David Torrance

We are honoured to welcome political historian David Torrance to discuss his new book, The Wild Men, an engaging history examining the story behind Britain's first Labour party members.

David will be in conversation with BBC correspondent Allan Little. David and Allan will also talk about the latest volume in David’s history of the Scottish political parties, A History of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Parties, newly available from Edinburgh University Press.

Do join us for a fascinating evening with two intelligent and perceptive minds, with a glass of wine on us!

"Thoroughly researched...brings superbly to life figures whom history should not have forgotten." - Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph "A highly readable, enjoyable and informative book." - John McTernan, Financial Times.

The Wild Men

In 1923, four short years since the end of the First World War, and after the passing of the Act which gave all men the vote, an inconclusive election result and the prospect of a constitutional crisis opened the door for a radically different sort of government: men from working-class backgrounds who had never before occupied the corridors of power at Westminster. Who were these 'wild men'? Ramsay MacDonald, their leader and Labour's first Prime Minster, was the illegitimate son of a Scottish farm labourer; Arthur Henderson was a Scottish iron moulder; J. H. Thomas, a Welsh railwayman; John Wheatley, an Irish-born miner and publican; and William Adamson, a Fife coal miner. Never before had men from such backgrounds occupied the corridors of power in Westminster.

The Wild Men tells the story of that first Labour administration - its unexpected birth, fraught existence, and controversial downfall - through the eyes of those who found themselves in the House of Commons, running the country for the people. Blending biography and history into a compelling narrative, David Torrance reassesses the UK's first Labour government a century after it shook up a British establishment still reeling from the War - and how the establishment eventually fought back. This is an extraordinary period in British political history which echoes down the years to our current politics and laid the foundations for the Britain of today.

About David Torrance

David Torrance is a constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library and a widely published historian of Scottish and UK politics. He has written unauthorised biographies of SNP politicians Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the biography of David Steel.