Left for Dead?

The Strange Death and Rebirth of the Labour Party

By: Lewis Goodall

Narrated by: Alex James-Cox

A timely and provocative account of the fall of New Labour, the rise of Corbyn, and what it means for the left in Britain.

In the 21st century the Labour Party has undergone the most extraordinary transformation in its history. After more than a decade of political dominance, the party lost two consecutive general elections and found its leadership usurped by the obscure far-left MP Jeremy Corbyn. As Britain voted to leave the EU, Labour seemed destined for long-term irrelevance.

But then it all changed. Far from being the death of the party, as many had predicted, at one fell stroke the general election of 2017 heralded its strange and unexpected rebirth. Against all the odds, Corbyn became the first Labour leader since 1997 to gain the party seats and was simultaneously hailed as the saviour of the British Left and a harbinger of doom for its New Labour elite.

In Left for Dead? journalist Lewis Goodall tells the full story of this political revolution with unprecedented access to all its key players, from Blair to Corbyn. Weaving together personal memoir, exclusive interviews, juicy gossip and incisive critique, he travels from the streets of his childhood in the shadow of the Birmingham Rover factory to the corridors of power in Westminster, tracing the journey of the party from the twilight of the ‘Third Way’ to the tumult of the financial crisis to the ravages of Brexit and Corbynism.

Because one thing is for certain - while the left in Britain might not be dead, the traditional social democratic centre-left which we have known since the war is barely twitching in the road. But what has replaced it? Where has it come from? And what does it mean for the long-term future of the Labour Party?

©2018 Lewis Goodall (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers