Labour and the Formation of the SDP (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

Labour and the Formation of the SDP

The Labour Party crisis, 1979-1983

Between 1979 and 1983, the Labour Party descended into its worst crisis of the post-war period and faced the possibility of permanent electoral decline. Internal divisions tore the party apart as the left wing gained increasing dominance over party policy and organisation. These years witnessed bitter leadership battles, mass defections, and devastating electoral defeats in 1983 and 1987.

The crisis originated when the left-wing candidate Michael Foot, a Bevanite and supporter of unilateral nuclear disarmament, won the leadership election in 1980. Foot defeated Denis Healey, the centre-right candidate who represented the more moderate wing of the party. This represented a shift away from the centrist approach that had previously characterised Labour leadership. The choice of Foot rather than the expected candidate Healey signalled that hard-left activists were gaining control of the party machinery.

Tensions escalated at the Blackpool party conference in September 1981, where Healey narrowly defeated Tony Benn in a closely fought battle for the deputy leadership. Benn led the so-called "Bennite" Left, which advocated radical socialist policies including unilateral nuclear disarmament, withdrawal from the European Economic Community, and extensive nationalisation. The narrow margin of Healey's victory demonstrated how powerful the left had become within Labour's structures.

The emergence of the SDP

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was formed at the end of January 1981 by a group of prominent Labour politicians who felt they had been forced out of their party by the hard left. The four founding members became known as the "Gang of Four": David Owen, Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, and Bill Rodgers. These were not minor figures but leading Labour politicians with considerable experience in government.

The Gang of Four issued the Limehouse declaration, which announced the formation of the Council for Social Democracy. This statement explained their belief that they could no longer remain in a party dominated by what they saw as extremists. They argued that the best way to preserve social democratic values was not to fight a losing internal battle against the Bennite Left, but instead to establish a new centrist alternative that could appeal to moderate voters across the political spectrum.

Twenty-eight Labour MPs followed the Gang of Four out of the Labour Party to join the new SDP. The defectors believed they were saving social democracy from destruction rather than betraying their principles. They positioned the SDP as occupying the political middle ground between what they characterised as Thatcher's harsh right-wing policies and Labour's far-left agenda.

The motivations behind the split were both ideological and strategic. The founders opposed the leftward lurch on policy issues such as unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from the EEC. They also objected to the increasing influence of hard-left activists in constituency parties and at conferences. The Wembley conference had demonstrated to them that rational debate within Labour was no longer viable.

The impact of the SDP on national politics

The new party made an immediate and dramatic impact on British politics through spectacular by-election victories. Shirley Williams won a sensational by-election in the Conservative seat of Crosby in November 1981, overturning a large Tory majority. In March 1982, Roy Jenkins captured Glasgow Hillhead from the Conservatives. Most damaging to Labour was a by-election in Bermondsey, East London, in 1983. This had been a safe working-class Labour seat, but the Liberals defeated Labour resoundingly. The Liberals claimed they had "broken the mould" of the traditional two-party system, suggesting a permanent realignment was underway.

The two centre parties forged a formal agreement known as the SDP-Liberal Alliance (commonly called "the Alliance"). They worked together in both the 1983 and 1987 general elections, coordinating their campaigns and dividing constituencies between them to avoid splitting the anti-Conservative vote. The Alliance presented itself as a fresh alternative to both the radical right and the hard left.

However, relationships between the two parties proved difficult. Tensions frequently arose, particularly between the leaders - the "Two Davids", David Steel of the Liberals and David Owen of the SDP. Despite these internal strains, the Alliance succeeded in overtaking Labour as the credible opposition to Thatcher's government throughout much of the period until 1987. Opinion polls consistently showed the Alliance performing strongly, and Labour was widely regarded as unelectable due to its divisions and extremist image.

Demographic changes and Labour's decline

Beyond the immediate impact of the SDP split, Labour faced deeper structural problems that threatened its long-term viability. The party could no longer depend on its traditional working-class support base in the way it had throughout the post-war period. The social and economic transformations of the early 1980s were eroding the foundations of Labour's electoral coalition.

Press coverage of Labour was almost universally hostile, with newspapers presenting the party as divided, extreme, and incompetent. Whole sections of Labour's traditional voting base began to drift away from the party. Some former Labour voters now supported the Conservatives, attracted by Thatcher's message of aspiration and home ownership. Others backed the Liberal Party or the new SDP. Some traditional supporters became apathetic and stopped voting altogether.

The trade unions, historically Labour's most important source of organisational strength and funding, were weakening significantly. Union membership declined as traditional manufacturing industries contracted. The confrontational approach of some union leaders during this period also damaged Labour's public image, associating the party with industrial militancy and economic disruption.

Many traditional Labour strongholds in local government were perceived as having lost touch with the people they were supposed to serve. Some Labour-controlled councils gained reputations for inefficiency, extremism, or financial mismanagement. This reinforced the impression that Labour was unfit to govern at any level. The party appeared to have passed the point of no return, with no realistic prospect of electoral recovery in the foreseeable future.

Neil Kinnock's leadership and modernisation efforts

Neil Kinnock (born 1942) succeeded Michael Foot as Labour leader in 1983 following the party's devastating election defeat. Kinnock was a left-wing Labour MP from South Wales who had built his reputation on campaigns for causes such as unilateralism, nationalisation, and withdrawal from the EEC. However, once elected leader, Kinnock recognised that Labour needed to move back toward the political centre ground if it were to have any hope of winning power.

Kinnock understood that Labour faced marginalisation not only by Thatcherism but also by the continued presence of the SDP as a moderate alternative. He concluded that Labour's survival required confronting the hard left within the party and modernising both its policies and organisation. This meant attacking the extremist groups that had damaged Labour's public image and beginning the process of making the party appear moderate and competent.

The new leader set out to drag Labour back into the political mainstream through several strategies. He challenged the dominance of left-wing activists in constituency parties. He worked to improve party discipline and presentation. He began the process of policy review that would eventually distance Labour from its more radical positions. Kinnock led Labour to two further election defeats in 1987 and 1992, but his efforts during these years did restore significant credibility to the party and laid essential groundwork for future electoral success.

Labour divisions, 1983-1987

When Kinnock became leader in 1983, Labour remained in danger of permanent marginalisation. One of his most important battles was against Militant Tendency, an entryist organisation that had infiltrated Labour from within. Militant Tendency derived its name from a newspaper called Militant that promoted Trotskyite revolutionary socialism. Trotskyism refers to the political ideology based on Leon Trotsky's ideas about permanent international revolution of the working classes. Trotsky had been a leader of the Russian Revolution in 1917 but later fell into a power struggle with Stalin. He was expelled from the Communist Party and the Soviet Union in 1929, and was assassinated on Stalin's orders in 1940.

Militant gained its strongest foothold in Bradford and several London boroughs, but its greatest success came in Liverpool, where it gained effective control of the city council with Derek Hatton serving as deputy council leader. Liverpool's Militant-controlled council adopted confrontational tactics against the Conservative government, deliberately setting an illegal budget and claiming moral justification with the slogan: "Better to break the law than break the poor."

Kinnock took on both Militant Tendency and the Bennites who had dominated Labour since 1979. He particularly criticised Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, for failing to hold a strike ballot during the miners' strike of 1984. This criticism was controversial within Labour, where many members supported the miners' struggle, but it demonstrated Kinnock's determination to distance Labour from industrial militancy.

Summary