Tangled Up in Blue

Tangled Up in Blue: Blue Labour and the Struggle for Labour's Soul is a 2011 politics book by the journalist and Labour councillor Rowenna Davis. The work tracks the emergence of Blue Labour, a movement within the UK Labour Party which seeks to promote active citizenship and to champion traditional community values. While Davis does describe Blue Labour's ideas and policy recommendations, the book focuses on political relationships and the roles these played in Blue Labour's development. In particular the book is concerned with Lord Glasman and his relationships with other academics, strategists, and politicians – especially David and Ed Miliband. The work is Davis's first book. Synopsis The book has a foreword by Steve Richards, an introduction, five chapters, and a conclusion. Foreword In the foreword, Richards describes how his first meeting with Glasman shattered his initial assessment that Blue Labour was derivative and backward looking, and claims that the importance of Blue Labour was partly shaped by Ed Miliband's rise to party leader, after which he declared that the era of New Labour was over. According to Richards, Blue Labour is the most important source of fresh ideas to fill the resulting void, and that Glasman has the potential to be just the sort of compelling advocate needed to present new thinking if it is to gain acceptance by the political mainstream.