A Firm Hand- A British Political Timeline

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Chapter Four:
Inspired by the American and British Protests, unrest began in the Soviet Union in December 1977, with protests and riots breaking out across the USSR. In what seemed to be a chain reaction, demonstrations and violence sprung up in dozens of cities in the various "occupied" regions of Russia. The Ukraine and Georgia were most affected with many refugees fleeing to Turkey and Romania to avoid the chaos. In many cases the army was used to put down any particularly violent protests, in other cases riot police and tear gas was used.

Tanks in Kiev, January 1978. The riots in the Soviet Union during the late 70s were far out of Brezhnev’s control

On the 10th July Ted Heath resigned as Prime Minister, and Reginald Maudling drove to the Palace, where Her Majesty the Queen invited him to form a government. Dennis Healey and David Steel both welcomed Maudling as great change from the Government of Ted Heath. Heath himself would agree to serve as Chancellor until a post election reshuffle.

Heath leaving to go to the palace to tender his resignation​

 

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Chapter Five:
Reginald Maudling would cut taxes and increase public spending however he is only ever remembered for one thing: dying. Maudling would die at the age of 62 on the 10th April 1979, just 9 months after entering number 10. His funeral was attended by the Queen, Prince Charles, Ted Heath, President Carter and many other world leaders.

Reginald Maudling: 1917-1979

With only a month until the election, Ted Heath agreed to stand in as acting Prime Minister until after the election. The 1979 Conservative leadership election was hotly contested, with Maggie Thatcher, Willie Whitelaw and Geoffrey Howe all vying for a chance at the leadership. The relatively new Howe polled only 12% of the vote. Whitelaw gained 32%, and Thatcher 56%. On the 18th April 1979, Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party.

The 1979 General Election was overwhelming for Labour, who gained 60 seats, almost all of which were taken from the Tories in a targeted campaign. The Liberals also failed to make any gains, losing two seats. Other parties took home ten between them.

Dennis Healey hadn’t expected to become Prime Minister

With a solid cabinet of several old hands like Roy Jenkins (Chancellor), new hands like Roy Hattersley (Home) and radical hands like Michael Foot (Foreign), Healey expected to do well in the polls. Meanwhile Margaret Thatcher and her personality based campaign seemed not to wash with the electorate, and the party lost 58 seats overall. Questions over her ability to lead the Tories to victory were frequently asked but Thatcher dodged them, for now.​

 

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Chapter Eight:
In December 1981 the British political scene was rocked by a monumental event. Healey had decided to sack off most of the left leaning cabinet ministers within his own party in favour of more moderate voices. By November, many papers were expecting the Justice Secretary, Michael Foot to be sacked. Divisions finally burst on the 18th of December 1981, as a group of Far Left Labour politicians decided to split from the party and establish their own. The result was "Democratic Socialist Party", or "DSP". It was established as a mainstream radical leftist party by prominent Labour MPs, including Michael Foot, Eric Heffer, Norman Atkinson and Bob Cryer. The split was a massive shock to the Prime Minister, who later claimed he had never imagined the division was that serious. This split crashed the Labour party’s popularity, and in one poll the party was rated at 39%.

Despite experts predicting that the DSP wouldn’t get anywhere, due to it‘s radical policies, Foot and the newly formed DSP polled as high as 15%.

On the Tory front Carrington had asked his son Rupert to keep his Peerage warm whilst he led the Conservative Party and won the 1981 Beaconsfield By-Election against unknown Labour barrister Tony Blair. The Conservatives under Carrington had also undergone a modernisation of their public image. Carrington became the dashing, modern figurehead for a party claiming to be ready to "take Britain into the future". Carrington was obviously neither Dashing nor Modern, but people believed it after watching Conservative Party‘s heavily pushed adverts on television.

Carrington would take town hall styled questions throughout his opposition years

In March Parliament passed the Shops Act 1982, which lifted restrictions on Sunday trading in Britain. The bill passed by a narrow margin of just four votes, being heavily opposed by Tory and some traditional Liberal MPs.​

 

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Chapter Nine:
On the 18th of June Westminster fought the Croydon Northwest by-election, following the death of its sitting Tory MP. Much to the surprise of all, the seat was won from the Conservative Party by the Democratic Socialist Party, with their candidate, John Tilley, triumphantly winning by a few hundred votes. The massive shift in policy was remarkable and met with surprise by most.

John Tilley was the first DSP member to be elected to Parliament under the DSP banner. 13 other Labour MPs and 2 Liberal MPs would defect within the next four months, including Dennis Skinner and Tony Benn.

In August 1982 Parliament denied the General Elections Act 1982, which fell short of being signed into law on the provision that General Elections must be held every four years at least, rather than the previous five. With Healey having a slim majority, most traditional Labour MPs refused to sign it.

In September the Falklands war would result in British victory, however with Foreign Secretary, John Silkin pledging to begin a peaceful handover by the end of the century, the victory felt like a compromise. The reaction from the British public was one of outrage, with Silkin becoming a scapegoat for the government’s failings. Denis Healey’s government had evidently beginning to fall apart after a relatively successful 3 years in office. Whilst Healey would insist that his government was in a fine state and would not be resigning, Healey would only be able to slog out another year or two if he stayed on.

However there were few more credible faces in the Labour Party that could possibly take over. Roy Hattersley was decided upon by Healey and other close cabinet members to be his successor, with a young face decided to be the best option to win in 1986. On 21st January 1983, Dennis Healey reluctantly resigned the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Roy Hattersley easily won the leadership election against Neil Kinnock, who refused to let Hattersley become Prime Minister without a leadership election. Her Majesty was reported to have felt sad to see Healey go.

With an underwhelming bounce up in the polls, Hattersley announced that there would be no early general election before 1986.


February 1983 Poll for 1986 Election:

Conservative Party: 309 Seats

Labour Party: 285 Seats

Liberal Party: 31 Seats

Democratic Socialist Party: 9 Seats

Other Parties: 16 Seats​