ABSTRACT
The hallmark of radical administrations in twentieth century Britain is installing an enduring social and economic settlement that transforms domestic politics. This chapter starts by considering whether public attitudes had become more social democratic in New Labour's wake. The benchmark for government’s ability to alter the preferences of citizens were the 1945–51 Attlee administrations. Developing these themes, the chapter turns to whether New Labour created a distinctive political settlement in the aftermath of Thatcherism. The Churchill, Eden and Macmillan governments were compelled to accept the Attlee settlement. Electoral constraints, the scale of the 1945 defeat and the popularity of post-war reforms meant Churchill had little room for manoeuvre. The starting point for any substantive progressive settlement is reconstructing the political economy. Equally, for all the well-developed plans and the phase of legislative hyper-activity after 1997, the Tony Blair governments were unable to build an enduring constitutional settlement in Britain.
