The Conservative Party and the Creation of the Welfare State Hardcover – Unabridged, 1 Nov. 2022

"The popular image of Neville Chamberlain as an ineffectual, pipe-smoking, fuddy-duddy arch-appeaser ...is unfair and misleading". The opening sentence of the third chapter is typical of the way Eric Caines can colourfully summarise a received wisdom before briskly knocking it down. This book would not claim to be a work of primary research (although there is original research within it) and is unashamedly "top down" when that style of history is somewhat out of fashion. But it is a remarkable feat of synthesis by an author well placed to understand the interrelation of the civil service and the provision of public services. With masterful command of period detail and of secondary sources, Caines outlines the conservative contribution to what came to be known as "Butskellism". While I did not necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, I learnt a tremendous amount not only about the creation of the welfare state but also about individual politicians and ideological trends in all three political parties during the first half of the twentieth century. Thoroughly recommended.