Book review of Anne Perkins’ “Red Queen: The Authorized Biography of Barbara Castle”
To many, Barbara Castle is the personification of the conviction politician – battling hard for the causes she held dear. To a younger generation, she was the hammer of the left who gave New Labour a bloody nose over its pensions policy and roused the party conference and numerous fringe meetings with her calls for a restoration of earnings-linked pensions.
But to others, she was the politician unceremoniously dumped from the Cabinet when Callaghan took over from Wilson as Prime Minister. A criticism frequently levelled at Castle was that she was too close to Wilson for too long.
In the 1950s, Castle had proved her credentials in the party beyond doubt by being an effective and convinced member of the Bevanite brigade. In Government with Wilson in the 1960s, however, she was part of an administration which disappointed many in the party. This eventually led to the ‘In Place of Strife’ debacle. Her proposals to curb the power of the trade unions was beaten by a combination of Cabinet and union opposition which left Castle and Wilson hanging in the air and undoubtedly contributed to the electoral defeat of 1970. Depending on how revisionist one wishes to be, her proposals were either a missed opportunity which would have prevented the Thatcherite juggernaut and reformed the unions in line with socialist priorities or were an ill-judged and ill-timed set of reforms which no-one liked. It took much personal and political courage by Castle to rehabilitate herself in the 1974 government and she made several notable and lasting contributions to society in this period.
This book coveys some of the conviction of Castle the person and the politician. The political blood which undoubtedly pumped through her veins appears to have provided much of her vigour, staying power and sometimes sheer bloody-mindedness. Perkins’ book is very strong in examining the major events of Castle’s life, especially the political ones, and the casual observer may come to the book for this reason. Those though wanting to know more about Castle the person may be left wanting a little more about her early and later life. Castle was so much more than a Member of Parliament and this could come across more strongly in places.
The release of a book likes this gives everyone a chance to recall their favourite story about Barbara Castle. Mine is seeing her arrive late at a Tribune rally and join the platform mid-way through a speech by, the then Shadow Chancellor, Gordon Brown. The applause grew louder and the cheers rose up, but only when a puzzled Brown turned round to see the approaching Castle, did he realise that he had been truly upstaged. Castle, it appears, had a habit of doing that! Castle knew how to work an audience, she could be cutting and could scythe anyone down with a withering comment. Not a skill that many politicians today have.
Labour History – The Journal of the Labour History Group, Issue 2, Spring 2004