Militant Liverpool: A City on the Edge

In May of 1983—in the wake of a victory in the Falkland Islands—Margaret Thatcher won the second of her three general election victories. Liverpool, going against the grain in the same year, elected a Labour council that vowed to be different, joining others across the country in refusing to a set a Thatcher-like budget that would hurt the poorest citizens of the United Kingdom. At first wildly popular, the council soon became the center of a battle between city and central governments. Militant Liverpool gets underneath this complex development, offering evenhanded assessments and testimonies from key agents during that time of upheaval. In doing so, it provides historical insight into the similar political and economic environment that Liverpool now faces thirty years later.