The myth of consensus

de Harriet Jones

This groundbreaking collection of essays challenges the notion that early postwar Britain was characterised by a consensus between the major political parties arising out of the experiences of the wartime Coalition government. It brings together for the first time the views of the revisionist historians who have been working on newly released archival material over the past decade. What emerges is a new interpretation of early postwar Britain in which fundamental differences of approach characterised Labour and Conservative policies throughout the 1940s and 1950s on issues as varied as the economy, the welfare state, industrial relations and decolonisation. The Myth of Consensus dispels the idea of a golden age of postwar harmony and poses a challenge to orthodox interpretations of the period. It marks the beginning of a new generation of scholarly analysis and debate, and is essential reading for any student of contemporary British history.