Part IV:
♤ Alan Clark,
Diaries: Volume 2, In Search of Power 1979–1983, (HarperCollins, 1991):
"11 June, 1983. The Lady calls. Willie (Whitelaw) is to be kicked upstairs to the Lords to make sense of it. (Geoffrey) Howe will take his place as the Home Secretary. Nigel (Lawson) will take Howe's place at the Treasury and is to be given a retinue of little Norman Lamont and something called David Mellor. Tom King will take Nigel's place at Energy. (Patrick) Jenkin will take Tom's place at the Environment. (Norman) Tebbit will take over for Jenkin at Industry.
The Lady then switched voices. It was delicious hearing her talk in that soft bedroom voice of hers. The elections have proven her right. The wets are to be sacked.
Ich bin vom Himmel gefallen! She teases me, oh how she teases me, by first talking about Jim Prior of all things. Douglas Hurd is to take his place at Northern Ireland and Fisheries will now be headed by Fleshy Yid (Leon Brittan). Then she brings up Lord Carrington. He's to be replaced at the Foreign Office by (Cecil) Parkinson. I nod, as if she can hear me. Not JFK (John Moore) is to be made a Secretary of State for Trade. I hold my breath. JFK will have to be replaced. A new Minister for Europe is to be made. She asks me if I would be willing to take the position. I struggle to breathe. Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! It is not the Cabinet, but it is tangibly closer.
She told me she was glad I had accepted, but warned me not to be 'a naughty boy.' If I am, would she considering spanking me? And if so, I do hope it'll be over the knee and bare handed."
☆ John Bercow,
Thatcher, Thatcherism, and Thatcherites, (Faber, 1998).
"Much has been written on the startling choices Mrs. Thatcher made regarding her Cabinet in '83. And while Mr. Parkinson and Mr. Clark are certainly worthy of a discussion, or twelve, her most startling, controversial and damaging choice is often overlooked. In the aftermath of her win, Mrs. Thatcher decided to elevate her once favourite (before Parkinson) Humphrey Atkins to the Speakership of the House of Commons. Handsome and too charming by half with Mrs. Thatcher, Mr. Atkins was not well liked by his colleague during his spell as the Chief Whip of the Conservative Party. But regardless of his positives and negatives, there was the much thornier constitutional question: the election of the Speaker is a strictly Parliamentary affair. Mrs. Thatcher's directive to Tory MPs to vote for her choice trod on a very sacred ground and the MPs rebelled and backed the Deputy Speaker of previous sessions Jack Weatherill for Speaker. Mrs. Thatcher tried to head off them off by summoning him and telling him first to stand down and then attempting to placate him with a position in the Foreign Office. Mr. Weatherill refused and stood firm. Mrs. Thatcher's tendency to bear grudges manifested itself in a petty feud she ran against him via her Press Secretary. More than a few papers began to write unflattering articles against the Speaker. But while such a thing could be done to bring a minister in line, it was a dangerous weapon to use against a Speaker, whose power in the House is formidable. I firmly believe Mrs. Thatcher's antagonism of the Mr. Weatherill played a key role in her downfall."
♥ Bryan Gould,
Hard Labour, (Penguin Books, 1989):
"Two days after the defeat at the polls and our downfall, The Party was greeted with a 'Daily Telegraph' article announcing front runners for Michael Foot's position, while Michael still held it. Per the respectable Tory broadsheet, it was Roy (Hattersley), Neil (Kinnock) and Peter (Shore), with Denis (Healey) and Eric (Heffer) listed as the long shots. The next day the 'Mirror' wrote Michael's epitaph in a most vicious fashion. His grave was trampled before it was occupied. Thus politics."
❥ Peter Shore,
Leading the Left, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):
"Within three days of the annihilation at the polls in June, Clive Jenkins announced, with all the dignified airs of a trade unionist leader of the middling white collar sorts, his union would nominate Michael Foot for re-election as Leader of the Labour Party. Michael, with much dignified airs of an intellectual out of his depth and position, refused the nomination and announced he would be stepping down. This bit of pro-wrestling panto out the way, the lights were dimmed, the knives came out and a real fight began."
♥ Eric Hammond,
Union Man, (Penguin Books, 1987):
"Frank (Chapple, General Secretary of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union and Member of General Council of the Trade Union Congress) might have been ambivalent about whether the future lay with Labour or SDP, but I didn't. I was, am and always will be a Labour man. I also knew as soon as I would replace him as the General Secretary I would do all I could to fight for Labour, my Labour."
♥ Joe Ashton,
My Labour, My Party, (Longman, 1993):
"Clive (Jenkins) was determined to make Neil (Kinnock) Leader. I was against it. Neil was a unilateralist, which might make him the darling of the left, but cost us untold votes in the election. Each time Michael (Foot) banged on about how the only way to make Britain was to remove all nuclear weapons from British soil it cost us a seat. John (Goulding) called him barmy for it, to his face, and now we would nominate another disarmer? SDP would kill us. They were more about Europe than anything else, but were sharp enough to talk about Polaris and their love of it in each constituency. In each seat we lost to them, or where they pushed us into third, it always came down to that. I could not stomach another unilateralist leading us off the cliff. David Basnett (Chairman of 'Trade Unions for Labour Victory') suggested Neil to be balanced by Roy (Hattersley) as his Deputy. Before I could froth at the mouth, Gavin (Laird, General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers) suggested the reverse: Roy as the Leader and Neil as Deputy. Then Roy Grantham (General Secretary of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX)) suggested Peter Shore for leader instead, with Roy Hattersley as Deputy. It was a mess."
♥ Bryan Gould,
Hard Labour, (Penguin Books, 1989):
"On the same day the 'Mirror' was burying Michael (Foot), it had this to say about Neil (Kinnock):
'Michael Foot Mark II. He has less hair, but more freckles. On policy, however, the two are as one. And it was on policy, not Mr Foot's personality, that Labour was primarily humiliated. Mr Kinnock would lead Labour with courage. He would also lead it to another electoral disaster we can ill afford'."
♥ Denis Healey,
Silly Billies, (Penguin Books, 1990):
"Neil's campaign was undermined by Roy (Hattersley) from the start. The problem was that Roy did not grasp the obvious, he had no trade union support outside the awkward squad of the always right wing electricians led by a new man (Eric Hammond) trying to make his mark. In the new electoral college determining the leader, the unions had as much vote as the Parliamentary Labour Party, without them, Roy could not win. Staying in the race would not only prevent him from becoming Leader it would also jeopardize his chances at becoming a Deputy, opening the door for the Extreme Left Eric Heffer or the Loony Left Michael Meacher."
♥ Roy Hattersley,
Roy from Yorkshire, (Penguin Books, 1992):
"I've often found we ascribe to our foes the negative traits we much fear finding in ourselves. Such is the case of Mr. Healey in his almost readable autobiography characterizing my support among the trade unions as rather feeble during the 1983 Labour Leadership challenge. While my relationship with the leftist infiltrated constituency Labour parties was at many points of my life strained, my relationship with the trade unions suffered no significant setbacks. Rather, it was Mr. Healey who by the nature of his actions made himself an odious figure to Mr. Basnett and his trade union official friends. They voted to keep him Deputy in 1981 over Tony Benn by the narrowest of margins for such was their near universal disgust with his conduct in the 1978 false start."
❥ Peter Shore,
Leading the Left, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):
"Every man, woman and child was convinced Jim Callaghan would call the general election in the autumn of 1978. In the run up to it, Dennis Healey vomited up a 5% pay increase proposal in the Cabinet in his ever finite wisdom to combat the great and ponderous beast of inflation and thereby save the British economy and presumably Lois Lane as well. He claimed the trade unions would be fine with a 5% pay increase, they would just not admit it out loud. Given Ted Heath had last proposed a 10% pay increase and for his troubles was driven out of power with pitchforks and torches carried by the very same trade unions we would now ask to accept 5%, I voiced my doubts. But Jim Callaghan got some of the trade union officials to agree to the 5% proposal, with the understanding he would call an election before the proposals have to be explained, much less go into effect, thereby letting the union officials off the hook. After all, what one government promised, another can un-promise. It was a well-played political game, but then Jim went and spoiled it all by not having an election in autumn of 1978. To rub it in, he announced he would not call an election at the Trade Union Congress on 7 September by giving a now infamous and bizarre rendition of 'Waiting at the Church' to titters of confused laughter from very confused delegates. David Basnett took it rather personally. He blamed Callaghan and, more importantly, he blamed Denis for sticking him with a proposal he could not make the rank and file swallow. The Winter of Discontent had its very ugly roots in that very stupid 5% price increase proposal. It radicalized the leftist elements in the unions, poisoned the relationship between the unions and their leaders and presented a picture of industrial chaos. It made David's job almost ungovernable. He loathed Denis so much, he supported Foot over him for the Leadership in 1981. Having been able to justify helping elect Foot just to keep Healey out, it was not a bitter pill to swallow for David to back Roy for the Deputy Leadership, despite Roy being on record as supporting the idiotic 5% proposal. David was willing to let in a moderate he disliked into a position of little power to prevent a moderate he despised from gaining any sort of power. The problem was, I do not think Roy understood any of the games being played about and thought he was popular enough to become Leader himself. His vanity left the door open to the possibility of Meacher taking his place as Deputy, or worse."
♡ Chris Mullin,
A Very British Thermidor, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985):
"We gathered for the inquest of the election at Tony's flat in Brixton. There in the garden, I, Tom Sawyer, Jeremy Corbyn, Michael Meacher, Audrey Wise, Ann Pettifor, Francis Prideaux, Les Huckfield, Tony Banks, Mandy Moore, Frances Morrell, Reg Race, Jon Lansman, Jo Richardson, Stuart Holland, Alan Meale and Ken Livingstone contemplated a Neil (Kinnock) victory and being ill at the very thought. Audrey Wise suggested an Eric Heffer/Michael Meacher ticket while Tony Banks suggested Dennis Skinner. I supported Joan Maynard. At this Tom exploded, 'You want "Stalin's Granny" to be our Leader?' The meeting degenerated into a school yard fight until Tony (Benn) put us all to rights and told us we must support Michael Meacher."
❥ Peter Shore,
Leading the Left, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):
"The last thing the Party needed was the spectacle of a prolonged and bloody civil-war as we already had one thanks to False Messiah Benn in '81. I took the trouble to visit Roy (Hattersley) in his home on Gayfere Street in Westminster. We went over the maths. Unless we worked together Neil (Kinnock) would win in the very first round and Michael Meacher would become his deputy. Roy and I did not see eye to eye on many things, but we were both committed multilateralists, the single most important issue to the voters. I told him we must jointly announce that if one of us wins he would do all he could to make the other his deputy. He turned me down flat. What I had not known was that he was already visited that same day by John Golding who offered him a spot as deputy to Neil. Roy was heard to remark to John, 'I will not play second fiddle to a red-haired Welsh windbag!' Neither was he apparently willing to play one to a sandy haired Englishman."
♥ Eric Hammond,
Union Man, (Penguin Books, 1987):
"John Golding rang me up and spoke plain. I withdrew my support from Roy for the good of The Party."
♥ Joe Ashton,
My Labour, My Party, (Longman, 1993):
"John Golding explained the facts of life to me. The next leader of the Labour Party had to be anti-Europe and anti-nuclear deterrent to win the votes of the trade unions and the hijacked constituency parties, but we had hoped he would still be respectable. The only choice was soft-left Neil (Kinnock). The only question I had was who would be Deputy?"
♥ Denis Healey,
Silly Billies, (Penguin Books, 1990):
"John (Golding) was in a great hurry to sew things up with his trade union allies and his right-wing MPs, but Roy (Hattersely) was adamant to any sort of settlement. John asked me to personally place a call to see if I can persuade Roy. In retrospect given the bad blood between us it was a curious thing to do, but John must have had his reasons and I felt duty bound to place the call. He listened to most of what I had to say before asking me, 'You do realize I could be editor of "The Observer" on £40,000 a year?' That was that. John then said one word, 'Giles.' I do believe I blinked quite rapidly at that. Giles Radice would have been my first, second, third and fourth choice for Deputy Leadership, but I was shocked John would think he had the votes to advance a man whose loyalty to me was quite well known. John was inscrutable behind his glasses and merely asked if I would support the candidacy. 'Naturally,' I replied. 'Well, I suppose one of us should call him to make it official.' Thus we did. To this day I have no idea how John managed to find the votes to put Giles through, but find them he did."
♥ Roy Hattersley,
Roy from Yorkshire, (Penguin Books, 1992):
"I do not recall having any phone conversation with Mr. Healey shortly before his lieutenant was, dare I say, crowned Deputy. But I do find it infinitely curious that Mr. Foot was replaced by his very much beloved and preferred choice while Mr. Healey was replaced by his favourite. But such is politics."
♤ Alan Clark,
Diaries: Volume 3, Near Power 1983, (HarperCollins, 1994):
"4 July, 1983. Willie (Whitelaw)'s old seat up for grabs. We have a good candidate in place. Labour may finish above Lord Sutch, but not by much. All eyes on the bloody Allies."
★ Alastair John Campbell,
The Claret Revolution, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):
"The first by-election of the 1983 Parliament brought a frisson of tension to the Alliance. It was generally thought the most well placed candidate to win Penrith and The Border seat was a Liberal who just ran for the same seat in the general election, but more than a few SDP members were pressing their party's case, and there were other factors to consider."
♧ David Owen,
Into the Maelstrom, (Macmillan, 1991):
"I thought the Penrith seat was winnable by SDP and suggested Dick Taverne, a loyal soldier, a good friend of Bill (Rodgers) and a victim of illegitimate-left Labour agitation since 1972. I had no idea how my quite reasonable and innocent suggestion would be so misconstrued."
♣ Bill Rodgers,
Call Me What You Will, (Politico's, 2000):
"After the general election in '83 it was an open secret that Roy (Jenkins) no longer had the heart for the battle in the new and uglier House of Commons of the '80s and Shirley (Williams) did not wish to fight in the 'old boys' club'. If there was to be a contest for the active leadership of the SDP it was going to come down to David (Owen) and me. By suggesting my good friend Dick Taverne contest Penrith, David placed me into an almost impossible position. To become an elected leader of SDP I would need to show loyalty to SDP and more importantly loyalty to my old friend. To become an effective leader of SDP, I would need to establish a stronger electoral alliance with Liberals, which we could not do if we ran an SDP candidate in a seat where a Liberal could win much more easily than an SDP man. There was also the added poison in the chalice of my friend Dick risking humiliation of running three elections in a row and losing, thereby tarring me with that brush as well."
❥ Peter Shore,
Leading the Left, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):
"David Owen was, is and always will be a shit. His actions during Penrith quite clearly demonstrate it. But he made the same mistake all made when dealing with Bill (Rodgers), David forgot where Bill came from. He might have gone to Oxford and stood for Stockton, but Bill was from Liverpool and he was a fighter. I should know, I was his prefect when he was in the fourth form at Quarry Bank High School."
♣ Dick Taverne,
Vagabond, (Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1988):
"Bill (Rodgers) visited me and after a round of pleasant preliminaries got to the heart of the matter, Penrith. Did I wish to fight it? My brain said, 'No, I have had enough of it.' But my heart desired it. I wanted to return and I wanted to run in Penrith, despite it not being an ideal seat for me. Bill listened quietly and then offered another path."
♣ Michael Gallagher,
Wanderer, (Penguin Books, 1989):
"The pressure of being the SDP's man in Europe had begun to wear thin and I was in rather foul mood when Bill (Rodgers) called with an extraordinarily kind offer for me to return to politics back home. Dick Taverne, Bill and I made a deal. Dick would stand for my European seat in '84 and in return I would be given a clear run at Milton Keynes in the next general."
♦ David Steel,
Against Goliath: The David Steel Story, (Penguin Books, 1989):
"Dick Taverne's withdrawal from Perinth was warmly greeted by the Liberals and was an indication of the level of commitment Bill (Rodgers) had towards a continued alliance between Liberals and SDP."
♧ Mike Thomas,
Separate Ways, (Duckworth, 2000):
"Those who still hold that Bill Rodgers had the best interests of SDP in mind, need only to look to what he did at Perinth. He got Michael Gallagher to agree to stand down from a seat he was going to lose in European Parliament come '84 anyway, to make room for Dick Taverne to take the bullet, in exchange for Gallagher getting involved in the Children's Crusade to take Milton Keynes constituency in the next general election. He denied SDP a seat in Perinth, Keynes and European Parliament and sacrificed the careers of two loyal men to advance his own narrow interest."
❥ Peter Shore,
Leading the Left, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):
"Bill (Rodgers) did what he had to do to survive and advance. I applauded his actions. The same could not be said for our efforts at Perinth where we let the local party activists run amok and choose Robin Cook to go off a cliff yet again."
★ Screaming Lord Sutch,
Life as Sutch: The Official Autobiography of an Official Raving Loony, (Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1984):
"Though some had predicted I would outperform Labour at the Perinth by-election, I knew it to be an exaggeration. In the highly politicized atmosphere of the post-general election by-election, people are less inclined to 'waste their vote' on a fringe candidate and all mainstream parties decided to make a showing of it and get out the vote. I thought David Maclean was a strong candidate for the Tories and treated me with courtesy and although Robin Cook did not treat me entirely well, I thought he did what he could for Labour (and still lost his deposit when he gained just 5% of the vote). But the day clearly belonged to Michael Young of the Alliance. David Steel stumped ferociously for his man and Bill Rodgers and Roy Jenkins of SDP campaigned vigorously on their allied party's candidate's behalf as well. It was a close run thing, but in the end Mr. Young won. As for my own showing, it was a respectable 1%."
♥ Bryan Gould,
Hard Labour, (Penguin Books, 1989):
"Perinth was hardly the best start for the Kinnock-Radice era of Labour. It would be a long hard slog."