258. Major’s bastards and Labour’s deal
A History of England31 Aug

258. Major’s bastards and Labour’s deal

By winning the 1992 general election, John Major had his own mandate to form a government, instead of imply inheriting Margaret Thatcher’s. He’d shown himself capable of leading the Conservative Party to success, as he took it to its fourth election win in a row. He’d emerged somewhat from the shadow of his Iron Lady predecessor.

And then things immediately started going wrong. Black Wednesday, when a major run on the pound turned George Soros into ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’ and drove Britain out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Major’s positive poll ratings collapsed overnight and never entirely recovered.

Then his own party began to creak as its seams, as a growing group began to emerge and express an increasingly strident Euroscepticism. It mounted a rebellion against the government’s proposal to ratify what came to be known as the Maastricht Treaty, which converted the European Economic Community into the European Union, with more ambitious aims towards integration (from some of which Major obtained British opt-outs). Though eventually the sceptics voted with their own party’s government to avoid bringing it down, their behaviour had been so objectionable to Major that, in an unguarded moment with a journalist, he referred to them as ‘bastards’.

Meanwhile, in the Labour Party, John Smith, the well-respected leader who’d replaced Neil Kinnock after the general election defeat, died suddenly of a heart attack. There were two frontrunners to take over from him, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. It seems clear that they came to a deal whereby Brown would stand down as a candidate for the leadership to give Blair a clear run, in return for a big role in a future Labour government.

Blair took over from Smith. He’d be leading Labour against Major’s Conservatives at the next general election. Our subject for next week.


Illustration: promotional image for Stephen Frears’ The Deal, showing David Morrissey as Gordon Brown and Michael Sheen as Tony Blair

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License


Avsnitt(259)

2. The Wives of Henry VIII

2. The Wives of Henry VIII

We got to know Henry VIII a bit in chapter 1. We also talked a little about his wives, and it seems only right that we think about them a bit more now, especially since having a lot of wives is what Henry's best known for. So chapter 2 takes a look at their stories, at why Henry married them (well, the other reasons, apart from his attraction to young women), and to what extent he hit his objective. And, to surprise and amuse us all, we end with an unusual example of foresight and enlightened thinking from a monarch generally better known for self-serving authoritarianism. The picture is a detail of a British stamp showing the face of Catherine Howard, the wife who was rather too free with her charms for the taste of of her husband. ©Andy Lidstone/123RF.COM Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

24 Nov 202013min

A History of England (Trailer)

A History of England (Trailer)

21 Nov 202036s

1. Bloody Henry

1. Bloody Henry

Welcome to A History of England. As well as the podcast, there's a series of accompanying booklets, available as a paperback or a Kindle download. The first, covering episodes 1-35, is available on Amazon now. Just look for David Beeson A History of England. We can't get started without taking a moment to acknowledge the Spanish journalist and novelist, Arturo Perez Reverte. It was his Una Historia d'España, A History of Spain that inspired me to make this series. I like the idea of really short chapters, which I've imitated. I like the use of a normal sort of language,  and not fine, carefully modulated diction. But above all, what I liked was the idea of A history and not The history of the nation. I make no pretence at writing some academic tome. I make no pretence of academic detachment. I do make a pretence, or rather the attempt, to get the facts as right as possible. However, it's a particular view. Above all, it's less about discovering what England did at any particular point over the last few centuries, as about understanding how, by doing it, England got Britain to where it is today.  Let's get started. With, sensibly enough, Chapter One. It's dedicated to Henry VIII or, as I think of him, Bloody Henry. Picture: ©Satori/123RF.COM Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

19 Nov 202012min

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