Recent content by Lucon50

Ever since the SNP - who had been propping up a minority Labour government to hold a devolution referendum (which ultimately failed) - voted along with the Tories in a no-confidence motion to bring it down, hostility between the parties increased to an unprecedented level. Some stalwarts carried...

Michael Heseltine's early tenure of the Conservative Party coincided with a revolution in the political structure of Scottish Toryism. Nearly bereft of Westminster representation, a devolved Parliament was the only show in town for Tories north of the border. Adjusting to this new environment...

Building towards some of the first UK elections using the single transferable vote, political figures (from the Alliance, Labour, Co-operative, Ecology and Communist parties), local councils, trade unions and churches signed the 'Claim of Right for Scotland' in 1984. This declared the...

Social reformer William Beveridge had, during the 1940s, envisaged a clear framework of welfare provision in the United Kingdom. The Alliance were inspired by his thinking and carried out legislation to return social security back to the original model. In 1985, the Single Benefit Act did away...

As Sinn Féin travelled into the spotlight, it began to rapidly increase its electoral mandate. In November 1983, Gerry Adams MP had become its President and he steered the party back into mainstream politics. The UK and Irish governments were very concerned that Sinn Féin's Republican ideas...

On hearing the Government's bulletin that it would introduce a flurry of liberal-conservative pet projects, Tory MPs grew nervous as they watched party membership numbers drop. Former representative Peter Walker, defeated in 1983, finally switched to the SDP to join mentors Ted Heath, Ian...

In amidst a sensational environment of leadership defenestrations and new parties, the fledgling Alliance juggled its own set of personal relationships (which moved up and down regularly) and Government policy trade-offs. Even since the SDP's experimental plane took off in 1981 and the pact with...

Tony Benn used a widely trailed speech in Liverpool to launch a direct attack on the British media, winning loud applause for his assertion that newspaper owners "campaign single-mindedly in defence of their commercial interests and the political policies which will protect them". He was never...

Front-bench team of Enoch Powell, 1985:

During the early weeks of 1985, candidates toured the length and breadth of Britain and Northern Ireland on the final stretch of a dramatic race to become the first elected Leader of the Unionist Party. At a hustings in Essex, Norman Tebbit claimed that his new political home would not be a...

Shadow Cabinet of Michael Heseltine, 1 February 1985:

Throughout his career in front-line politics, Michael Heseltine had argued for a centre-right, liberal form of conservatism. He was very much in favour of further European integration and a fierce supporter of Margaret Thatcher's 'right to buy' scheme, which he introduced as Environment...

After a dreadful time for Willie Whitelaw, precipitated by the defection of 24 MPs to form the Unionist Party, conspirators still on the Conservative backbenches now wondered if they should mount a coup against their leader. Letters of no-confidence were soon flying in to the chair of the 1922...

Enoch Powell took the fight to Norman Tebbit on 7 January 1985. With assistance from Jill Knight, the front-runner unleashed an attack on Tebbit's record in government and policy acumen. Mr Powell had built a nativist, right-libertarian and British unionist coalition with anti-EEC and anti-US...