Drink and British Politics Since 1830

A Study in Policy Making

J. Greenaway

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780333917824
• eBook ISBN: 9780230510364
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

The issue of alcohol has never been far from British politics. Initially, governments needed to control its sale for public order reasons and because it was a major source of revenue. Then in Victorian times a powerful temperance movement arose which sought to prohibit or severely curb the 'Demon Drink'. This in turn aroused the hostility of the 'Trade' and the issue became one of fierce electoral politics. After 1890 drink was interpreted more as a social reform question and then in the First World War, after a major moral panic, far-reaching measures of direct state control were imposed in the interests of national efficiency. Later in the Twentieth century alcohol use came to be seen as an aspect of leisure and town planning and, more recently, as a health issue. Drawing upon a wide range of primary sources, John Greenaway uses the complex politics of the issue to shed light upon the changing political system and to test various theories of the policymaking process. Both historians and political scientists will be interested in this study.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Drink Problem in Early Victorian Britain, 1830–70
• 3 Drink becomes a Party Political Issue, 1870–95
• 4 New Departures and Old Orthodoxies, 1895–1902
• 5 The High Water Mark of Party Political Controversy, 1902–14
• 6 The First World War: Drink and National Efficiency
• 7 The Postwar Settlement, 1919–21
• 8 Decades of Improvement: The Interwar Years
• 9 Policy Fragmentation 1945–70: Three Case Studies
• 10 Epilogue: A Brief Sketch of the Period after 1970
• 11 Drink, the Political Process and Policy-Making in Britain
• Notes
• Bibliography and Location of Unpublished Sources
• Index