Marquand and MacDonald

David Marquand's biography of Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister, was pioneering, invaluably researched and beautifully written. It set out to explore the ‘myths’ about MacDonald's perceived ‘betrayal’ of the Labour Party and reaches intuitively back into the formations of Labour values and politics in one extraordinary leader. Yet, as well as being an enduring piece of work, it is also an historical document in itself, illustrating how Marquand approached and played a role in the political divisions and issues of the 1960s and 1970s for the Labour Party. Both the 1930s and the 1970s, the biography, and how Marquand argued, have great contemporary resonance: a threatening and unpredictable international situation as the backdrop to a challenging domestic situation and arguments about how a Labour government should deal with them. Marquand's book, in the end, avoids the legitimate criticisms of MacDonald, but is still a brilliant explanation of a remarkable man.