New Releases by Ben Pimlott

This timely book is the first to take a close historical look at Ken Livingstone s London. It examines the development of London governance from the demise of the Greater London Council to the establishment of the Greater London Authority. The authors investigate the working of Mayor and Assembly, unravel the underlying politics of London and explore policy debates about transport, crime, and economic development. Finally they pose a question of key importance, not just to Londoners, but also to those interested in urban governance throughout the world: to what extent can the creation of new institutions and instruments of government give a major city the sense of being a political community?

Hugh Dalton was one of the most effective and strangest of modern political leaders. Born the son of a tutor to royal princes, Dalton was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he was taught by Maynard Keynes, fell under the spell of Rupert Brooke, and learned about socialism from Keir Hardie and Beatrice Webb. He entered Parliament in 1924, and for three decades his impact on government policy and on the leadership, organization and philosophy of the Labour party was immense. In this biography, Pimlott makes use of official records, interviews, private papers and the hitherto unpublished Dalton diaries.

Collection of essays and newspaper articles originally published 1981-1993.

Ben Pimlott's biography of Hugh Dalton won the Whitbread Prize, now the author turns his attention to Harold Wilson. The book combines scholarship and observations to illuminate the life and career of one of Britain's most controversial post-war statesmen. Wilson is one of the most enigmatic personalities of recent British history. He held office as Prime Minister for longer than any other Labour leader, and longer than any other premier in peacetime apart from Mrs Thatcher. His success at winning General Elections - four in all - has so far not been matched. His grasp of economic policy was better than that of any other Prime Minister, and he enjoyed a high reputation among foreign leaders. Yet, in retrospect, he seems a master tactician rather than a strategiest - and he is regarded today with more curiosity than respect, when he is not treated with contempt.

The 1930s was the 'Red Decade' of literary imagination. Yet there has seldom been a time when the influence of the British Left has been at a lower ebb.