Audiobook7 hours
Beyond the Red Wall
Written by Deborah Mattinson
Narrated by Larner Wallace-Taylor
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Why Labour lost, how the Conservatives won and what will happen next?
The last general election saw the Conservatives win their highest vote share in forty years, while Labour slumped to their lowest seat total since 1935. At the heart of this electoral earthquake was the so-called Red Wall, some sixty seats stretching from the Midlands up to the north of England. Working-class voters in these old coal, steel and manufacturing constituencies had been the bedrock of past Labour victories, but all that changed on 12 December 2019 when Boris Johnson turned the Red Wall blue. Who are the Red Wall voters and why did they forgo their long-standing party loyalties? Did they simply lend their votes to Johnson to get Brexit done or will he be able to win them over more permanently? And as the Labour Party licks its wounds, how were those votes thrown away and what, if anything, can be done to win them back? And how will the pandemic and the government's reaction to it change the voter's outlook on party politics in the future? Will everything be the same after it has passed?
This book sets out to answer those questions by putting them to the people who will decide the next election. Deborah Mattinson, pollster and strategist, veteran of nine elections, uses a programme of focus groups and in-home ethnographic interviews in seats such as Workington, Don Valley and Redcar to build a vivid portrait of Red Wall voters. She identifies their likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, values and attitudes, where politics fits into their lives and what kind of Britain they want for themselves and their families.
The last general election saw the Conservatives win their highest vote share in forty years, while Labour slumped to their lowest seat total since 1935. At the heart of this electoral earthquake was the so-called Red Wall, some sixty seats stretching from the Midlands up to the north of England. Working-class voters in these old coal, steel and manufacturing constituencies had been the bedrock of past Labour victories, but all that changed on 12 December 2019 when Boris Johnson turned the Red Wall blue. Who are the Red Wall voters and why did they forgo their long-standing party loyalties? Did they simply lend their votes to Johnson to get Brexit done or will he be able to win them over more permanently? And as the Labour Party licks its wounds, how were those votes thrown away and what, if anything, can be done to win them back? And how will the pandemic and the government's reaction to it change the voter's outlook on party politics in the future? Will everything be the same after it has passed?
This book sets out to answer those questions by putting them to the people who will decide the next election. Deborah Mattinson, pollster and strategist, veteran of nine elections, uses a programme of focus groups and in-home ethnographic interviews in seats such as Workington, Don Valley and Redcar to build a vivid portrait of Red Wall voters. She identifies their likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, values and attitudes, where politics fits into their lives and what kind of Britain they want for themselves and their families.
Author
Deborah Mattinson
Deborah Mattinson advised Labour through the 1980s and the birth of New Labour. She then worked closely with Gordon Brown as he prepared to become PM, and after transition she began her career in advertising, and is a Founder Director of BritainThinks, and its international arm, WorldThinks.
Related to Beyond the Red Wall
Related audiobooks
Inside Story: Politics, Intrigue and Treachery from Thatcher to Brexit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Teal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Establishment: And How They Get Away With It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Fix Northern Ireland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis is Not America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything in Moderation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Britain Alone: The Path from Suez to Brexit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I, Maybot: The Rise and Fall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brexitland: Identity, Diversity and the Reshaping of British Politics Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Sunday Times Investigates: Reporting That Made History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeft for Dead?: The Strange Death and Rebirth of the Labour Party Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Bigger Picture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories Old Towns Tell: A Journey Through Cities at the Heart of Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBroken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGaffs: Why No One Can Get a House, and What We Can Do About It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elizabethans: How Modern Britain Was Forged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decline and Fail: Read In Case of Political Apocalypse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors: 50 Places That Changed British Politics Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Life in Questions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Decade in Tory: An inventory of idiocy from the coalition to Covid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Modern History For You
Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Plain Sight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Revolution: The War for Independence and the Birth of the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Generation Kill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold War: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Beyond the Red Wall
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
2 ratings0 reviews