This groundbreaking collection of essays challenges the notion that early postwar Britain was characterised by a consensus between the major political parties arising out of the experiences of the wartime coalition government. The volume collects for the first time the views of the revisionist historians who argue that fundamental differences between and within the parties continued to characterise British politics after 1945. Covering topics as diverse as industrial relations and decolonisation, the volume provides a welcome contrast to orthodox interpretations of contemporary Britain.

Notes on the Contributors - Preface; P.Catterall - Introduction; H.Jones - A Bloodless Counter-Revolution: the Conservative Party and the Defence of Inequality, 1945-51; H.Jones - Consensus here, Consensus there...but not Consensus everywhere: the Labour Party, Equality and Social Policy in the 1950s; N.Ellison - 'Not Reformed Capitalism, but...Democratic Socialism': the Ideology of the Labour Leadership, 1945-51; M.Francis - Conservative Elites, Strategy - and 'Consensus'?; M.D.Kandiah - Consensus and Consumption: Rationing, Austerity and Controls after the War; I.Zweiniger-Bargielowska - Butskellism, the Postwar Consensus and the Managed Economy; N.Rollings - The Politics of the 'Social' and the 'Industrial' Wage, 1945-60; N.Whiteside - Industrial Organisation and Ownership, and a New Definition of the Postwar 'Consensus'; H.Mercer - Decolonisation and Postwar Consensus; N.Owen - Index