James Ramsay Macdonald (Lives of the Left)

Morgan, Austen

Biographies & Memoirs

Manchester Univ Pr

J. Ramsay MacDonald (Lives of the left)

Manchester University Press

Austen Morgan's study of Belfast labour politics in the years 1905-1923, is aimed at anyone wishing to understand the origins, extent and real significance of sectarian divisions and rivalries within Northern Ireland's working class. The book contributes to the history of the Belfast working class and of the political movements - laborist, socialist, nationalist, republican, unionist and loyalist - which competed for its support. The book provokes reassessments not only of the period under study but of the ideological concepts and the relationships between class, religion, loyalism and the labour movement in Belfast past and present. Austen Morgan's previous publications include "J Ramsey MacDonald" and "James Connolly - A Political Biography".

Labour and Partition: The Belfast Working Class 1905-1923

Business & Money

Economics

Pluto Press

This is a study of popular politics in Belfast from 1905 23. It looks at the dominant nationalist and unionist movements, but also at the attempt of labour to assert itself in the Edwardian years during the unionst mobilisations against home rule, World War I, and the national revolution. The author also examines the political careers of the socialist leaders William Walker, James Larkin, and James Connolly.

Labour and Partition: The Belfast Working Class 1905-23 (Pluto Irish Library)

Pluto Press (UK)

A biography of this controversial figure of the Labour movement and the first since his retirement as Prime Minister in 1976. For some Harold Wilson is a failed socialist hero, for others an unmitigated disaster. Drawing on years of research including extensive interviews with Wilson's contemporaries, this independent political biography constructs a fair, but not uncritical, picture of Wilson's private and public faces. Austen Morgan traces Wilson's life from his childhood, through Oxford, his civil service career and election as a Labour MP in 1945, to his surprise resignation as Prime Minister in 1976 and his fading from the public eye. Through a critical examination of the priorities of economic management, foreign policy in the Cold War and technological revolution, Morgan raises pertinent questions about why Labour's last period in government ended in failure. He argues that Harold Wilson's reputation will be affected, not only by how history judges his periods in office but also by how the Labour Party performs in the 1990s.

Harold Wilson

Leaders & Notable People

Like New copy, but covers have minor shelf wear

The Belfast Agreement: A Practical Legal Analysis

Foreign & International Law

Belfast Pr Ltd

Tony Blair’s historical reputation as prime minister (1997-2007) is being shaped decisively by the recent Chilcot report on Iraq.  However, the leader of new labour still clings to his legacy as a peace maker in Northern Ireland.  Austen Morgan’s new book – written after the collapse of the John Downey Old Bailey trial in February 2014 – asks: how did Tony Blair implement the Belfast agreement after 1998?  The answer (avoided by Chilcot as regards the Iraq war) is: the prime minister, and his chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, acted unlawfully in agreeing privately with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness that IRA members should benefit from effectively a secret amnesty.  Using official papers disclosed to the court, Tony Blair and the IRA tells the story of how, on the basis of Mo Mowlam’s dealings with republican and loyalist terrorists, the provision for early release of paramilitary prisoners after two years was extended secretly to the ‘on the runs’:  228 unconvicted IRA members applied; at least 187 men and women benefited from the so-called administrative scheme, between 2000 and 2014, before it was closed down amid considerable political embarrassment.  Dealing with the Downey mistake – when an Irish republican wanted for the 1982 Hyde Park bombing was sent a comfort letter – the book exonerates two high-ranking Northern Ireland police officers, Peter Sheridan and Norman Baxter, who have hitherto been blamed, and directs responsibility to a senior Whitehall official, Mark Sweeney.  Some may try to justify what some ministers and officials did over a considerable period of time. They will be thwarted, it is believed, by the evidence revealed for the first time in this book.

Tony Blair and the IRA: The 'On The Runs' Scandal

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

The Belfast Press

<p>The moment of Brexit (2016-20) singularly challenged the UK's unwritten constitution. Some blamed Theresa May and Boris Johnson for implementing the referendum result. Others – including Austen Morgan, a barrister and writer – criticize parliament and the supreme court more fairly. Pretence: Why The UK Needs A Written Constitution takes up the idea in the 2019 conservative manifesto, and shows how a reforming government could begin to codify the rules by which the state runs, in place of the Gilbert and Sullivan flummery which dignifies the reality of political power.Discussing Europe, devolution, judicial review and human rights as contemporary political issues, the book even begins the process of finding agreement by the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with the author's own suggestions for a preamble to a new constitution.</p>

Pretence: Why The UK Needs A Written Constitution

Eyewear Publishing

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