'Corbyn and Trident: Labour's continuing controversy', by Carol Turner
Carol Turner's excellent new book discusses the history of the Labour Party's complex relationship with nuclear weapons. Its purpose is not describing abstract or nostalgic historical events; this is a tour-de-force explaining the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and the failures of New Labour, while debunking myths about nuclear weapons, the left and electability.
Context is all and Carol's landscape of Labour history since the advent of nuclear weapons is multi-faceted. To understand and then explain the Labour Party is not to describe its technical policy history or its chronology of leaders but recognise a complex and ever-changing eco-system.
The book is littered with fascinating accounts from notable figures interviewed by the author, including several from Corbyn himself when interviewed by the author in 2013. It is an enjoyable tour of an aspect of recent political history, but it is most valuable in its promotion of the inescapable relationship between the rise of Corbyn and the project of a world without nuclear weapons.
