Tangled Up in Blue (2011 book)
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The book's front cover designed by Sade Payne
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| Author | Rowenna Davis |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Blue Labour and the Struggle for Labour's Soul |
| Genre | UK Politics |
| Publisher | Ruskin Publishing |
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Publication date
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October, 2011 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| ISBN | |
Tangled up in Blue is a 2011 politics book by the journalist and Labour councillor Rowenna Davis. The work tracks the emergence of Blue Labour, a movement within the UK Labour party which seeks to promote active citizenship and to champion traditional community values. While Davis does describe Blue Labour's ideas and policy recommendations, the book focuses on political relationships and the roles these played in Blue Labour's development. In particular the book is concerned with Lord Glasman, and his relationships with other academics, strategists, and politicians - especially David and Ed Miliband. The work is Davis's first book.
The book has a foreword by Steve Richards, an introduction, five chapters and a conclusion.
In the foreword Richards relates how his first actual meeting with Glasman shattered his initial assessment that Blue Labour was derivative and backward looking. Richards states that the importance of Blue Labour is partly shaped by Ed Miliband's recent rise to be party leader, after which he declared that the era of New Labour was over. According to Richards, Blue Labour is the most important source of fresh ideas to fill the resulting void. He also says that Glasman has the potential to be just the sort of compelling advocate needed to present new thinking if it is to gain acceptance by the political mainstream.
Davis sets out her aim to reveal the untold story of Blue Labour's genesis and growth as an influential force within the Labour party. She quotes Ed Miliband talking about how one of the strengths of Blue Labour is its recognition of the importance of personal relationships both for a healthy society and even for a good economy. Davis touches on many of the themes which she expands later in the book:
Much of the introduction describes the three pillars of Blue Labour, which are: Pillar one: interests, institutions and ideas ; Pillar two: reciprocity, relationships and responsibility ; Pillar three: virtue, vocation and value.
In the opening chapter, Davis discusses the factors that led Glasman to launch the Blue Labour initiative. The first was his mother, a lifelong Labour supporter who very much saw the Labour party as the champion of ordinary people's interests. Glasman was incensed that on the night she died, Labour's bailout of the banks was still playing out on the news. Glasman saw the bailout as a huge unnecessary transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. It was on the night of her death in January 2009, in conversation with his wife, that Glasman first came up with the label "Blue Labour". Another key influence in the development of Blue Labour was Phillip Blond, the so-called "red Tory". When Blond first met Glasman it was the Tory who was much better known within Westminster. The two became friends and Blond was pleased to help raise Glasman's profile as the two had partially overlapping ideas. The success of Obama's 2008 election campaign had also helped to inspire Glasman, as it involved the sort of relationship-orientated, decentralised community mobilisation that he wished to promote. A fifth influence was Glasman's prior involvement with Citizens UK, an umbrella group dedicated to community organising.
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