The New Statesman

The first editor, Clifford Sharp, masterminded a political weekly that by 1920, despite its modest circulation, enjoyed remarkable influence within Whitehall and at Westminster. Reflecting the progressive intelligentsia's disenchantment with the Liberal leadership, especially after the party split in December 1916, the New Statesman had by the end of the First World War become a forum for forward-thinkers at the centre of Labour's policy-making machine.