Blue Labour

proper noun

A political tendency advocating the belief that working-class voters will be won back to Labour through socially conservative ideas on certain issues.

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. UKgovernmentA political tendency advocating the belief that working-class voters will be won back to Labour through socially conservative ideas on certain issues.

    It doesn't take a genius to see that its hostility towards statism, in the context of economic crisis and austerity, could provide useful ideological cover for an assault on welfare. Blue Labour thinking, here, converges seamlessly with Cameron's “big society”.

    2011 May 21, Ed Rooksby, “Don't underestimate toxic Blue Labour”, in The Guardian

Origin

Coined by Maurice Glasman in 2009.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Blue Labour. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Blue%20Labour

MLA

“Blue Labour.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Blue%20Labour. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Blue Labour,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Blue%20Labour.

Source: Blue Labour on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.