Since Attlee & Churchill

• Who was Labour's greatest champion of overseas aid?

  The government recently made headlines with its decision to reduce overseas aid to 0.3% of national income. In this episode, we cast our eye back to Labour's most vocal supporter of overseas development and international aid, Judith Hart. Based on her years as a minister in both Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan's governments, we ask: What was her approach to international aid? What did she manage to achieve in office? And what would she have made of what Keir Starmer and Labour are doing in office today?In this episode, the following books are mentioned:'Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics' by Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. Available at: https://amzn.to/4hkRA0G'Frustrate their knavish tricks' by Ben Pimlott. Available at: https://amzn.to/4kB3xSTSupport the showSince Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:Lee David Evans is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK. Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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• Have confidence votes been a disaster for the Tory party?

  After years of tumult at the top of the Conservative Party, the method by which it removes its leaders has rarely been far from the headlines. In this podcast, Lee and Richard discuss how 'confidence votes' have been used to test the levels of support for Tory leaders among their MPs. It's a dramatic story - from Iain Duncan Smith's downfall in 2003, to Theresa May and Boris Johnson's near misses in 2018 and 2022, respectively.In this episode, the following books are mentioned:'Revolt on the Right: Explaining support for the Radical Right in Britain' by Matthew Goodwin and Robert Ford. Available at: https://amzn.to/41FEfur'Churchill's Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm' by Katherine Carter. Available at: https://amzn.to/3QCKpGfSupport the showSince Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:Lee David Evans is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK. Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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• What use is the House of Lords, anyway?

  For longer than it's been possible to talk about British politics, the House of Lords has played an essential role in how this country has been governed. But the 20th century saw their Lordships subordinated to the Commons and many of the peers, known as hereditary peers, stripped of their membership of the upper house. In this episode, Lee and Richard chart the history of the House of Lords and consider how it got to where it is today and ask: what use is the House of Lords in modern Britain? In this episode, the following books are mentioned:'Dear Bill: A Memoir' by Bill Deedes. Available at: https://amzn.to/3ETBtdi'Get In: The Inside Story of Labour under Starmer' by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund. Available at: https://amzn.to/4hNVHUlSupport the showSince Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:Lee David Evans is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK. Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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• Who are the best political heroes?

  Most politicians have at least one hero, someone in whose footsteps they hope to walk and whose achievements they hope to emulate. In this episode, Richard and Lee discuss whom senior Conservative and Labour politicians have named as their heroes - from the sublime to the occasionally ridiculous - and also share their own political lodestars.In this episode, the following books are mentioned:'Loyalists and Loners' by Michael Foot. Available at: https://amzn.to/3CUo9of'A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism' by Nelson Lichtenstein & Judith Stein. Available at: https://amzn.to/4hC484Y'Politics on the Edge' by Rory Stewart. Available at: https://amzn.to/4hDiQsvSupport the showSince Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:Lee David Evans is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK. Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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• Whatever happened to Labour Zionism?

  For much of its history, Labour was Britain's most pro-Zionist party - with MPs on the left of Labour the most supportive of the Jewish state. But from the 1960s, things began to change and, ultimately, the factional dynamics reversed. In this episode, Richard and Lee discuss how Labour went from being an enthusiast for Israel to being fiercely divided about the existence, and actions, of the world's only Jewish state.In this episode, the following books are mentioned:'The Betrayal of Anne Frank: Less a Mystery Unsolved Than a Secret Well Kept' by Rosemary Sullivan. Available here: https://amzn.to/42MUPdP'Failed State' by Sam Freedman. Available here: https://amzn.to/42SJqcFSupport the showSince Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:Lee David Evans is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK. Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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