Colm Murphy
@colm_m
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Lecturer, @QMPoliticsIR . Dep. Director: @MileEndInst . History, politics, and political economy of C20th UK and Ireland. Book on Labour and 'modernisation' (CUP)
London, England
Joined January 2009
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Thrilled that Futures of Socialism will be out in paperback in August! Get your copy of a "powerfully revisionist", "fascinating", and "landmark book" for only £24.99!
You can preorder now via CUP, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.
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Just a friendly tip for job application forms for academic jobs: don't make me fill out all of my GCSEs, individually. I have three higher education degrees. Do you really want to know about my A* in Religious Studies?
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When submitting a PhD thesis, you normally pose for a gormless photograph, brandishing a printed copy of your hefty tome. I envisaged standing in front of the Clement Attlee statue at QM. A old shot of Clem with a fetching headpiece, and a celebratory cup of tea, will have to do.
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New Year cover reveal👀
Futures of Socialism is an innovative new history of the British Left, the Labour Party, and 'modernisation' from the 1970s to the 1990s. It will be published in June 2023.
You can pre-order from Cambridge University Press (or, if you must, from Bezos).
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I am utterly delighted to say that, in September, I will be joining
@QMPoliticsIR
as a Lecturer in British Politics, and that I will continue to work with the brilliant
@MileEndInst
. I cannot wait to get started.
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Apologies for the self-indulgence, but I'm thrilled to say that I just passed my viva, after a fantastic discussion with Dr Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Professor
@stephenjbrooke
. I could not have asked for a more generous, knowledgeable and helpful conversation.
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Belated self-indulgence: I'm delighted to say that I have signed a contract with
@cambUP_History
to publish 'Futures of Socialism: "Modernisation", the Labour Party and the British Left, 1973-1997.'
The book recasts the story of 'Labour's modernisation'. (1/4)
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🚨PUBLICATION DAY🚨
'Futures of Socialism' is a new history of the British left, 1973-1997.
Historians describe it as a future "touchstone" in the field and a "hugely important book" for "the debate on Labour's past and future".
Buy here:
For more:🧵👇
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The headline is simple - big Labour majority - but this is a fragmented and volatile electorate. That has produced an extremely complicated election under the surface.
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It took long enough for the press to treat this seriously. The British Library has been disastrously stricken for months.
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News just in: My book 'Futures of Socialism: "Modernisation", the Labour Party and the British Left, 1973-1997' will be published by
@cambUP_History
in summer 2023.
The publication date will be confirmed soon. In the meantime, you can get a sneak preview of the book👇
Belated self-indulgence: I'm delighted to say that I have signed a contract with
@cambUP_History
to publish 'Futures of Socialism: "Modernisation", the Labour Party and the British Left, 1973-1997.'
The book recasts the story of 'Labour's modernisation'. (1/4)
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Why has the New Statesman - historically , one of the few journals of the left in the UK's mainstream journalism and media - emailed me a transcript of a conversation between John Gray and Peter Thiel after a Roger Scruton memorial lecture?
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Do you think John Gray ever gets bored with his apparently cast-iron contractual obligation to churn out "liberalism in crisis" essays for the New Statesman every few weeks?
This week's cover: Why liberalism is in crisis, featuring John Gray and Ross Douthat.
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Colour me sceptical. Never been a fan of using the Manifesto Database in this way. According to this coding, Labour's 2005 manifesto is more "left wing" than Feb 1974, which promised an "irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people"
How to assess the manifesto from our next prime minister? Important research shared exclusively with the Guardian gives troubling answers.
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The "Starmer allies" quoted in this piece really need to learn some discipline, and avoid alienating (and very unconvincing) bravado. It seems to be a recurring weakness with LOTO's briefing operation.
Will Unite disaffiliate from Labour next year? Insiders play it down — but admit internal debate could come to a head in July.
Defiant Starmer allies say it would only encourage “high net worth” donors: “Our polling would probably skyrocket overnight.”
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📕Book Launch📕
On 4 July, I am launching my
@CambridgeUP
book 'Futures of Socialism', at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. I am honoured to be joined by Lord Boateng,
@teadevotee
,
@LiseRButler
,
@stephenkb
and Ben Jackson.
Book a free ticket here:
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With what? Public services are already gutted and some councils are on the brink of bankruptcy. Benefits are already disgracefully low (cf food banks), and government childcare is already pitiful. Social care is collapsing, and we are an ageing society (1/3)
Sajid Javid says his plans for £39bn a year worth of cuts to income tax, corporation tax, national insurance and fuel duty would be fully funded.
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"There remains uncertainty as to whether Starmer can win a majority. But one thing we can be sure of is that if Labour, Lib Dems and Greens are collectively getting 65%+ of the vote, as they did this week, there is absolutely no route to Sunak retaining the premiership."
New post just out
"Realignment Realigned: The Local Elections Review"
My take on how to intepret yesterday's results; what it means for the Westminster narrative; and how I did with my predictions.
(this one is free to read)
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My Twitter rarely ventures into the murky waters of "real life". Still, over Christmas, my life took an exciting turn...
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Delighted to be published in The English Historical Review today!
@enghistrev
My piece narrates the rise and fall of the UK Labour Party's half-forgotten 1980s journal 'New Socialist', and uses it to probe the sources we use as scholars. (1/3)
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This is a very helpful joint intervention by the York VC and York UCU branch exec.
1. York recognises, explicitly, that "real wages ... have been gradually eroded since 2008", that staff "deserve more", and thus that "negotiations must restart".
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Reading FC - my club - is being horrifically mismanaged by an absentee owner, to it's possible ruin. Determined fans, sports journalists from the locals and nationals have followed the scandalous crisis, and local MPs have raised the issue but few others.
The financial situation of a football club being so dire that key players are sold - without the knowledge of senior staff - should be major national news btw. Not just a minor piece on the side of the homepage. Won't happen though will it.
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Starmer's speech:
-planning reform -> infrastructure
-labour market reform -> 'make work pay'
-active, industrial policy that picks sectors via new institutions (eg wealth fund), + addresses inequality and insecurity
but...
-big emphasis on fiscal rules
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I was delighted to launch Futures of Socialism last night at Methodist Central Hall with the
@MileEndInst
. Huge thanks to all who came, and esp. to the panel for saying such lovely things: Lord Boateng,
@stephenkb
,
@LiseRButler
,
@teadevotee
, Ben Jackson, and
@PatrickDiamond1
.
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With notable exceptions, there are fewer rigorous analyses of Starmer from the critical left than one might expect.
As such, this excellent analysis by
@piercepenniless
is particularly welcome, and well worth your time, whatever your leanings.
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Pretty clear linking to racism in this. Good to see.
🚨 BREAKING: Prime Minister Keir Starmer's full address to the nation about the riots on Britain's streets
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Nominally, I'm a professional historian, but I still get childishly excited - with the emphasis on 'childishly' - when I uncover this kind of deception and secrecy in the archive. This is from an official briefing for Sunny Jim at the height of the IMF crisis.
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"The UK’s election campaign is part of a wider British disease: of politics detached from policy, of arguments about politics divorced from questions about whether you can even implement the proposals"
Spot on from
@stephenkb
via
@FT
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One of the policy areas where Labour figures from across the party - including those from the right like Streeting and Phillipson - remain deeply class-conscious and ideological is education.
“I'm sorry but your going to have to cut your cloth accordingly like state schools have had to for 14 years”
Labour’s Wes Streeting defends plans to charge VAT on private schools fees to pay for state school teachers
#bbcqt
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Very pleased that the Observer have written up a new op ed by
@PatrickDiamond1
and me.
Fiscal discipline and ambitious social democracy are fully compatible. But if growth doesn't come soon, the marriage of both demands a braver approach to taxation.
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Me to me, 5 min ago: "Best keep your head down during the Coronation"
Radio 4 just now: "[Charles] must have spent more time in deprived communities than any politician"
Me:
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This is very ironic. Clause IV was rewritten partly because Labour's supposed "aim" of general "common ownership" had long become a sentimentalism, divorced from reality. Now, Blair's 1995 revision of Clause IV has itself become cheap symbol, equally meaningless in content.
This is such a weird article and confusing position from Starmer. “Clause IV on steroids” implies a bulked-up socialism. But he actually seems to mean the *removal* of Clause IV, on steroids.
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From Politico. Stafford Cripps would like a word.
The sooner we ditch this common ahistorical confusion of "socialism" with "loose fiscal policy", the better.
The real challenge to Starmer's socialist credentials is his aversion to using progressive taxation to meet the rules.
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I mean this really couldn't be clearer from the prime minister, Keir Starmer. It's racist, fascist, far-right thuggery.
Keir Starmer says that riots over the past week are 'far-right thuggery'
'There is no justification - none - for taking this action. All right minded people should be condemning this sort of violence.
'People in this country have a right to be safe and yet we have seen Muslim
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I'm in Parliament at the launch of a book about John Smith. Anything happening outside?
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Labour has been so disciplined for so long that it was almost possible to forget its limitless capacity for self sabotage through pointless factionalism that either confuses or repels outsiders. And yet...
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Of course it was a mistake to scrap AS Levels! It was obvious at the time. A retrograde and pointless change by the Cameron government, seemingly driven by nostalgia, hearsay, and prejudice.
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This idea is obviously craven from an industrial relations viewpoint, and probably illegal.
It's also disgracefully philistine. It is an insult to the thousands of students that have worked incredibly hard during their degrees to advance their knowledge and specialisms.
BREAKING: We have learned that
@QMUL
management is considering using external staff from Curio, an Australian Higher Education consultancy
@curio_group
, to try to break our marking boycott and grade student essays. A 🧵 on
#TheCuriosCase
: 1/13
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Booking a British Library slot that covers my normal lunch break and ends at 2.30pm was, in retrospect, a mistake. I am now making amends.
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If this (from Red Box) is true, then whoever gave that advice to Starmer made, in my view, a very serious error.
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Quite the vignette from
@lottelydia
's new book! It describes how one group of British imperial subjects heard Neville Chamberlain's 1939 declaration of war with Nazi Germany
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On Thursday, I am presenting my PhD: competing ideas of 'modernisation' and 'modernity' on the British left from the 1970s to the 1990s.
As my viva looms, I would *enormously* appreciate feedback, positive and critical!
Second seminar this Thursday, 5:30!
@colm_m
of
@QMHistory
on 'Futures of socialism: "modernization" and the British Left, 1973-1997'
Make sure you sign up (for free!) to get the Zoom link - here:
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One thing I would say: despite the recent hoo-haa about Starmer's (fairly bland) quotes about Thatcher, this is quite obviously not Thatcherism.
It has its own internal logic (and its own big contradictions), which I think people should spend more time thinking about.
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My book has (finally...) arrived!
I'm hugely grateful to
@stephenjbrooke
,
@ea_robinson
and
@PatrickDiamond1
for these generous endorsements.
You can buy a copy or recommend one to your library here:
Use the code FUSO2023 for a 20% discount.
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Stranded waiting for trains to Labour's Conference? Why not read my new
@RenewalJournal
essay on the dangers and possibilities confronting Starmer's Labour and the centre left? It even comes with a bonus alchemical analogy. Free to read here!
Summary🧵👇
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The current 'system' for regulating English football teams (priceless community assets) is such that rogue, bad faith owners can drastically mismanage a club, but the (effective) punishment is borne by the players, manager, and fans. Unjust and unsustainable.
The EFL wanted
#readingfc
to be deducted four points immediately, not two.
They really don't care about us, do they?
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I'm currently adapting
@redhistorian
's excellent Special Subject on 'Making Thatcher's Britain' for teaching next semester. To make our teaching Covid-robust, I'm designing new 'activities'. I am concerned that this is bringing out my very worst instincts...
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Delighted that the new
@po_qu
special issue on "The Future of British Political History", edited by
@teadevotee
,
@redhistorian
and me, is starting to see the light of day.
"How Do We Write the History of Brexit?"
Short academic article by me for
@po_qu
- part of a special issue coming soon on "The Future of British Political History".
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It was wonderful to drop in last night on the launch of Daisy Payling's important new book on the transforming left in 1980s Sheffield. It looks excellent.
More details here:
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It's real!
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Striking photo of Stafford Cripps - who was by this point failing in health and fast approaching death - and a young, ambitious Harold Wilson, taken at the height of the devaluation crisis.
(from Clarke's The Cripps Version)
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Complexities aside, Labour has just won an absolutely monumental victory.
Naturally, I've written for
@ConversationUK
about what could go wrong for the new government .
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To be honest, I can't quite believe that the Conservatives kept the 80:20 strategy as long as they did. Yes voters are volatile, yes polls change, but it's brave to base your strategy on the assumption of a catastrophic polling error in your favour.
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Nice to receive news of my first successful internal research grant application in my new role just before the Bank Holiday 🙂
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"Colm Murphy has written a landmark book which explains why the modern Labour Party has taken the form it has done with strong implications for the present."
Honoured by this review of Futures of Socialism by
@McwilliamRohan
of the
@LHRUteam
.
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This was a pleasant update to receive just before Christmas!
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Our new flatmates Mordred and Hoid are settling in to their home.
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A key context to the growing popularity of those reforms was the experience of Thatcher's 'strong state' (the violent policing of the miners' strike, the GLC's abolition) and the divisive upheaval in the UK's political economy, all on c.40% of the vote.
In the introduction, Yuan and I argue that it is puzzling that so many in the Labour Party today champion 'reforms' which would constrain the power of a Labour government to govern effectively.
This is what Peter Shore called 'the dimantling of the power of the British people'.
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Going back over my notes, found this quotation from Denis Healey's combative speech from the floor (as Chancellor of the Exchequer!) of the 1976 Labour conference - a high point of the AES.
He was never afraid of a fight. One of his greatest weaknesses as well as strengths?
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It's still over the word limit, but today I cut 2,000 words from my draft PhD thesis.
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Agreed, the media commentary on that lecture yesterday morning - that this lecture would be some kind of simplistic Blairite paean to Thatcher - was laughable for anyone who has been following the evolution of Labour's economic thought in recent years.
I did not expect this, but Rachel Reeves' Mais lecture is a lot more interesting - and dare I say, promising - than either the commentariat focused on fiscal rules or the past weeks of 'maxxed credit cards' would have us believe
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I did not know about the Conservative historian Andrew Roberts' foray into dystopian science fiction in 1995. It's certainly revealing.
(From Young, This Blessed Plot, p. 400)
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In today's Observer,
@kenanmalik
clearly explains why we should focus on 'working class' rather than 'white working class' disadvantages.
"[T]he racialisation of class - the very category "white working class" - is itself a product of identity politics"
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The wider point here is that the efficiency of Labour's vote share is reaping the party rewards in this election - and contrasts mightily with the 2010s - but may also prove its undoing in future elections, unless it can lock in key voter segments over the next parliament.
NB some of this is a compositional effect.
One of the reasons Starmer is succeeding where Corbyn didn’t is that his support spans a much broader range of voter types. This is much more electorally efficient than Corbyn’s coalition, but means fewer die-hards.
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On 28 March, I'm speaking at the Cambridge Financial History Seminar in Darwin College on my new project: 'Protectionism, deindustrialisation and European integration: crisis of British Keynesianism revisited, 1973-1993'.
Sign up here:
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It's just absolutely outrageous.
Long-awaited details of the government’s voter ID scheme have now been released, including details of which IDs will be accepted at the polling station. The list contains plenty of options for older voters, but few for younger voters.
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I've yet to see a physical copy yet, but my book is now appearing on Google Books 👀
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Delighted and honoured to be included in
@MarkPerryman
's 'Top Ten Books for Understanding Labour Party Conference 2023', alongside some truly illustrious authors.
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Sharp opening to this.
Tax breaks for private schools are indefensible. Conservative MPs know it. Labour knows it. The public know it.
But the Prime Minister is too weak to challenge vested interests anywhere.
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The *only* sustainable solution is for employers to pay and treat their staff properly, and for the government to fix the broken funding system that it imposed on HE, mutilating an otherwise world-leading and expanding sector.
As somebody (!) once said, there is no alternative.
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When I awoke this morning, I did not realise how much I needed to read a satirical exegesis of Liz Truss's Telegraph essay, delicately and ruthlessly crafted by
@Louis_Ashworth
of
@FTAlphaville
. But goodness it did wonders.
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One observation about Starmer's speech (which I'm catching in between student meetings)...
...the conscious rowing back seems to have largely halted. The 'Green Prosperity Plan', workers' rights and housebuilding agendas referenced repeatedly in this speech, to loud applause.
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On the latest
@MileEndInst
podcast, I talk to the historians
@aled_r_davies
and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite about 'neoliberalism'. What even is it anyway? Do we live in a neoliberal age? When is the concept useful and when is it not? Have a listen!
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Ben Jackson on the Conservative Party today and the continued relevance of high politics.
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Excited to be launching this tonight! Thanks to the
@MileEndInst
🚨PUBLICATION DAY🚨
'Futures of Socialism' is a new history of the British left, 1973-1997.
Historians describe it as a future "touchstone" in the field and a "hugely important book" for "the debate on Labour's past and future".
Buy here:
For more:🧵👇
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While fierce battles over Starmer's leadership scar the TLs of the hyperengaged, a lot of party members remain detached. It was the same under Corbyn, as shown in his convincing reelection after the 2016 leadership challenge.
Survey of Labour party members:
"Compared to Jeremy Corbyn, do you think Keir Starmer is doing better, worse, or about the same as leader of the Labour Party?"
Better: 61%
Worse: 29%
via
@YouGov
, 17 - 24 Mar
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In hindsight, it was overly ambitious of me to schedule in some planned research work this morning...
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One of my running ideas is that the 1992 election, both the campaign itself and its memorialisation, still profoundly shapes British political assumptions and discourse in ways we don't quite recognise most of the time.
Just received this from a former Tory minister, who has edited his legendary Saatchi & Saatchi poster from the 1992 general election. "I couldn't resist".
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Here, the head of the Conservative's 2019 election campaign, Isaac Levido, is crystal clear on the importance of Johnson's 'oven ready' Withdrawal Agreement for their victory. The same WA that Johnson has now roguishly shredded.
It may "work". But let's be honest on what it is.
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Anytime train ticket to Reading: £34
Wolfed down, queasy burger and chips: £12 (!)
Seeing the Ding tortuously, incompetently eke out 3 precious points against a dreadful Stoke: Priceless
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First for me: I've been published in
@LabourList
.
To grasp what a successful Starmer "vision" might entail, I use my book, Futures of Socialism, to compare Starmer's Labour with British left leaders and thinkers in the 1970s-90s.
Many have called on
@Keir_Starmer
to set out more "vision".
But academic and author
@colm_m
argues past Labour "modernisation" programmes - under Benn and Blair alike - show rigid or radical visions can become millstones or shut out new ideas:
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On purely aesthetic grounds, work to rule is my *favourite* form of industrial action. Exposes so many contradictions and collective hypocrisies in such a hilarious way.
Academics: "As a last resort, and I'm sorry it's come to this, I will fulfil the terms of my contract."
VCs: "Oh well this is absolutely outrageous."
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I always enjoy reading Collins, but there's a flaw in his case. The Conservatives will attack Labour for borrowing/tax *regardless*. If Labour avoid specific figures, Cons will produce a comically inflated estimate and release it to the party in the media
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Pleased to see this published.
I also want to publicly praise Nigel, who led the research project behind this article. Despite the project ending years ago, and even though Nigel is the real expert, he has always insisted on co-authorship.
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After complaining, during today's coffee break, about the total failure of the Labour Party's 1980-1 Trade Policy Working Group to acknowledge North Sea Oil's impact on hypothetical negotiations over Article XII of the GATT, I was struck by the profound weirdness of historians.
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Right, Imogen and I are heading into the cinema. No idea what the state of the government and Conservative Party will be when we emerge.
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In the last couple of weeks, I've published three articles - all on the UK left, but with quite different angles. See below for a short 🧵
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Huge thanks must also go to my supervisory team, Dr
@redhistorian
, Dr
@PatrickDiamond1
and Professor Matthew Hilton, and also to Professor
@KimAtiWagner
for chairing the viva.
Now excuse me while I go pour myself a drink.
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A toxic, destructive and unsustainable approach to Queen Mary UoL's industrial relations, entirely the result of an unprecedented and avoidable deductions policy. One since abandoned as unworkable by others (see Wolverhampton).
It cannot go on. It must not go on.
So now HR is taking seemingly random amounts of money as 'strike deductions', in some devil-may-care approach to employee relations.
These will be challenged, but it's such a waste of time & energy to work in an institution that doesn't give a shit about the people who make it.
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