Skip navigation
London Review of Books London Review Bookshop

Bus Lane Strategy subscriber-only content

Tristram Hunt

It’s unlikely that Sidney Webb features in Tony Blair’s pantheon of political heroes. It would, in fact, be difficult to think of a less likely match for Tony and Cherie than Sidney and Beatrice. Yet, after almost a century, the Webbs’ thinking about local government – their disdain for civic initiative and zeal for state uniformity – still appears to influence Labour Party policy.

subscriber-only content Subscribers to the print edition can log in to view the entire article. For information about subscribing to the London Review of Books click here. This article is available for purchase online. Buy this article.

Tristram Hunt researches Victorian civic thought at King’s College, Cambridge.

LRB cover artwork

From the archive

Some of them can read
Sean Wilsey: Rats!

The Horrors of Heathrow
Ian Gilmour at the Terminal 5 Enqiry

All change. This train is cancelled
Iain Sinclair tries to get to the Dome

Short Cuts
Thomas Jones: Crap Towns

It Migrates to Them
Jeremy Harding: The Coming Megaslums