AUGUST 1980
A Private Meeting
"Denis Healey must go!"
"He is refusing to listen to the demands of our union supporters! He will never get anywhere as a junior Tory!"
"Mr. Benn, you must challenge him at the next party conference..."
"What is our strategy until then?"
"We make him into Thatcher-lite. We'll get the Electoral College yet."
The Independent
Question Time devolves into confrontations!
HEALEY & BENN NEARLY COME TO BLOWS FORCING CLEARING!
SOME IN LABOUR THREATEN ON RIGHT AND LEFT!
Yesterday, after a heated exchange in the House of Commons during a Question Time debate, Labour leaders are fuming amongst one another. The Prime Minister, when confronted about her positions on democracy by Scottish Nationalist leader, Gordon Wilson, skillfully turned the tides of the debate that left her opponents in Labour fuming. She told Mr. Wilson that "She, unlike some within the Party Opposite, supports democracy and the will of all the people of Great Britain" and that "Unlike the members opposite, she would never allow trade unions to decide the course of the nation alone as they would decide the future of the opposition if they go through with their electoral college."
At first, Mr. Healey defended his party and the moderates who strongly opposed the electoral college. He was immidiately challenged by Michael Foot and an argument among members quickly ensued. Tony Benn and Mr. Healey nearly came to blows, having to be seperated by members. Mr. Speaker adjourned the House until cooler heads could prevail.
There is much talk that defections will occur no matter what course the party takes. If they are to continue on the right wing path, Mr. Benn is openly consorting about either defection or a challenge. On the right, there is much dissatisfaction with Mr. Healey's leadership. Roy Jenkins, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, however no longer a member of the House, has denounced Mr. Healey's leadership. Several moderate MP's, including Roy Hattersley, David Owen, William Rodgers, Shirley Williams and Neil Kinnock have been meeting over the issue for some time to discuss what to do. We will continue to update you with events as they occur in this tumultous story...
SEPTEMBER 1980
Mrs. Thatcher was quite pleased with the goings on in the opposition. They were completely disorganized as well as fractured. Healey and Shore couldn't get along. The Shadow Cabinet was failing during Commons debates against her Ministers and she was getting her program passed most easily. The Liberal Party looked completely dead. Sure, there were some worries, such as the issue with Iran. America's Secretary of State, the decorated Edmund Muskie had been negotiating for the release of Americans almost fruitlessly. But all in all, Mrs. Thatcher was riding high. She had no reason to suspect that anything would go wrong in Britain. That is, until the news leaked...
Francis Pym had been holding negotiations with Edward Heath, yes, the former Prime Minister who could not even bring himself to say Thatcher's name! Pym was also talking to the moderately conservative Cyril Smith in the Liberal Party. Pym, Heath and Smith were considering a full break and the creation of a new political party in the middle. With Labour disorganized, the Liberals dying and the Tories moving further to the right, the prospects for a centrist party were greater than ever. When Thatcher got wind of this, she reamed out Pym and demoted him. Replacing him as Foreign Secretary would be one of Thatcher's favorite problem solvers; Norman Tebbit.
This would prove to be problematic. Tebbit could not get along with his American counterpart, the tempermental Muskie, which strained relations with America. Meanwhile, the 1980 U.S. Presidential Election was underway. Jimmy Carter had been rejected by the Democrats that summer in favor of Edward Kennedy and his running mate, Morris Udall. Ronald Reagan, whom Thatcher regarded as a close friend, had held the lead since the conventions and it was looking increasingly like he would win.
Ronald Reagan campaigns in 1980
Edward Kennedy at the 1980 Democratic Convention
Morris Udall on the left shakes hands with his
Vice-Presidential Opponent Republican George Bush
OCTOBER 1980
Out of the government completely, Pym set his idea in motion with Heath. However, at the last second, Smith soured on the idea of leaving the Liberals at the time, thus putting off the brand new party for a time as Pym and Heath correctly judged that just "Two sour old Tories do not a new party make. We will need someone else... Someone who isn't quite so fickle as Cyril..."
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
IRAN THREATENS EXECUTION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS!!!
President Carter and Secretary Muskie
denounce Iranian leader as "totally mad"
Prime Minister Thatcher
joins America and calls
for Iran to be stopped!