Maurice Edelman

Society

Labour and the middle classes

• 12 June 2008

In 1945, Labour won the general election as a political party that appealed to the whole nation - including the "useful" middle classes - and not just manual workers. Three years later, Maurice Edelman, Labour MP for Coventry West and a regular contributor to this magazine, described how the party had to hold the loyalties of managers, technicians and scientists and others who had voted for it in 1945 if it hoped to win the next general election.