This book examines the range and complexity of unionist political identities, ideas and beliefs in the non-English parts of the United Kingdom in the mid-twentieth century. It discusses the careers of eight politicians from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and uncovers the varieties of unionism that held the multi-national UK together. Challenging the idea that Britain was in the process of breaking up, it argues that the Union provided a focus for loyalty in the United Kingdom that contributed to the continuing formation of identities of Britishness.

Autorentext
PAUL WARD is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield. He is the Fulbright-Robertson Professor of British History at Westminster College, Missouri for 2004-2005. He is the author of Red Flag and Union Jack: Englishness, Patriotism and the British Left 1881-1924 (1998) and Britishness since 1870 (2004).

Inhalt
Introduction: Unionist Lives PART 1: SCOTLAND AND THE UNION PART 2: SCOTLAND AND WESTMINSTER: THE UNIONISM OF WALTER ELLIOT (1888-1958) Elliot and Scotland Elliot and the United Kingdom Elliot and Empire PART 3: OUE GOOD AND FAITHFUL FRIEND: TOM JOHNSTON (1881-1965) Johnston and the Scottish People Empire Socialism Devolution and Planning A Scottish 'People's War' PART 4: EMPIRE, EUROPE AND THE UNION: LADY PRISCILLA TWEEDSMUIR (1915-1978) Women, Unionism and Scottishness Economic Unionism The Buchan Legacy Scotland and the Union: Epilogue PART 5: WALES AND THE UNION PART 6: THE FIRST FAMILY OF WALES: THE LLOYD GEORGE CHILDREN IN BRITISH POLITICS Gwilym Lloyd George (1894-1967): Welsh Nation and British State Megan Lloyd George (1902-1966): Welsh Radical Gender, Welshness and the Lloyd Georges Imperial Wales PART 7: THE UNOFFICIAL PRIME MINISTER OF WALES: HUW T. EDWARDS (1892-1970) Welsh and the Working Class The Council of Wales The Only Path I Could in Honesty Tread Empire Games and Royal Visits Wales and the Union: Epilogue PART 8: NORTHERN IRELAND: THE UNION AND DEVOLUTION PART 9: ULSTER'S RAMSAY MCDONALD? HARRY MIDGLEY (1892-1957) Labour and the Irish Nation before Partition Midgley and British Labour War and Commonwealth From Unionist to Unionist Party Ulster's British Heritage PART 10: FUR-COAT UNIONISM: DAME DEHRA PARKER (1882-1963) Women and Unionism before Partition In Parliament in the 1920s West of the Bann Education and War: 'A Woman is the Best Man for the Job' Youth and Culture Ulster at the Crossroads: Epilogue Conclusion