Recapturing Our Traditions? The Rhetorical Shift from New to One Nation Labour (and Beyond)

Abstract

One Nation Labour was widely interpreted as an attempt to reconnect with Labour’s traditions. Yet, this was only possible because certain contentious questions seemed to have been closed during the New Labour period. Ed Miliband could therefore take a more conciliatory position towards the politics of memory than Tony Blair, while still ‘moving on’ from the past. There were, however, marked similarities in the way both leaders used the past to appeal to an audience both within and outside the Labour Party. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership a more pronounced reversal in Labour’s temporal positioning has taken place. But while Corbyn’s use of history draws on a particular strand in Labour thinking, there is no ‘pure’ Labour tradition to which the party can return.