Stephen Haseler

Life and career

Born in Colchester, Essex, Haseler attended Westcliff High School for Boys, Southend, and then University College, London and the London School of Economics (LSE), being awarded a BSc(Econ.) in 1963 and a PhD in 1967 for his thesis on Revisionism in the British Labour Party during the post-war period.

Haseler had a long record of political involvement in Britain, having stood for election to the British Parliament for the Labour Party in Saffron Walden at the 1966 general election, when he was the youngest candidate in the country, and in the 1970 general election for the Maldon constituency. He was elected to the Greater London Council for the Wood Green ward in 1973 and later served as a Deputy Mayor, then became a founder and joint secretary of the Social Democratic Alliance. He was a founder member of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. Haseler was co-chair of the Radical Society (1988–96) and Chair of the pressure group Republic (1990–2004) and honorary chair from 2004-2007. He was on the Pro-Euro Conservative Party list for the London constituency in 1999 European Parliament elections.

His specialisms were British politics, the UK Constitution, Transatlantic relations and European defence. However, following the publication of his book The Super-Rich (Macmillan 2001), he wrote and lectured on the Global Financial Crisis and Global Politics and rising economic inequality. Haseler was also an authority on the British monarchy and as an advocate of radical constitutional change, including a written constitution and a republican form of government. Although initially an opponent of Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (as it was then), he later became a staunch European federalist who believed that the only credible future for the UK is in the European Union, and that the only viable future for the peoples of Europe lies in a United States of Europe. He regularly appeared on national television and radio in the UK and wrote for national newspapers on this subject. He served on the board of The American International University in London, and was a senior fellow at the Federal Trust.

Formerly the Director of The Global Policy Institute based at London Metropolitan University, he held Visiting Professorships at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, George Mason University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. He was an Emeritus Professor at London Metropolitan University and a Senior Fellow at The Federal Trust.

Publications

Haseler published extensively, including The Gaitskellites (Macmillan, 1969), The Death of British Democracy (Elek, 1976), The Tragedy of Labour (Blackwells, Oxford, 1981), The Battle for Britain: Thatcher and the New Liberals (I.B. Tauris, 1989), The End of the House of Windsor (I.B. Tauris, 1993), The English Tribe: Identity, Nation and the New Europe (Macmillan, 1996), The Super-Rich: The Unjust World of Global Capital (Macmillan, 2001), Super-State – The New Europe and the Challenge to America (I.B. Tauris, 2004), Sidekick: British Global Strategy From Churchill To Blair (Forum Press, 2006, Meltdown: How The Masters of the Universe Destroyed The West's Power and Prosperity (Forum Press, 2008) and Meltdown UK (Forum Press, 2010). His book, Grand Delusion: Britain in the Age of Elizabeth II (IB Tauris, 2012), was written to coincide with the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Personal life

Haseler married (Roberta) Bay Haseler from New York in 1967; and they lived together in London and Washington DC. At Haseler's death they were living in West London and in Vermont in the USA.