The Latest Breaking News from Ramsay Macdonald

Forget the three-term project now: crisis-hit Labour needs a one-term mindset and priorities to match

History shows there have been more short-lived Labour governments than long-lasting ones. The party must secure a clear, progressive legacy, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

The Guardian - UK · May 15

As dark financial clouds gather, Labour has to heed its past: when it chooses austerity, it loses elections

Those who insist on spending cuts are those who are never hurt by them. Time to be brave – and take a new tack, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

The Guardian - UK · Aug 8, 2025

Friday essay: ‘War has made me a pacifist’. Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge Australia’s anti-war veterans?

“I have seen enough of the horrors of war, and want peace. War has made me a socialist and a pacifist,” announced Gallipoli veteran and Victoria Cross winner, Hugo Throssell, on Peace Day in 1919.

The Conversation · Apr 24, 2025

Margaret Beckett and her party’s most working-class leader ever

Letters: Robert Lizar, Alasdair Macdonald, Roger Humphries and William Bradshaw respond to an interview with the former foreign secretary, who is stepping down at the election

The Guardian - UK · Jun 14, 2024

The Labour party’s complicated relationship with God

Letters: Andrew Copson of Humanists UK, Zaki Cooper, David Tutssel and David Cragg-James respond to an editorial about the party and faith communities

The Guardian - UK · Apr 7, 2024

Let’s rekindle the spirit of 1924: lifelong learning for all

Letters: John Holford reflects on the funding for adult education enabled by the first Labour government a century ago, and hopes for something similar today. Plus letters from Ian Barge, Jennifer Basannavar and Jenny Braithwaite

The Guardian - UK · Jan 29, 2024

The Men of 1924 by Peter Clark; The Wild Men by David Torrance review – Labour’s first taste of power

One hundred years since Ramsay MacDonald led his cabinet of workers into Number 10, two engrossing books illuminate the party’s extraordinary leading players and their achievement, largely unheralded, in making the country more civilised

The Guardian - UK · Jan 28, 2024

Ramsay MacDonald forms Britain’s first Labour government – archive, 1924

22 January 1924: MacDonald was asked by George V to form a government when Stanley Baldwin’s small Conservative majority proved ungovernable

The Guardian - UK · Jan 22, 2024

The Wild Men by David Torrance review – inside Labour’s first cabinet

An engrossing account of the perilous course charted by Ramsay MacDonald, Britain’s first Labour prime minister

The Guardian - UK · Jan 13, 2024

Valuable lessons from the first Labour governments

Letters: Dr Lynda Mountford, Kate Purcell, Carol Wilcox and Matthew Ryder on the legacy of Ramsay MacDonald

The Guardian - UK · Jan 4, 2024