Palgrave History Collection

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.