Author Description

Momentous events that were to shape the politics of the Eighties and which will have a profound influence for years to come took place in the short period of time between 1973 and 1976. The post-War consensus is finally buried with the defeat of Heath, the resignation of Wilson and Callaghan's interregnum preparing the way for the new era of Thatcher rule. 1973 saw Ted Heath's ailing government incapable of responding to the OPEC oil crisis, locked in confrontation with the formidable NUM. The three-day week of candle-lit offices and power cuts finally forced a general election on the issue of 'Who Governs Britain?' and in February 1974 Labour was unexpectedly returned to power. But Tony Benn himself was under attack from all sides — the CBI, the Treasury, an increasingly vicious Fleet Street, a suspicious Number 10 — as he attempted to pursue the radical policies in Labour's Manifesto in the face of creeping shifts to the Right. From the surprise victory of Wilson to the first dairy entries by a Cabinet Minister covering Jim Callaghan's period in office, Against the Tide continues to fulfil the expectations raised by Volumes I and II that Tony Benn is publishing the major political diary of our day.