The Brown Government A Policy Evaluation

The Brown Government provides an interim evaluation of Gordon Brown’s Labour administration through identifying continuities and discontinuities with the Blair governments from 1997. By focusing on key ideas and areas of public policy it presents an analysis of the first 18 months of Brown’s government. This book is notable for its topicality particularly for the discussions of the credit crunch, the British banking crises and the interconnectedness of these events with the global economic downturn. A study of Brown’s handling of these crises in the economy is important as it is arguable that the present recession and credit crunch will reach unprecedented proportions and therefore define the character and content of British politics in the coming years. By conducting an examination of the Brown Government’s public policy priorities one can begin to decipher its aims and values and, by so doing, begin to understand the next phase of the New Labour project. In this sense the book is a contribution to the ongoing study of contemporary British social democracy. This book was published as a special issue ofPolicy Studies.

1. Introduction: The Brown GovernmentMatt Beech and Simon Lee 2. A Puzzle of Ideas and Policy: Gordon Brown as Prime MinisterMatt Beech 3. Rock of Stability? The Political Economy of the Brown Government Simon Lee 4. The Public Services under Gordon Brown: Similar Reforms, Less Money Simon Griffiths 5. Gordon Brown and Public Services Reform:A Project in Search of a ‘Big Idea’?Mark Evans 6. Work to be Done? Welfare Reform from Blair to Brown Stephen Driver 7. Gordon Brown and International PolicyVictoria Honeyman8. Conclusions: The Prospects of Brown’s Social DemocracyMatt Beech and Simon Lee

Matt Beech is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. His most recent monograph, with Kevin Hickson, is Labour’s Thinkers: The Intellectual Roots of Labour from Tawney to Gordon Brown (2007). Simon Lee is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Hull. His research interests include global political economy, the politics and national identity of England and the politics of Gordon Brown. His most recent monograph is Best for Britain? The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown (2007).