What happened to the Labour Party between 1979-87?

Question 1

What ideology did the labour party drift towards?

Answer 1

The Labour Party became divided in its ideology as it became more left wing leaning.

Question 2

Who was elected as leader in 1980?

Answer 2

In 1980 Michael foot was elected as leader of the party.

Question 3

What did Michael Foot support?

Answer 3

He was a Bevanite and he supported the ideas of unilateral nuclear disarmament

Question 4

Who left the Labour Party in this period?

Answer 4

Key Personalities left the party such as David Owen, Roy Jenkins, Shirely Williams and Bill Rodgers.

Question 5

Why did these personalities leave?

Answer 5

This led to key personalities in the party leaving to form the social democratic party [SDP], the so called ‘gang of four’ leaders.

Question 6

How many Labour MPs left the party to join the SDP?

Answer 6

28 Labour MPs also left the party to join the SDP.

Question 7

What was the effect of the SDP?

Answer 7

The new SDP made a huge impact on national politics by winning multiple by election in seats which were once safe conservative and Labour seats.

Question 8

What agreement were made between the two centre parties in the UK [Liberals and SDP]?

Answer 8

Forged a formal agreement known as the SDP-Liberal alliance they worked together in both the 1983 and 1987 election.

Question 9

What were the problems with this alliance?

Answer 9

There were key differences between the two parties and the relationship was often tense and there were clear differences between the leaders the ‘Two David’s’.

Question 10

Why was Labour seen as unelectable?

Answer 10

Within this whole fiasco though Labour aren’t seen as an electable party, instead Thatcher’s major opposition was the Alliance at the time.

This was due to Labour being seen as unfit for government and this isn’t helped by the fact that their 1983 manifesto was the “longest suicide note in history”.

Question 11

What were the main problems with Labour in this time period?

Answer 11

-Far too left wing
-The liberal revival and emergence of the SDP
-Issues surrounding the demographic of the party as well caused mass problems
-Labour could now not rely heavily on there traditional voters from the north and industrial heartlands around the U.K.