This book is about trust as a political and cultural phenomenon set in the UK during the New Labour administrations of 1997-2010. There is a temptation to see the period between 2007 and 2010 as post-New Labour and that New Labour neatly corresponds with the stewardship of Tony Blair. We are not working with this understanding, rather we see the whole period defined by 'New Labourism' for want of a better term. Having tried to be as clear as possible about our scope and intentions, we now turn to a brief overview of why trust became (and remains) so critical in our chosen time and place.