Division- British politics since 1974

Division!
British politics since 1974



With his loss In the second election of 1974, Edward Heath was looking more and more unelectable. Despite high inflation, the Labour Party under Harold Wilson was in a buoyant spirit, and their victory in the October polls painted Edward Heath as a man who had lost his way. With the Ulster Unionists refusing to take the Conservative whip in the Commons, the situation inside the Party was one of division and caution. Indeed, if one thought the Labour Party divisions between left and centre were destructive, they would be enamoured by the sheer ferocity of the internal strife afflicting Heath's Conservatives. The leaders supporters, those who subscribed to his One Nation ideology, were largely seen as weak and out of touch by a number of backbench MPs, whose concerns were only enforced by the General Election loss.

Indeed, come 1975, with the referendum on the EEC fast approaching, a group of influential right wing Conservative MPs met to discuss a potential candidate to fight Heath for the leadership. They gambled that Heath's unpopularity would unite many Tory MPs behind one candidate, whether they be a right winger or not, and thus reasoned that it was in the party's best interest to put a candidate favourable to the right wing of the party at the forefront of the leadership election (which by now was just a matter of time away). The group, including Airey Neave, Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph, decided that respected backbencher and chairman of the 1922 committee Edward du Cann would be the perfect candidate, and immediately began sounding out potential support from within the parliamentary party.

When the leadership election came in May 1975, a month before the referendum, there was broad speculation (one would even say optimism) that du Cann was ready to unseat Heath as leader of the Conservatives. However, as the leadership election drew ever nearer, du Cann's flagship business, Keyser Ullman, was declared bankrupt, an affair which Heath and his supporters leapt on. Further embarrassing revelations about the affair continued to be uncovered, and du Cann's leadership bid was effectively over with the news that his company could have gone bankrupt as early as December 1974. Heath had hung on to power, at least for now.


Conservative leadership election- May 1975

Edward Heath- 198

Edward du Cann- 65​

With the divisions in the Conservative Party still rife, despite the conclusive leadership results, Wilson's Labour government saw an opportunity to deliver key welfare legislation (an integral tenet of his election campaign manifesto). Following the resounding “yes” vote in the European referendum in Britain (this was down mainly to support from all three Party leaders and the majority of the press), Prime Minister Wilson went about enacting legislation aimed at reinforcing the British welfare state. A state earnings related pension scheme was introduced. A new pension, which was inflation-proofed and linked to earnings, was added to the basic pension which was to increase in line with earnings for the first time ever. This reform assisted women by the linking of pensions to the 'twenty best years' of earnings, and those who worked at home caring for children or others were counted as contributors. These popular measures saw Labour's poll ratings boom, as the opposition Conservatives looked in a state of disarray.
 
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Looking good so far, I wonder if Wilson, or possibly a successor, will go for the option of an early election like in 1966 to get a workable majority.
 
(Sorry for the short update, been a very long day indeed. I promise I'll have something somewhat more in depth come tomorrow!)

After a tumultuous 1975, in which Edward Heath had staved off the threat of backbenchers attempting to topple his leadership, and the Labour Party had rocketed in the polls, it was perhaps to be a great shock to the British people to wake up on the third of March 1976 to learn of the news that Prime Minister Harold Wilson was to resign. Whilst a close group of his friends and colleagues had been informed of Wilson's desire to leave office following his sixtieth birthday, the general public could hardly believe it. With all the problems Labour had faced, especially regarding the issue of Europe, the Party faced a tough challenge in presenting a united front behind whomever was elected. The leadership election was contested by three men; Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary; Michael Foot, the Employment Secretary and prominent left winger; and the Energy Secretary Tony Benn (another left winger).

It had been expected that Jim Callaghan, a popular figure in the Party, would run and win. However, he pledged his support for Roy Jenkins, and with the left wing, eurosceptic side of the Labour Party split between Foot and Benn, Jenkins looked set to win. Indeed, many contemporary historians are of the opinion that, had either Benn or Foot pulled out of the leadership race (thus the left wing vote would not have been split), then there was a very good chance that Jenkins would not have won such a landslide leadership election.

Labour leadership election- March 1976

Roy Jenkins- 162

Michael Foot- 122

Tony Benn- 29​

With Roy Jenkins becoming Prime Minister, the left wing of the Labour Party began murmurings of disquiet. His pro-European stance, as well as his personal ideology of fiscal responsibility (and idea of asking the IMF for a bailout of Great Britain), all made him a target for fiendish backbenchers. With the infighting of the Labour Party eventually making headlines in the nations press, the public opinion of the government began to fall sharply. Many men and women feared that the Labour Party would become exactly like the opposition, that is divided along ideological lines, and without unity and clear policies to define their stance. With Labour's popularity beginning to fall, and their wafer thin majority still creating an air of uncertainty for the Jenkins administration, the new Prime Minister faced a long task ahead.
 
Prime Minister Jenkins came inherited two things from Harold Wilson: A Labour Party divided about Europe, and a British economy in trouble. With inflation still at record highs, his government was struggling to meet with the demands of the Trade Unions, as well as the demands of the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, whose MPs were ensuring the survival of Jenkins' government. In the winter of 1975, Jenkins appealed to the International Monetary Fund for a loan to save Britain's economy, a move that proved immensely unpopular with the British electorate. Suddenly, the popular opinion polls that Labour had enjoyed over an opposition Conservative Party dogged with infighting had eroded, and the two were almost neck and neck, with the Tories edging ever so slightly ahead, going into the year 1976.

A key test of the two political Party's came in November that year, when the Labour MP John Stonehouse resigned following his defection to the English National Party and subsequently faking his own death in a bizarre state of affairs. The Conservative Party, beginning to open up a small but stable lead over the government in opinion polls, were confident of a win, and indeed, the Tory leader Edward Heath was relying on a win to cement his position as leader of the Party. The by-election campaign saw what was effectively a two-horse race between the Conservatives and Labour in the moderately pro Labour Walsall North. As the moths went on, the economy remained stagnant, however the Conservatives were still in a bad way, and their confidence in a by-election win slowly ebbed away.

Walsall North by-election- November 1976

David Winnick (Labour)- 14,309

Robin Hodgson (Conservative)- 12,004

Joseph Parker (National Front)- 4,302

Francis Oborski (Liberal)- 2,992

Sidney Wright (Independent)- 2,012

Jonathan Tyler (Ecology)- 139

With the defeat to Labour in the by-election, especially on the back of an unpopular government and economic uncertainty, the backbenchers in the Conservatives were becoming anxious about the electoral prospects for their Party. They reasoned that the Tories should be in a much better position in the polls than they actually were (and indeed that they should have won the by-election), and blamed their shortcomings on their leader, Edward Heath. However, despite a Party close to collapse, Heath stayed dogged and defiant, clinging onto his position as opposition leader. It was an unpopular move, and made the right wing of the Conservatives even more anxious to oust him. Nevertheless, without a clear right wing candidate to stand in a potential leadership election (the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph had been discredited following their handling of du Cann's leadership bid, and did not command a significant amount of support from the wider Party), Heath was to remain leader for the foreseeable future, however unpopular he was with his Party.

Naturally, Prime Minister Jenkins was quick to pounce on the divided opposition Party, in a desperate attempt to deflect attention not only from his poor economic record, but also the divisions in the Labour Party that had afflicted his poll ratings so badly. At Prime Minister Questions, he and Heath exchanged insults on how poor each others leadership was, and tried to outdo each others terms and adjectives for just how divided their respective Party's were. With British politics at it's most divided point to date, both main political party's looked hopelessly weak, in the face of the biggest economic crisis to face Britain post World War Two.
 
As 1977 dawned in the United Kingdom, a sense of doom and gloom hung over the nation. Wilson's attempts to appease Trade Unions in 1974 had seemingly failed, with strikes hitting every part of British industry, and with Jenkins' government unprepared to make a stand against them, public spending continued to rise. The dire state of Britain's finances was to have a long lasting effect on the nations international standing, and with it's credit rating at an all time low, even key European allies were cautious about loaning money to the UK. Chancellor Shirley Williams had, in her eagerness to appeal to the left wing of the Labour Party to ease the internal friction, unwittingly caused inflation to rocket. Jenkins himself had been a strong advocate of fiscal responsibility, however was unable to placate his rebellious backbenchers (which was essential in times of such a thin majority) and produce a budget surplus.

In the Conservative Party, Edward Heath was looking more and more tired. Despite the failed leadership coup in 1975, the Conservative Party was ready for Heath to go. James Prior, seen as a close ally of the beleaguered Tory leader, had met with several cabinet members, and Edward du Cann, to discuss trying to convince the former Prime Minister to step down. When the news of Prior's perceived betrayal reached the desk of Edward Heath, the leader of the opposition was said to have sat silently for a few moments, and then exclaimed that “it is time”. Heath's resignation on the nineteenth of February 1977 sparked much speculation in the media as to the new direction of the Party, and as to who would run against him. Would a right wing candidate emerge from the backbenches? Would the Party split as Labour was currently split? The answer, they soon found out, to both of those questions, was a resounding no. Two days after Heath had stepped down, James Prior emerged in front of the press to announce his intention to stand in the leadership election as, one by one, Conservative cabinet ministers, and later backbenchers, made statements of support for Prior's candidacy. He was to be the unifying figure that both party's so desperately needed, and was confirmed as official leader of the opposition on February the twenty second, 1977.

With Heath finally departed as the Conservative leader, Prime Minister Jenkins was beginning to worry about his own prospects as leader. Indeed, these worries were only cemented by the governments plummeting poll ratings, as Labour went into June 1977 trailing the Tories by 19 percent. However, for all of the economic problems, and the division in his own party, Jenkins was resolute. In a typically dogged performance at Prime Ministers Questions one Wednesday in July, Jenkins exclaimed “I will not leave this side of the house until it is time.” That time, as he was to find out in due course, was sooner than he would have imagined.
 
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