IntroductionThis will briefly outline the book, explaining as above why the decade was so momentous and why the recession, austerity economics and Brexit are all linked.
Chapter one: Britain in the depths of the Great Recession
This chapter sets the scene in 2009/2010 outlining the undercurrent tensions in British society even before the recession such as income inequalities, generational divides, immigration, regional disparities, globalism, which were later to become starkly apparent during the next decade.
Chapter two: austerity Britain
This chapter looks at the Cameron government's austerity policies and considers their impact and whether they were necessary.
Chapter three: the great divides
The recession exposed great divisions within UK society, between prosperous London and the poorer outlying regions, between wealthy homeowners in London and young people struggling to get on the property ladder in the capital, between the baby boomers and Generation X. The Cameron government initiated 'the Northern Powerhouse' to drive growth to poorer regions but it was in the secondary cities, the Rotherhams, Barnsleys and Blackburns where local economies were weakest and where welfare cuts as part of austerity as a result had the greatest impact.
Chapter four: the rise of the far right
This chapter looks at attitudes to the EU within the UK and at the rise of immigration as a political issue following the big influx of EU workers in the mid to late 2000s. It then examines the rise of UKIP and how, in response to its polling success, David Cameron responded with his fateful decision to hold a referendum on the EU which led to Brexit.
Chapter five: interregnum: Olympic UK
This chapter looks at a year, 2012, which appeared to tell the world that the UK was a cosmopolitan, multi-racial, open-minded society, in contrast to the message sent out by the referendum result four years later. The chapter covers the London Olympics, the sense of optimism which it briefly generated and the impact on the public mood, symbolized by internationalist London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Chapter six: the disrupters
This chapter looks at one of the features of the lost decade, the rise of social media which disrupted established media providers and led to the rise of 'fake news' when it came to election coverage and public perceptions of controversial political issues. Politicians on the fringes were able to bypass traditional media and appeal directly to the public without the intervening firewall of informed commentary. The EU referendum campaign would ultimately be won through social media.
Chapter seven: foreign quarrels
This chapter looks at how international issues impacted on the UK, primarily from the rise of Isis in the Middle East and its attraction for some young Muslim males in the UK, the fall of Gadaffi in Libya, and the Syrian civil war and consequent refugee crisis. These all contributed to a rise of xenophobia reflected in growing support for UKIP. By the time of the EU referendum refugees from the Middle East and Africa, asylum seekers, homegrown Islamic terrorists and EU working immigrants were all conflated by unscrupulous politicians into a single threat that would boost the Leave vote.
Chapter eight: Cameron makes history
This chapter covers the 2015 general election and examines the impact of the recession on the public and on the public finances and at the socio-economic challenges Cameron now faced. It also covers the 2014 Scottish referendum which should have been a wake-up call to the possibility that a EU referendum could end in Leave.
Chapter nine: headlong into Brexit
This chapter looks at the eventful year following the 2015 election. It covers the referendum campaign and the poll itself, Cameron's resignation, the election of Theresa May, Corbyn's own post-referendum troubles with his Shadow Cabinet and the start of the Brexit process. In particular it considers the reasons why the country - to the shock of the political class - voted Leave and examines the socio-economic profile of the Remainers and Leavers that exposed the deep divide in the country.
Chapter ten: capitalism in crisis
This chapter looks at the disastrous general election campaign which saw May lose her majority and Corbyn emerge as the unlikely hero of Labour, cementing its leftwards march. Political commentators attributed much of his electoral success to young voters, furious about the Brexit result and at the government's austerity. In a sign of post-referendum confusion, the middle classes tended to vote Labour while working class voters - mainly Leavers - backed the Conservatives. The elections also saw the disappearance of UKIP.
Chapter eleven: party loyalties under pressure
This chapter looks at the negotiations for a Brexit deal during 2018 and early 2019 and the way Brexit broke traditional party loyalties among Labour and Conservatives. This chapter will cover the negotiations up to when (or if) the UK leaves the EU.
Conclusion:
This summarises the key undercurrents of the decade and sees Brexit and its impact on the UK body politic as the expression of underlying socio-economic changes in Britain.
