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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Shadow cabinet of John Major, 1987:
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    John Major said he looked forward to guiding the Conservative Party to fresh victories. “We’re going to unite totally and absolutely and we’re going to win the next general election,” the young leader vowed. When his shadow cabinet first met - it contained no women - there was an air of relief...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Tory MP Peter Emery, succeeding Labour’s John Golding (an opponent of the Bennites, whom he regarded as idle dreamers out of touch with the working class). Founding member of the Bow Group, a Freemason and last of the old 1950s Macmillan-style Conservatives. How Emery will get on with the job...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    List of Westminster party seats and leaders, 2 December 1987: Labour Party (168): Tony Benn Liberal Party (141): David Steel (deputy prime minister) Social Democratic Party (100): Shirley Williams (prime minister) Conservative Party (59): John Major Unionist Party (29): Jim Molyneaux...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Days before the announcement of a new Tory leader, Nigel Lawson (55) and John Major (44) toured the country - gathering votes, taking questions from local branches and fleshing out their manifestos. The Conservative Party of 1987 proved itself a different beast to that of several years ago. Down...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    In the 1979 election, the Conservative-Labour vote was 80.8%. Come 1983, the figure had nosedived to 55.4%. By 1987, a Unionist insurgency spelled disaster for the Tories, pulling the hitherto main parties down to 45.8%, their lowest combined vote share since 1900. Alliance members and voters...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    As November 1987 wore on, young people in London were interviewed for their reactions to Michael Heseltine’s dramatic resignation. One said he was unique among Tories for being able to win over swing voters in the North and Midlands. Another insisted that Mr. Heseltine should have been given...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Proclaiming the paramount need to reunite the Conservative Party after what one shadow minister called “this fratricidal warfare”, the new challengers for the succession issued a joint statement. They promised they were engaged “in a friendly contest so that our party colleagues who take the...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Leon Brittan delivered the final body blow to Michael Heseltine’s leadership when he suddenly resigned as Conservative home affairs spokesman over the divisive issue of the economy. He was replaced by Michael Mates; Lord Geoffrey Rippon took on defence. An axis between employment chief John...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Michael Heseltine faced his bleakest hours after Nigel Lawson shook the Tory party to its foundations by resigning as shadow chancellor. Within minutes of his departure, Mr. Heseltine appointed David Hunt to the important treasury brief and John Major to employment. Francis Pym and Douglas Hurd...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    The Conservatives had been slaughtered in the general election. Attached to the hallways of power thanks to leader Michael Heseltine’s desperation, the party’s resentment threatened to spill over at any moment. Neil Kinnock had seized his moment to seek the Labour crown and failed. In November...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Journalists were amazed by how well Shirley Williams, David Steel and Michael Heseltine appeared to get on, as they announced a Fixed-term Parliaments Bill prescribing four-year parliaments and setting the date of the next election as 1991. The SDP and Liberals even signed memorandums of...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    In the wake of Labour’s internal elections, the party’s fabled broad church broke apart. Massive disunity existed between left and right, dragged to extreme opposite points by a syndicalist, quasi-anarchic and democratising Bennite tribe and the diverse faction of reformist, pro-capitalist...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    18 victims passed away as hurricane-force wind swept London, the East Anglian coast and the home counties from Thursday 15 October 1987. Railways and roads were blocked. Through the next morning, the storm damaged 3 million buildings and ultimately felled more than 15 million trees, causing...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    In his reelection speech, Labour leader Tony Benn proclaimed: “There is no final victory, as there is no final defeat. There is just the same battle. To be fought, over and over again. So toughen up, bloody toughen up.” He dominated the stage. “We are going back to our roots because the tree of...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Convinced of the need to suggest aggressively bold policies in a bid to outflank the Alliance and gain public attention, Tony Benn promoted his message of radical federalism, Irish unity, a secular commonwealth, anti-imperialism and working-class liberation on the campaign trail. Left-wingers...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Tony Benn advanced a series of reforms at hustings in September 1987. A four-year campaign to reduce all military expenditure attracted much outcry in the newspapers and broadcast media. Liberals, socialists and pacifists were broadly impressed. Inspired by Ken Livingstone’s project in Greater...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Electoral shocks, the transition from coal and old industry to modern technologies and upheaval in Ireland added to a realignment that lasted. Following the 1987 campaign, Tony Benn’s internal enemies took advantage of the flux to prepare a bruising contest that aimed to topple his leadership...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Despite losing 10 MPs (led by Healey and Kaufman) who went on to sit in the Commons as independent socialists, Labour still have the most MPs of any single party. Their vote went up by nearly 5 percentage points and every rival (the Alliance and the right bloc) is divided between parties. I'd...
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    Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

    Military and intelligence agents conspired with anti-socialist fixers to eliminate Tony Benn during 1987 as he stood on the cusp of power in a delicately balanced parliament. Some even talked of assassinating him. Across the pond, US president Ronald Reagan prepared secret plans to counter the...
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