The political Gang

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Jan 24, 2009

Byline: By ANDREW BALDWIN Feature Writer

THEY became known as the Gang of Four.

It was on January 25, 1981 that four former Labour Cabinet ministers called a news conference to reveal their intention to set up a new political party.

David Owen, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and Bill Rodgers vowed to change the mould of British politics.

They called a news conference at Dr Owen's home in Limehouse, east London, to unveil plans for setting up of a "council for social democracy".

The proposals, published in a document called the Limehouse Declaration, called for a realignment in British politics and acknowledged that painful choices lay ahead for lifelong Labour supporters.

The Gang of Four made their move after the Left-wing victory at a special Labour party conference which gave the trade union block vote the largest say in future elections of the party leader.

Mrs Williams said she had become increasingly disillusioned with Labour. She had fought from within to "save" the party for several years, but felt she was fighting a losing battle.

She accused Left-wingers such as Tony Benn and Eric Heffer of undermining the concept of Parliamentary democracy.

Roy Jenkins was the first leader of the Social Democratic Party, declaring that his disillusionment had grown deep, especially over what he saw as Labour's anti-Europeanism.

By the autumn of 1981 the SDP had formed an electoral alliance with the Liberals, then headed by David Steel.

The Liberal-SDP alliance could boast 30 MPs by the middle of 1982. Most were former Labour MPs - only one Conservative crossed the floor - but the alliance did win a handful of by-elections.

But the cut and thrust of the hustings did not suit Jenkins' urbane style and he stepped down, Owen taking over as leader in 1983.

Owen was described as a man who never contemplated failure, but not everyone was enamoured of Owen's talents.

Former Labour Chancellor Denis Healey said: "The good fairy gave David Owen thick dark locks, matinee idol features and a frightening intellect. Unfortunately, the bad fairy also made him a (expletive deleted)."

The SDP enjoyed a considerable honeymoon period with the press, but peaked in 1983 when, significantly, Tony Blair was first elected to Parliament on a programme to withdraw from Europe.

Within eight years the SDP stranded itself, convulsed by a disastrous split from its Liberal allies, and Jenkins lost his Glasgow Hillhead seat to Labour.

Many SDP supporters went into the merged Social and Liberal Democrats, leaving Owen to soldier on with the rump of the party.

He continued until, in 1990, his party trailed in behind the Monster Raving Loony party in a Bootle by-election and he decided to wind it up.

Playwright Arthur Miller and screen goddess Marilyn Monroe divorced on January 24, 1961, after five years of marriage.

In a 1992 interview Miller called Monroe "highly self-destructive" and said that during their marriage "all my energy and attention were devoted to trying to help her solve her problems.

"Unfortunately, I didn't have much success."

Monroe's divorce was part of a decline which was marked by her erratic behaviour on set and persistent abuse of alcohol and drugs.

The Misfits, based on a short story by Miller, was to be her last completed film and she committed suicide at the age of 36, a year after their divorce.

The couple married in 1956, five years after they first met.

Monroe converted to Judaism for her new husband, who rose to prominence with his play Death of a Salesman in 1949, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Soon after they were married he told journalists: "Marilyn will only make one film in every 18 months or so, which will take her about eight weeks."

When asked what she would do for the rest of the time he replied, "She will be my wife. That's a full-time job."

Monroe disagreed and continued her film work.

Reminiscing about her in his 1987 autobiography Timebends: A Life, Miller lamented that she was rarely taken seriously as anything but a sex symbol.

"To have survived she would have had to be either more cynical or even further from reality than she was," he wrote.

"Instead, she was a poet on a street corner trying to recite to a crowd pulling at her clothes."

CAPTION(S):

POLITICAL PARTNERS: Seen (from left) are Bill Rodgers, Dr David Owen, Roy Jenkins and Shirley Williams, founder members of the Social Democrat Party; at City Hall, Perth, at the SDP conference in October, 1981. Inset: American playwright Arthur Miller