Neil Kinnock: Difference between revisions

Following Labour's landslide defeat at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]], [[Michael Foot]] resigned as Leader of the Labour Party aged 69, and from the outset; it was expected that the much younger Kinnock would succeed him. He was finally [[1983 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|elected as Labour Party leader]] on 2 October 1983, with 71% of the vote, and [[Roy Hattersley]] was elected as his deputy; their prospective partnership was considered to be a "dream ticket".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/2/newsid_2486000/2486483.stm|title=1983: 'Dream ticket' wins Labour leadership|work=On This Day|publisher=BBC News|access-date=29 September 2010|date=2 October 1983|archive-date=18 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018091028/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/2/newsid_2486000/2486483.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

 

 

The Labour Party was also threatened by the rise of the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]]/[[SDP–Liberal Alliance|Liberal Alliance]], which pulled out more centrist adherents. On a broader perspective, the traditional Labour voter was disappearing{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} in the face of de-industrialisation that the Conservative government had accepted since 1979.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} Kinnock focused on modernising the party, and upgrading its technical skills such as use of the media and keeping track of voters, while at the same time battling the Militants. Under his leadership, the Labour Party abandoned unpopular old positions, especially the [[nationalisation]] of certain industries, although this process was not completed until future party leader [[Tony Blair]] revamped [[Clause IV]] in the party's manifesto in 1995. He stressed economic growth, which had a much broader appeal to the [[middle class]] than the idea of redistributing wealth to benefit the poor. He accepted membership in the [[European Economic Community]], whereas the party had pledged immediate withdrawal from it under [[Michael Foot]]. He discarded the rhetoric of class warfare.<ref>F.M. Leventhal, ed., ''Twentieth-century Britain: an encyclopedia'' (2002) p 424.</ref>

One Liverpool MP, [[Eric Heffer]], a member of the NEC left the conference stage in disgust at Kinnock's comments.<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=Naughtie |url=http://century.guardian.co.uk/1980-1989/Story/0,6051,108249,00.html |title=Labour in Bournemouth |work=The Guardian |date=2 October 1985 |access-date=5 December 2005 |archive-date=18 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118124811/https://www.theguardian.com/century/1980-1989/Story/0,6051,108249,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 1986, the Labour Party finally expelled the deputy leader of Liverpool council, the high-profile Militant supporter [[Derek Hatton]], who was found guilty of "manipulating the rules of the district Labour party".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/12/newsid_2511000/2511839.stm "1986: Labour expels Militant Hatton"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512024006/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/12/newsid_2511000/2511839.stm |date=12 May 2011 }}, BBC On This Day, 12 June</ref> By 1986, the party's position appeared to strengthen further with excellent local election results and a thorough [[rebranding]] of the party under the direction of Kinnock's director of communications [[Peter Mandelson]], as well as seizing the [[Fulham]] seat in [[West London]] from the Conservatives at an April by-election.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1989/oct/02/reshuffle1999.mandelson | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Peter | last=Lennon | title=Guarding the good name of the rose | date=2 October 1989 | access-date=15 December 2016 | archive-date=2 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202144813/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1989/oct/02/reshuffle1999.mandelson | url-status=live }}</ref> Labour, now sporting a continental [[social democratic]] style emblem of a [[rose]] (replacing the party's first logo, the Liberty logo), appeared to be able to run the governing [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] close, but [[Margaret Thatcher]] did not let Labour's makeover go unchallenged.

 

 

===1987 general election===