ABSTRACT
Approaches to political history have traditionally been divided. On the one hand, histories of the structures of state and government have relied on high theory and ‘long’ histories with empirical facts sometimes sparse and thin on the ground. On the other hand, when evidence-driven history has been brought to bear over a long period and across vast spaces, the results have been both impressive and useful to the historian. High politics and the history of elites has been the preserve of historians who have placed emphasis on the importance of decision making in the political process. The chapter examines the evolution of the British Labour Party from both perspectives: the high politics of its leaders, plus the role of electoral sociology that determined its development as a political movement. The varying methods and the divergent aims of protest movements emerged as critical in this rather pared-down and simplified narrative of liberal change.
