{"podcast":{"title":"Origin Story","slug":"origin-story-5452720","podcast_index_feed_id":5452720,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/originstory","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/9e94abb2-d5e6-11ec-ad02-7b0263135b23/image/Show_Cover-Origin_Story.jpeg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Podmasters","episode_count":115,"summary":"What are the real stories behind the most misunderstood and abused ideas in politics? From Conspiracy Theory to Woke to Centrism and beyond, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey dig into the astonishing secret histories of concepts you thought you knew. Want to support us in making future seasons? There are now two ways you can help out: • Patreon – Get early episodes, live Zooms, merchandise and more from just £5 per month. • Apple Podcasts – Want everything in one place with one easy payment? Subscribe to our premium feed on Apple Podcasts for ad-free shows early and bonus editions too. From Podmasters, the makers of Oh God, What Now?, American Friction and The Bunker.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-story-5452720"},"episode":{"title":"The Labour Party – Part Two – War and Peace","slug":"the-labour-party-part-two-war-and-peace","published_at":"2025-11-12T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-story-5452720/the-labour-party-part-two-war-and-peace","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-story-5452720","url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR4319146975.mp3?updated=1762899902","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR4319146975.mp3?updated=1762899902","summary":"Welcome back to Origin Story season eight: The Story of Socialism. This week, we continue the tale of the UK Labour Party, from Keir Hardie to Keir Starmer. It’s 1940 and Clement Attlee’s Labour has joined the wartime coalition with Winston Churchill’s Tories, making it seem for the first time like a natural party of government and paving the way for its surprise 1945 landslide. Despite enormous obstacles at home and abroad, Attlee’s ageing all-stars lay the foundations of post-war Britain, from the NHS to NATO. How did they pull it off? Losing office in 1951 kicks off the wilderness years. Civil war rages between followers of the left-wing titan Nye Bevan and the revisionist Hugh Gaitskell as Labour struggles to find a purpose in a decade of growing affluence and relative consensus. A new socialism of liberty and equality battles with the old socialism of nationalisation while fresh divisions open up over Europe and the Cold War. After 13 years, the shrewd unifier Harold Wilson leads Labour back to power and Home Secretary Roy Jenkins leads a liberalising revolution in British life. But is social democracy still socialism? If 1970 is an unexpected defeat, then 1974 is an unexpected victory —and a very mixed blessing. Wilson and his successor James Callaghan preside over five years of crisis and precarity as the post-war consensus cracks and crumbles. The born-again socialist Tony Benn and the liberal Europhile Roy Jenkins represent two poles of an increasingly fractious party. When Margaret Thatcher sweeps to power in 1979, Labour returns to the wilderness and faces its worst identity crisis yet. Why was the Second World War the making of the Labour Party? Who, or what, killed the post-war consensus? How did Labour governments navigate one crisis after another? How di…","meta_description":"Welcome back to Origin Story season eight: The Story of Socialism. This week, we continue the tale of the UK Labour Party, from Keir Hardie to Keir Starme…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5783,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/origin-story-5452720/episodes/the-labour-party-part-two-war-and-peace/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-story-5452720/the-labour-party-part-two-war-and-peace.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}