THE SEARCHERS

In the great revolutionary year of 1968 Tony Benn was a respectable Labour minister in his forties and he was restless While new social movements were shaking up Britain and much of the world Westminster politics seemed stuck It was time he decided for a different approach Over the next half century the radicalized Benn helped forge a new left in Britain He was joined by four other politicians who would become comrades collaborators and rivals Ken Livingstone John McDonnell Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn For Andy Beckett the story of these admired and loathed political explorers both their sudden breakthroughs and long stretches in the wilderness is the untold story of British politics in modern times As he reveals their project to create a radically more equal liberal and democratic Britain has been much more influential than electoral history might suggest and can be seen from the shape of our city life to the causes of our culture wars For their many detractors this influence was and remains dangerous a form of extremism that must be stamped out But as these five searchers believed in politics there is no total victory nor total defeat