Since 1990, Britain has seen a period of unprecedented public investment in, and political commitment to, sport. In this book, Iain Lindsey and Barrie Houlihan examine and analyze sport policy since the appointment of John Major as leader of the Conservative Party in 1990.

John Major's period as Prime Minister was a watershed in British sport policy marking the beginning of a prolonged period of public and lottery investment and relatively high political salience. The text also locates Labour sport policy not only in relation to the previous government of John Major, but also in relation to the Labor government's broader concerns and ambitions related to modernization of British institutions, its ambition to tackle the 'wicked issues' epitomized by its focus on achieving greater social inclusion, and its interest in facilitating greater stakeholder involvement in the policy process.

Lindsey and Houlihan provide the first analysis that examines sport policy as a field of government and that discusses how the various sectors (e.g. youth/school sport, mass sport, etc.) have been affected by government policy and the competition for public resources.