Breaking the Mould: An Alternate History

BREAKING THE MOULD

An Alternate History
By
Alfie J Steer​


A Very Odd Election

(Taken from "Stuck in the Wilderness" by Neil Kinnock, Random House 2001)

"...The 1983 election night was one of the worst of my parliamentary career. I knew from the campaign's beginning that we were going to loose badly, but I had never envisaged the bloodbath we witnessed that night. We were dazed by it all, Roy, Michael, Denis all of us. We just couldn't believe it. We failed the electorate that night and for the rest of the Labour Party's existence we continued to do so. A part of me wished I had joined the SDP that night, just like everyone else. I watched on television as the results slowly came in. "Alliance Gain" constantly flashed along the bottom of the screen, very rarely did I see any red appear through the tornado of orange and purple. It was a disaster, a nightmare, the only good news I heard that night was that Tony had lost his seat..."


(Taken from "The Official Results of the 1983 UK General Election" published 11th June 1983)

Conservative: 342 (+3)
Labour: 154 (-115)
SDP-Liberal Alliance: 129 (+119)
Ulster Unionist: 11 (+2)
SNP: 4 (+2)
Plaid Cymru: 4 (+2)
Democratic Unionist: 3 (+1)
SDLP: 1 (-1)
Sinn Fein: 1 (NC)
Ulster Popular Unionists: 1 (+1)


(Taken from "The Fall of the Red House" by Ed Miliband, Harper Collins 2012)

"...Ever since Tony Benn's election as Deputy Leader the Labour Party had been on the decline. The defeat of Denis Healey had cost the moderate wing of the party any hope of representation and electoral success. On the night of September 27th 1981, just hours after the Deputy Leadership vote, over fifty MPs met to discuss their future. By the end of the night Roy Hattersley, John Smith and thirty others had decided that their time in the Labour Party had come to an end. By the time of the next session in Parliament all of them sat among the ranks of the new Social Democratic Party. The SDP had been formed under similar circumstances a few months prior and had already risen to new heights as a political force. Boasting nearly seventy seats in parliament this new party along with the Liberals preached a message; "to break the mould of British Politics". On election night 1983, they did just that..."


(Taken from Michael Foot's speech to Labour Party HQ, 9th June 1983)

"...As you've all probably guessed I am tonight announcing my resignation..."
 
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The Aftermath

(Taken from "The Rise, Rise and Rise of the SDP" by Andrew Rawnsely, Pengiun 2009)

"...By dawn of the 10th June 1983 the political landscape had changed forever. The SDP-Liberal Alliance had grown overnight to become the largest third party since the days of Lloyd George. The Labour party had been crushed to it's lowest seat count since 1935 and it's lowest share of the vote since 1918. The Conservatives however, had remained surprisingly unscathed despite winning by the lowest share of the vote since 1922.

The old Two Party system had been broken and the true corruption of First Past the Post had been revealed. Despite holding a very strong second place in terms of votes, miles ahead then Labour, the Alliance remained in third place. It was a disgrace and huge disappointment to voters and suppors throughout the country. Never the less leaders David Steel and Roy Jenkins declared their parties the "Real Opposition" in the United Kingdom, something Labour found hard to refute.

Late on election night Michael Foot resigned as Labour Leader and took "full responsibility" for their horrendous defeat. Tony Benn also announced his resignation as Deputy Leader the next day. Both men called for unity during the dark times which lay ahead. Early the next morning few people saw a future for the Labour Party.

Throughout the Tory camp there was a sense of relief. The rise of the SDP-Liberal Alliance had not effected the Conservatives and their seat count actually rose as a result. It seemed FPTP had managed to keep them safe despite their low vote count. Thatcherism had survived, at least for now.

Huge celebration was experienced throughout the HQs of the SDP-Liberal Alliance, power was on the way and nothing could stop them. As both Labour and the Tories grew in extremism the middle ground became dominated by the Alliance, already campaigning began for true recognition as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and negotiations over a merger had begun.

The situation was a odd one. From the off the idea of the Liberal and Social Democrats uniting would not be greeted with a 50/50 deal and some concessions would have to be made. In terms of seats the SDP was the larger party byseven seats and was by far becoming the more influential of the two. The Liberals seemed tired out and old fashioned compared to the young, bright SDP. David Steel held a meeting with his now much larger Liberal Party a few days after the election to discuss their future, according to the newly elected Ming Campbell the mood was "very tense". A few weeks following the election however, Roy Jenkins announced his intention to stand down as the SDP's first leader, citing the need for some "younger" leadership. A few weeks after that the date was set for the SDP's second ever leadership election. John Smith, Shirley Williams and the David Own were the main candidates for the contest..."
 
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Was thinking about how successful the SDP could have potentially been the other day as it happens.

Sounds like their's a Pod in there that prevents the Falklands War from occurring somehow, judging by your "Tory relief" comment.
 
Was thinking about how successful the SDP could have potentially been the other day as it happens.

Sounds like their's a Pod in there that prevents the Falklands War from occurring somehow, judging by your "Tory relief" comment.

Falklands is otl. The POD is Benn becoming deputy leader in 1981.
 
The Leadership Elections

(Taken from "Stuck in the Wilderness" by Neil Kinnock, Random House 2001)

"...The party was in a mess and I knew we had to act quickly to turn this party around. I had convinced Michael to call a leadership election before the annual conference in September to ensure we recovered as quickly as possible. I had been tipped for a while to be the next leader and was going to stand as soon as the election was called. As we all know fate got in the way. On the 13th July 1983 I was driving down the M4 in Berkshire when my car overturned. The leadership election had been called the day before and I was rushing down to London to announce my candidacy, I was driving too fast. I dislocated my shoulder and shattered my spine. I was unconscious for days and when I awoke I was told I would never walk again. The leadership election carried on without me. I would remain an MP for another ten years, but never would I become leader of the Party I loved.

Peter Shore was elected Leader of the Labour Party on the 27th July 1983 after a fierce election battle with Gerald Kaufman, one of the few right wingers left in the party. I wished him luck and was elected deputy leader and shadow chancellor a few weeks later. I knew there would be grumblings among the Kaufmanites but hoped they would stick together for the sake of the party. According to the record books the Shore Cabinet was one the shortest lived shadow cabinet in history. We lasted just thirty days..."


(Taken from "The Official Results of the 1983 Labour Party Leadership Election" puplished 28th July 1983)

Peter Shore: 63.2%
Gerald Kaufman: 36.8%


(Taken from "SDP: The Making of A Party" by Andrew Marr, Polity Press 2011)

"...Following Roy Jenkins' resignation as leader of the SDP the already factional party scrambled for a leader. The original "Gang of Four" and Centralist members found their candidate with David Owen after Shirley Williams declined to stand. The Centre-Left Labourites who still wanted to maintain the SDP as a party of Democratic Socialism nominated John Smith for the leadership. The Centre-Right "Wets" which had escaped the claws of Thatcherism nominated the young Ken Clarke to lead the SDP to a more One Nationist Position.

For almost all of the five week campaign Shirley Williams seemed to be the front runner with Smith and Clarke trailing closely behind. However, following the election of Peter Shore as Labour Leader Gerald Kaufman and fourteen other Labour MPs defected to the SDP not only turning the vote to Smith's favour but more crucially, increasing the Alliance's seat count to make them the Official Opposition..."


(Taken from "The Official Results of the 1983 Social Democratic Party Leadership Election" published 2nd September 1983)

John Smith: 40.82%
David Owen: 37.68%
Ken Clarke: 21.5%


(Taken from “The House of Commons of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Seat Structure” dated 3rd September 1983)

Conservative*: 342
SDP-Liberal Alliance: 144
Labour: 139
Ulster Unionist: 11
SNP: 4
Plaid Cymru: 4
Democratic Unionist: 3
SDLP: 1
Sinn Fein: 1
Ulster Popular Unionists: 1

*HM's Government
 
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The Merger

(Taken from "Opposition: 1983 - 1987" by Sir John Smith, Harper Collins 1999)

"...By the time of our annual conference that September the calls for a complete merger from MPs and Party Members had become louder and the negotiations had become much more intense. We knew they could no longer be ignored. A week before the conference began I met with David Steel, we had a lot to discuss. With our recent rise to become the Official Opposition our coverage in the media had increased to previously unimaginable levels. We truly were a party of government and the media could no longer ignore us. We agreed that a merger must happen fast for us to be in a position in unity to battle any of Thatcher's policies. We began to prepare the shadow Cabinet and of course we set about finding a name and, crucially a leader.

After a week of negotiations we finally presented our new party to the electorate. We named ourselves the Democratic Party and called a leadership election with David and I as the only two candidates. The vote was set to be held on the last day of the conference and the shadow cabinet would be revealed. Despite the campaigning and tense atmosphere within the two camps I felt very relaxed on the night we voted. I was happy to serve my party and wanted to win but if David beat me then I would have supported to him. We agreed to call each other that night when the results came through. When I picked up the phone I was greeted by a very warm "congratulations John"..."


(Taken from "The Official Democratic Party Leadership Election" published 1st October 1983)

John Smith: 50.2%
David Steel: 49.8%


(Taken from "The Democrats: The Birth of a Party" by Andrew Marr, Polity Press 2012)

"...John Smith had pulled it off. He was elected the first Leader of the Democratic Party and alongside the defeated David Steel unveiled their first official shadow cabinet. John Smith was Leader of the Opposition, David Steel was Deputy Leader and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Roy Jenkins was made Shadow Chancellor and David Owen Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Penhaligon became shadow Home Secretary and Ken Clarke became shadow Defence Secretary. Smith's leader's speech presented Britain with a "new hope" for Britain as the Tories and Labour Party continued to betray the electorate. They would be the "third way" for Britain.

Smith's speech that night was marked as the most important of his career, second only to his iconic "victory" speech on the steps of No.10 four years later..."
 
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