Media Review: The Transformation Of Labour

Despite these criticisms, the left was beginning to gain in confidence. If the conference could dictate party policy, then many Labour MPs would have to shift their ideological position. The existing leadership of the party were chilled by this prospect. James Callaghan, who had been Prime Minister between 1976-1979, responded to the rise of the left by resigning from his position as party leader. The timing of his resignation was crucial for it meant that a new leader would be elected according to the old rules. Only Labour MPs could vote for the new leader. The Bennites argued that this would be an illegitimate election because it failed to involve the party conference. Benn therefore refused to stand for Callaghan's position. Callaghan wanted Healey as his successor, but Healey's abrasive style offended too many people. Healey recalled that he had made far too many enemies during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer because he had been forced to cut public expenditure. Michael Foot therefore agreed to stand to prevent a permanent split in the Labour Party.

Foot was a reluctant candidate. He had been an influential spokesman of the left since the 1950s, but his reputation suffered greatly in the run-up to the winter of discontent. In 1974, he became Secretary of State for Employment in the Callaghan government. His job was to implement a prices and incomes policy in an attempt to curb inflation. Foot gained the temporary support of the unions, but this support began to wane when the Labour government pushed for ever tighter limits on wage demands. He recalled that he considered his inability to maintain union support the worst mistake of his political career. By 1980, Foot was jaded by his experiences in the Callaghan government. He was reluctant to stand in the leadership election, but had more support from constituency activists and trade unionists than his nearest rivals. Healey claimed that Foot belonged to the tradition of aristocratic radicals of the nineteenth century. He was described as a 'romantic', who lacked touch with reality. But Foot was seen as a conciliator, who would heal divisions in the party. When he became leader, he acknowledged the importance of the right wing in the party by making Denis Healey his deputy.

At the 1980 conference, the Labour left won a decisive victory. Benn's plans for extending democratic participation and accountability in the party gained the support of conference. The leader was to be chosen by an electoral college comprising MPs and trade unions, and the compulsory re-selection of MPs was introduced. The right were devastated. Already disgusted by the party's demands for the withdrawal of Britain from the European Community, the right argued that the Labour Party was being taken over by Trotskyites. Denis Healey was convinced that if he had been leader of the Labour Party, he could have maintained the support of the right. The right, however, began a series of private meetings in the flat of Shirley Williams, which prepared the ground for them pulling out of the Labour Party. In January 1981, they announced the formation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The left responded by accusing the SDP of attempting to destroy the Labour Party.