Wreckers or Builders? A History of Labour MEPs 1979-1999

This is the first history of Labour Members of the European Parliament, described in the foreword by Neil Kinnock as 'a well-researched record - warts and all - of the period when Labour in the European Parliament grew from 17 to 62 Members and Labour's policy on the EU changed from withdrawal to committed support for membership and reforms'. The author provides a detailed chronological account of the era, with balanced coverage of every MEP and all the principal issues of the day. The emphasis is primarily on the political though with passages in which the author describes the experience of life for the MEPs and assistants in the often strange and difficult environments of Strasbourg and Brussels. The author interviewed all surviving MEPs in the production of the volume, which also draws extensively on records of the British Labour Group and European Parliamentary Labour Party and parliamentary records. The book comprises four main parts providing a chronological account of each of the parliaments in this twenty-year period. Other features include a "where are they now?" section, a selection of photographs including every Labour MEP who sat in this period, a bibliography and a comprehensive index. Extent 340 pages + xx

"At last we have a history of Labour MEPs in the first twenty years of the directly elected Parliament... a well-researched record – warts and all – of the period when Labour in the European Parliament grew from 17 to 62 Members and Labour’s policy on the EU changed from withdrawal to committed support for membership and reforms... From the leadership of Barbara Castle to the Labour Government of Tony Blair, fascinating stories emerge of a Labour group which mixed members who were hell-bent on fundamentalist anti-Europeanism with mainstream European social democrats; of a long Labour march from the devastating defeat of 1979, through the advances of the 80s and early 90s, to the landslide victory of 1997; and of a growing Labour contribution to the joint efforts of the Socialist group to promote progressive policies..."