DEMOCRACY AND THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

Britain since 1918: The Strange Career of British Democracy. David Marquand. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. xv + 477 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-64320-3.

'Democracy's all very well, but why give it to the people?' Thus spoke Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton, the magnificently unreconstructed doyenne of television's To the Manor Born, in the late-1970s. The 'Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton' view of democracy makes no formal appearance in David Marquand's compelling and authoritative new political history of Britain since 1918 but the imprint of her view sits impeccably in the Tory Nationalist' tradition--one of four through which Marquand views the 'strange' (that is to say, uneven and still incomplete) process of democratisation in this country since the end of World War One.

According to Prof. Marquand, British political history can best be understood through appreciating the four contending visions of democratic politics which have operated over the past ninety years, at least two of which have roots going back far in to the pre-democratic political battles of the past. (The author prefaces his study with a breathless journey through the Levellers, Tom Paine, the Chartists and many of the 'usual suspects' whose battles laid the foundation for what followed.) 'Whig Imperialists' such as Baldwin and Macmillan (in many respects the twin heroes of David Marquand's warm and engaging prose), Churchill and Heath, sat in a tradition of 'skilful accommodation to changing circumstances' whose roots went back at least as far as Edmund Burke. By contrast, Tory Nationalists' from the time of Lord Salisbury (if not of Eldon) by way of Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher, prospered best in times of political and social tension; their ever-present sense of 'looming danger' led to a dangerous (and in the case of Lady Thatcher, fatal) combination of 'charisma and populism' that is always likely to implode 'sooner or later'.

According to the author, Lady Thatcher failed in her mission to restore the much-battered authority of the state, because of the culture of audits, targets and agencies which her policies encouraged. By contrast, 'Democratic Collectivists' from the time of the Webbs onwards, believed in the 'ineluctable advance to a new, better social order'; unsurprisingly, Prof. Marquand sees this as the guiding principle of the Labour governments of Attlee, Wilson and (more guardedly) Blair. Each, in different ways, was eager to harness the power of the state to 'make the economy more productive and society more just'. By contrast, 'Democratic Republicans' (the exemplar of which David Marquand takes to be Tawney), have had relatively little formal influence on government but have inspired extra-parliamentary pressure groups, lobbies and activists to act as 'free citizens governing themselves through dialogue and debate and empowering themselves in doing so'. The overlap between these four visions was close in many instances: he shows this through his habitual use of the terms etatisme and dirigiste (on p.234 he even manages to get them in to close quarters with one another).

Whilst the material is relatively familiar, all the key episodes of political manoeuvre and individual character are covered with refreshing energy and the insight born of someone who was himself something of a political insider. David Marquand's modesty leads him to hide the extend of this sometimes privileged vantage point: only the dedicated reader of footnotes unversed in his biography will discover that he 'writes as an original founder of the SDP', 'as an academic at Salford University', 'as a member of the Dahrendorf Commission on Wealth Creation and Social Cohesion (1995)', etc. etc. Whilst the pace through the Major and Blair years feels more hurried than hitherto, Prof. Marquand packs a remarkable amount into his account. If he offers little by way of prophecy for the future (the better historians don't) he suggests that both 'The English Question' and the future of the Union with Scotland pose significant continuing challenges which the four traditions will have to come to terms with (others--unmentioned--must surely include the general disenchantment with the 'political classes', low voter turnout etc etc). This book offers a salutary reminder of Britain's 'strangeness' as a democratic polity and reminds us of the uneasy compromises which have resulted from the relationship between the state and a mass electorate--Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton would doubtless be smiling.

Richard Gaunt's new study. Sir Robert Peel: A Life and Reputation, is published in November.