At the height of Blair’s New Labor era, Roy Hattersley observed that in the 1970s and 1980s he was on the right of the party, and now he was far to the left without changing a single view on any policy. Hattersley’s views had been fully formed and deeply thought through decades earlier. He flourished in an era where politics was shaped by a battle of ideas and convictions, becoming one of the most significant and persuasive figures of the post-war party. He will not be particularly remembered for his brief spell as a cabinet minister in the late 1970s, when he was secretary of state for prices and consumer protection in James Callaghan’s government. (He later joked about the absurdity of waking up every morning to set the price of bread.) However, Hattersley’s long career shows that politics is much more than fulfilling ministerial ambitions. In books, articles, broadcast studios and his leading role in Labour’s endless conflicts, he always conveyed a sense of ideological mission. Importantly, his arguments were made with lively wit.
Hattersley was associated with the Labor Party from childhood. His mother, Enid, was a councilor in Sheffield and became Lord Mayor of the city. She was a star in her own right, appearing on television talk shows and displaying a similar mischievous exuberance toward her son. Hattersley later discovered that his father had been a Catholic priest who gave up the church to move in with Enid. Hattersley was a prolific novelist. He had plenty of material from his upbringing.
He became an MP in 1964 when Labor returned to power after 13 years in opposition, an auspicious moment for a politician as ambitious as Hattersley. But the new prime minister, Harold Wilson, never fully believed him. Hattersley was close to Roy Jenkins, whom Wilson considered a rival. Hattersley was also a different political species to the staunchly pragmatic Wilson. He was unwavering in his support for joining the common market and was one of those who joined Jenkins in the membership vote in 1973. Wilson and most Labor MPs voted against. In domestic policy, Hattersley was particularly keen on comprehensive education when Wilson was more equivocal. The Labor leader never made him a cabinet minister. Hattersley served in a series of minor posts until Callaghan finally promoted him in 1976.
Jenkins’ decision to vote in favor of joining Europe, against the wishes of the majority of Labor MPs, was the beginning of his journey to the formation of the SDP in 1981. Hattersley’s decision not to join Jenkins’ project was a key moment in Labour’s history. If he and the party’s then deputy leader, Denis Healey, had defected to the SDP, Labor might have faced an even bigger electoral massacre in 1983. Hattersley was alarmed and depressed about the state of Labor under Michael Foot. However, he quickly came to the conclusion that, for all its deep flaws, Labor was still the vehicle best equipped to deliver the fairer and more egalitarian society he passionately sought. Just before the 1983 election, he visited Foot’s home in Hampstead with a view to discussing how to make the Labor field as smooth as possible. The meeting did not go according to plan. Hattersley later revealed that they spent the entire evening discussing Coleridge and Hazlitt, two of Foot’s favorite writers. The anecdote is in his memoirs Who goes home?the funniest account of a political life I’ve read.
After the 1983 defeat, Hattersley became deputy leader. He had hoped to succeed Foot but was easily beaten by Neil Kinnock. This was part of the phase when he was seen as on the right of Labour. The perception was correct in that Kinnock had come from the left, but Hattersley’s social democratic politics were far more textured and layered than some on the Labor right now. He and Kinnock had a strained relationship at times. They also had a lot in common. Both were ardent admirers of the socialist thinker, RH Tawney. “Hatters and I are both Tawneyites,” Kinnock once told me.
In the spirit of Tawney, Hattersley wrote his most important book while vice-president. Margaret Thatcher had used the term “freedom” to define her project. She declared with populist zeal that she would liberate the people from the state. In the late 1980s Hattersley wrote Choose Freedomin which he argued that the state was the agent of freedom. It was an attempt to win the most powerful term in British politics for Labour, but the timing was wrong. Thatcher was winning by a landslide. Few noticed. Even so, ideas stand. The book has a major impact on Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, among others. Consciously echoing Hattersley, she cites the provision of good state education as a way of giving pupils from all backgrounds the freedom to fulfill their potential. Hattersley’s ideas stand. It will continue to matter.
(Further reading: Wes Streeting on Keir Starmer’s “poor leadership, poor judgment and bad politics”.)
