grim side of these policies, such as rising income inequality and the desolate condition of state schools, hospitals, and railways, Labour was unable to unseat Thatcher and her successor, John Major, for 18 years.
