Voices of the UK Left (eBook)

Judi Atkins is Lecturer in Politics at Coventry University, UK. She has published widely on the relationship between rhetoric, ideology and policy in Britain, and she is author of Justifying New Labour Policy (2011) and co-editor of Rhetoric in British Politics and Society (2014).   John Gaffney is Professor of Politics at Aston University, UK. His most recent books are France in the Hollande Presidency: The Unhappy Republic (2015) and Leadership and the Labour Party: Narrative and Performance (2016).

Voices of the UK Left 4
Acknowledgements 6
Contents 7
Chapter 1 Rhetoric and the Left: Theoretical Considerations 9
Rhetoric: What Is It? What Does It Do? 10
Left Rhetoric: What Is It? What Does It Do? 18
The Ideational Framework Today 22
Conclusion 24
References 25
Part I The Rhetoric of the British Labour Party 28
Chapter 2 ‘I’m Telling You, and You’ll Listen’: Ethos in the Rhetoric of Neil Kinnock 29
Ethos and Rhetoric 30
Kinnock’s Ethos 31
Early Leadership: Ethos and Authority 33
The Limits of Kinnock’s Ethos 36
Later Leadership: A More Inclusive Ethos 38
Conclusion 41
References 42
Chapter 3 Recapturing Our Traditions? The Rhetorical Shift from New to One Nation Labour (and Beyond) 44
Narrating New Labour 46
New Labour’s Pasts 48
One Nation Labour (Again) 51
Miliband and One Nation 53
The Politics of Memory 56
The Mining of Tradition 58
Conclusion 60
References 61
Chapter 4 The Rise and Fall of the One Nation Narrative 65
Leadership and the Labour Party 66
Leadership, Culture, and Performance 68
Narrating and Performing One Nation 69
Back to the Future 71
The Central Elements of the Narrative 73
The Performance of One Nation: The 2012 Speech 75
The Performance of One Nation: The Q& A
What Happened to One Nation? 77
Conclusion 80
References 80
Chapter 5 One Nation Labour and the Case for Social Security Reform 83
One Nation Social Security 84
The Ideology of the Miliband Labour Party 86
Ideology and the Case for One Nation Social Security 87
Labour’s Moral Arguments for Social Security Reform 90
Narrating One Nation: The Quest for Hegemonic Advantage 92
Conclusion 100
References 101
Chapter 6 Jeremy Corbyn and the Limits of Authentic Rhetoric 104
Ethos 107
Corbyn as Backbench Parliamentarian 107
Corbyn as Outsider 109
Mandate 110
Corbyn’s Roots in Labour’s Traditions 110
Pathos 111
A United Movement 112
Appeals to ‘the People’ 113
The ‘Spirit’ of the Movement 115
Restoring a Socialist Vision 116
Logos 116
Anti-austerity 117
Anti-war 118
Liberty and Rights 119
Conclusion: I’m not Pretending There Is an Easy Answer 120
References 121
Chapter 7 Red Dragon FM: Carwyn Jones’s ‘Welsh Labour Rhetoric’ 125
Carwyn Jones: ‘Welsh Labour Leader’ 126
Conceptualizing the Labour Party as an MLP 127
‘Our People’ 129
‘The People of Wales’ 131
‘Tory War on Wales’ 134
‘Standing Up’ 138
Intra-party Autonomy and Influence 141
Conclusion: Carwyn Jones’s ‘Welsh Labour Rhetoric’ 146
References 147
Part II Voices from Beyond the Labour Mainstream 149
Chapter 8 The Advantages of Opposition: Fracking and the Greens 150
Policy Versus Rhetoric 152
Differentiation Through Antithesis 153
Reason Versus Delusion 154
Competence and Concern 155
Ethos 156
Unification 158
The Base and Beyond 158
Environmental Concerns and Other Issues 160
Local and Global 162
Conclusion 165
References 167
Chapter 9 Rhetoric and the Rise of the Scottish National Party 172
SNP Rhetoric Before New Labour 175
SNP Rhetoric in the Era of New Labour 178
Conclusion 186
References 187
Chapter 10 The Rhetorical Personas of George Galloway and Tommy Sheridan 190
Agency and the Anti-establishment Politician 191
George Galloway 193
Political Background and Ideological Trajectory 194
The Audience 195
Public Persona and Rhetoric: Key Elements 196
Heroic Anti-imperialist 196
Irreverent Institutional Performer 197
Morality Plays 198
Tommy Sheridan 199
Political Background and Ideological Trajectory 200
Public Persona and Rhetoric: Key Elements 203
HeroMartyr Dramatizations (Ethos) 203
Engendering Outrage (Pathos) 204
Radical but ‘Everyman’ 205
Reflection 205
Conclusion 206
References 207
Chapter 11 Demanding the Alternative: The Rhetoric of the UK Anti-austerity Movement 211
#Nomoreausterity 213
A Rhetorical Strategy for Social Movements 216
Contesting Austerity 219
Commonplaces 220
Truth-Telling 222
Juxtaposition 224
Conclusion 226
References 227
Chapter 12 Reflections on the UK Left: Narrative, Leadership Performance, and Imagined Audiences 231
Narrative and Political Performance 232
Imagining ‘The Audience’ 234
Avenues for Further Research 236
Conclusion 238
References 238
Index 240