Reg Prentice remains the most high-profile politician to cross the floor of the House of the Commons in the post-war period. His defection reflected an important 'sea change' in British politics; the end of the post-war consensus and the beginnings of the Thatcher era. This book examines the key events surrounding Prentice's transition from a front-line Labour politician to a Conservative minister in the first Thatcher government. It focuses on the shifting political climate in Britain during the 1970s, as the post-war settlement came under pressure from adverse economic conditions, militant...

This new biography provides an account of the career of Reg Prentice, one of the most controversial yet neglected figures in modern British political history. Prentice remains the most high-profile politician to cross the floor of the House of Commons in the post-war period, and his defection was reflective of an important 'sea change' in British politics; the end of the post-war consensus and the beginnings of the Thatcher era. This book examines in detail the key events surrounding Prentice's transition from a front-line Labour politician, serving in the Wilson and Callaghan governments of...