Tim Worstall

English Political History

Not wholly convinced by this from Jackie Ashley:

Yet we are in a new phase, far more energetic and interesting than the
doldrums of recent months. This can only be good for politics. Labour’s
new leader is different, and is happy to show it. Note how he trumpets
his "conviction politics". Yes, he’s a puritan. A bit grim? Sometimes.
Serious? Certainly. Brown’s people don’t mind the Roundhead tag. Why
not? Because they know enough of their history to remember who won.

Depends when you say the end of the war was. If 1655 then yes, the Roundheads won. 1661 and it was the Cavaliers. By 1688 it begins to get a little blurred and, well, the 1832 Reform Act: which side was which? It was still going on in a way in 1911 with Lords reform…..you can argue that it’s still going on today. The Puritan element of the Roundheads demanded that one lived life as they said you should: is there not an element of that in New Labour?

In

4 responses

  1. Tristan Mills Avatar
    Tristan Mills

    And the real radicals, the Levellers didn’t win (and seem to have been adopted by the socialists as proto-socialists which is just wrong – they were liberals/libertarians is anything)

    Reply
  2. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    “The Puritan element of the Roundheads demanded that one lived life as they said you should: is there not an element of that in New Labour?”
    I’m not sure that’s New Labour: the puritan element in New Labour is very old Labour indeed. It’s been reasserting itself as Catholic Blair has weakened, as the recent Private Equity Witch Hunt shows.

    Reply
  3. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    Mr Brown should remember that the Presbyterians were screwed by the Congregationalists.

    Reply
  4. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    Well the 1655 Roundhead victory (1651 according to wikipedia) led to the ineffective Rump Parliament for a couple of years. Then a military dictatorship for six years, finally followed by a bit of a mess for a few months after Cromwell’s death.
    Eventually even the Army got fed up and invited Charlie II back and everyone tried to forget the previous decade by getting drunk, having fun and generally doing things the like of which the original Nanny State would definately not approve.

    Reply

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