Mere theology? Neil Kinnock and the Labour Party's aims and values, 1986-1988.

In 1988, Neil Kinnock's Labour Party published Democratic Socialist Aims & Values, a precursor to the party's Policy Review process. While the 'modernisation' period has been the focus of much work by historians and political scientists, the Aims & Values process—where Kinnock decided to pull back from reform—has been subject to far less analysis. Furthermore, while work examining nostalgia and Labour's socialist myth has sought to explain why previous engagements with the party's overarching objectives have engendered controversy, the role of Labour's ethos, specifically a disinclination to engage with the party's objects, has gone relatively unaddressed. This article contends that Kinnock's judgements were affected by both his own interpretation of the party's ethos and his perception of the Labour Party's ethos more widely. His decisions, therefore, must be understood within a context which included the party's traditions, and his own place within them. Apprehensive of the consequences of theoretical renewal, and sceptical of the importance of such an exercise, Kinnock chose not to revisit Labour's core objectives, limiting the extent of ideological change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]