The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party Book

Your reaction to the words "focus group" will determine your attitude to this book. If you think they are useful tool for gauging shifts in public opinion, read on and enjoy their ultimate application. If you think they are a Machiavellian tool to provide bogus popular support for a specific agenda, read on and weep. Philip Gould, Labour's most prominent pollster of the last 10 years, is the master of the focus group and one of the key architects of the transformation of the Labour Party. When Tony Blair announced on the steps of 10 Downing Street that "we fought as New Labour and we will govern as New Labour", it was a vindication of Gould's efforts behind the scenes. His account of the wilderness years under Foot and Kinnock are as convincingly depressing as is the vibrant exhilaration of launching the new project under Blair. 1997 was a victory for Gould's brand of, and approach to, politics. But he knows that the battle is far from over. In a call to arms for the next century--"the progressive century"--Gould claims: "It is time to heal the rift between the Liberal and Labourist traditions in British politics". Expect a new rash of focus groups to agree with him.Read More