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Breaking the Mould Redux: A Wikibox Timeline

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No one held a majority in Britain's hung parliament. Whilst a number of constituencies conducted re-counts and the parties dusted themselves down from spectacular gains, beatings and lost deposits, the momentous nature of 1987 grew manifest. More female candidates stood and were elected than ever before. Labour women accompanied Alliance radicals inspired by Shirley Williams, progressive Conservatives and Unionist mini-Thatchers. The SDP promoted people into politics from all walks of life. Teachers, doctors, barristers, social workers and pillars of their local community brought real expertise to parliament. The Benn project had invited Militant to steer a campaign for democratic socialism. The UK got its first Communist-backed MPs since 1950. Right-wing factional organiser John Spellar bitterly suggested that Labour had been infiltrated and taken over by entryists, Red Front "Trots" and Soviet agents. Tony Benn was “the most dangerous man in Britain”. Mr. Benn fought back stridently against such trumped up charges. Labour was projected to be the largest single party in the House of Commons, he reminded a press conference, televised live from Bristol around 7 am on Friday 3 July. His party therefore had the right to seek to form a government with a clear popular mandate.

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The Labour leader’s remarks enflamed the day’s news coverage. True comrades such as Eric Heffer, Ken Livingstone and John Prescott set out the party line. Senior Alliance, Tory and Unionist representatives denied and debated Labour’s achievement, particularly Liberals and Social Democrats vying for power in the post-election fall-out. Enoch Powell told the media: “We campaigned on behalf of working-class voters who have been neglected and taken for granted for decades. We’ve provided hope and truth for the electorate and driven the political agenda.” Michael Heseltine tried valiantly to spin the dire state of the Conservatives: “In many seats we are the real opposition. This is true of both northern England, where we have crushed the splitters, and in southern England, where we are the opposition to the Alliance.” David Steel and Roy Jenkins rejected Benn's case outright: “People just re-elected the only team able to heal social division. Moderates and socialists from across the nation have united with a resurgent Liberal Party. The Alliance mounted a successful challenge to our class-based system of politics in Britain. Be in no doubt: there is now the prospect of another Liberal/Social Democratic partnership government.”

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Technically almost all Labour MPs Communist-backed in that the Communists and Trots generally said "vote Labour where we haven't got a candidate." Leaving this aside -I look forward to the figures and visualise a Lib-SDP-Con coalition.
 
marktaha said:
Technically almost all Labour MPs Communist-backed in that the Communists and Trots generally said "vote Labour where we haven't got a candidate." Leaving this aside -I look forward to the figures and visualise a Lib-SDP-Con coalition.
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Was gonna say Communist-sponsored but yeah!
 
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Tony Benn came on to the BBC's live election special to answer the Alliance’s claims with passion and good humour. Roy Jenkins had explosively dubbed the Militant Tendency as a “cancer which has got so deep into the body” of Labour. He pleaded with his old party not to be “all things to all men on the left spectrum”, including people who had “no faith in democracy... no touch with the British electorate”. Benn possessed a long memory. “Stafford Cripps was expelled... Nye Bevan was expelled. Michael Foot was expelled. I’ll be blunt with you, Roy. You talk about cancer. I feel very strongly about people whose entire life depends on the working-class movement. Your father was a miner. He was in jail in the general strike. You got into parliament as a Labour member. Every office you held was because of the Labour Party. Cabinet minister, appointed by a Labour prime minister. And then you left the party. Now that’s a cancerous growth - not personally - but I think people who betray those who gave them power are the real threat. Having said that, this is not primarily about Militant. Arthur Scargill was attacked during this campaign. Bernie Grant was attacked. The black sections are attacked. It’s done in the hope of being popular. But when you start, there’s no end. You’ve got to expel every socialist till the Labour Party becomes like the SDP.” Mr. Benn described the Militant councillors in Liverpool as “fighting like tigers for the people”. Voters sitting at home without a job or a decent house, with a mum waiting for a hip operation would see infighting as “irrelevant”. Jenkins, red-faced, folded his arms, scoffed and asked Benn if Derek Hatton might become Labour leader. The present occupant of that role said only that “the people who stay true to those who put them in power: these are the people I admire.”

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Michael Heseltine waded into the row, asserting that the “extreme left” was nothing new. “It’s been there ever since the Labour Party was founded. Although to hear [Benn] talk about betraying the working class, you’d think he came from the working class!” Here was “real middle-class privilege”, hypocrisy that ought to be called out. “I saw it in the winter of discontent, which destroyed Mr. Callaghan’s government.” Remarkably, Heseltine agreed with Benn’s criticism of Jenkins for tolerating so-called extremism when Labour held power and abandoning the party once they were thrown out. The British people had not been successfully “conned”. Shadow chancellor Eric Heffer referred to the hypothetical concept of Labour without Militant as “SDP mark 2”. Jenkins posited that the working class had become something different these days, with very different aspirations. Only the heir of a viscount such as Benn or Heseltine would comment with this air of detachment and revision of history, he said. The SDP had been created because they refused to stay and speak in favour of policies like “coming out of Europe, destroying NATO, massive nationalisation, destruction of any private education and health service, moving towards a semi-east European state”. According to Unionist treasury spokesman George Gardiner, this “new extreme Labour Party” was in great danger of coming in on the inside by default as the election result materialised. Benn was not prepared to take lectures on democracy from the likes of Jenkins, formerly an unelected EEC commissioner, or Mr. Heseltine, whose last government would have sold the Falklands to Argentina had they asked to buy the islands rather than invade. The furious Tory leader advised “Tony Wedgewood Benn” that if he ever listened, he might learn. “But you never listen and you’ll never learn!”

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Shortly before the final totals were revealed, the Conservative Party delighted in distracting from their own misery by piling in on the Alliance. Labour maintained that David Steel’s administration had suffered a huge reduction of MPs, throwing his legitimacy into question. Conservative politicians doubted publicly whether they could prop up a ministry led by Steel, whose anti-monetarism and language of equality were more akin to 1960s and ‘70s Labour than to the Tory platform. However, before the press came for them in full force, Heseltine and his shadow chancellor Nigel Lawson proceeded to offer the Alliance discussions about a majority government. High-level cabinet disagreements started to emerge. On the Labour side, newly elected MP Diane Abbott warned that a pact with the Alliance would result in her party ditching its links with the organised working class, and cut loose its own left wing and its socialist origins. Instead it would move irreversibly to the centre ground, the original aim of Jenkins. Benn cast doubt on any deal with the Liberals and SDP, pushing again for a Labour minority government. Steel replied that it was the Alliance who had come first. He nodded with reluctance but favourably towards a pact with the Conservatives, provided that a joint agenda for government was anchored in the middle ground. Benn’s stubborn stand threw British politics into a constitutional crisis. A litany of complaints from MPs, pundits and many voters brought great pressure to bear on the official opposition. The party leaders were locked in a stand-off, as Benn claimed the Alliance had lost the right to govern. Steel had the constitution on his side and had the first chance to form a majority. But Labour said that given the scale of losses, he did not retain the “moral authority” to continue.

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SDP campaign manager Peter Mandelson told the news: “The prime minister’s duty is to stay at his post, to continue doing his job and not resign until it is clear who the Queen should call as an alternative to form a new government, should Mr. Steel not be able to do so. The prime minister can’t just resign and leave a vacuum for the Queen to deal with.” He said that either there had to be a minority Alliance coalition which tried its chances or a combination of other parties, most likely the Liberals, SDP and Tories, would have to form an arrangement instead. Heseltine was depressed by the result. Amid vastly different regional swings, the results showed strong Labour resilience outside the south, and the Conservatives had badly under-performed. Steel flew to London from his Scottish constituency to offer the Tories the chance to form a stable government. Mr. Heseltine would wait to see the final result and meet his new group of MPs the next day. Ministers warned that the bond markets would not tolerate the uncertainty. Alan Beith told Labour to “get real” about trying to enter office. Mr. Steel promised to prioritise the national interest in “the hours ahead, or perhaps longer than the hours ahead”. He consulted Jenkins, a dear ally. The British political landscape was transformed on Tuesday 6 July as an unbridled bidding war for power led to Steel proffering his resignation as prime minister in a dramatic attempt to secure the Alliance a government with the Conservatives. Steel’s surprise announcement on the steps of No. 10 prompted an extraordinary Labour counter-offer to the Liberals: a coalition led by Benn with seats for Steel’s party in the cabinet. The proposed deal would split the Liberals from the SDP. The hurried Labour offer was swallowed by shell-shocked Labour MPs. With events moving at breakneck speed, Bill Rodgers and David Owen implored their Liberal partners to negotiate with both the Tories and Labour moderates. Steel had played his last card. In a quite ironic bid to open the way for a deal, he helped put together an Alliance negotiating team led by one woman who had, despite the squeeze on her own parliamentary party, risen above the fray: Shirley Williams.

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marktaha said:
How about the other parties? Looks obvious to me-Alliance -Conservative coalition?
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Gonna add regional results and other parties v soon :) As for the next government, all I'll say is that Heseltine, Steel and Williams must navigate dissent from their grass roots - a tricky sell.
 
As the electoral reality sank in, Conservatives started to imagine the previously unthinkable: that they could go into government with the Alliance. Buckingham Palace told David Steel to wait for a deal. In a vicious political battle between Labour and the SDP, some were pinning the blame for the crisis on David Owen, calling him “a Tory in all but name”. Hope of a Lib-Lab coalition was left foundering in face of a revolt by Alliance MPs opposed to any government led by Tony Benn. Steel was in the House of Commons partly to try and shore up the mood. Advocates of a coalition said it was inevitable that discussions with anyone in Labour had to be kept under wraps since the Alliance were committed first to public discussions with the Tories. Mr. Steel and Shirley Williams vowed that the Liberals and Social Democrats would re-enter government together or not at all. While they shared a dislike towards the Bennites, the Liberals were not keen on a deal with the Tories due to policy differences. Steel’s position as leader was stronger than it appeared. The Liberals were a broad church. On the right of his party were Alan Beith, David Alton, Alex Carlile and classical liberals. On the left sat a coterie that included John Pardoe, Geraint Howells, Paddy Ashdown and Simon Hughes. Liberal activists were much more left-wing.

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Mrs. Williams held meetings with her intake of MPs before working with Steel to assemble the Alliance negotiating team. Face-to-face talks then took place between representatives from both sides: for the Liberals and SDP, Mr. Beith, David Penhaligon, Roy Jenkins and Bob Maclennan took part; for the Conservatives, Nigel Lawson, Michael Mates, Peter Temple-Morris and Ken Clarke. The discussions came against a backdrop of disappointment and anger at the Conservatives’ overall election performance. The Alliance high command were at pains to make clear they rejected Benn’s offer. Nancy Seear also told the press there would be “no pact... under any circumstances” with Enoch Powell’s Unionists. Should Michael Heseltine take to his MPs an Alliance deal, it was not certain the Conservatives would throw it out. But there was widespread understanding that an Alliance-Tory government would be the “death knell” for the party. If the Conservatives went for any kind of deal, it would be a case of support on a bill-by-bill basis, rather than any formal coalition. Labour prepared to retake the initiative if the negotiations failed. The Alliance refused to meet Benn’s team, comprising Eric Heffer, Neil Kinnock, Michael Meacher and John Prescott. Centrist Labour MPs, led by Denis Healey and Gerald Kaufman, openly sought out talks of their own with the Alliance.

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Ian Gilmour privately told Labour that Mr. Benn would have to step aside as party leader as the price of an Alliance-Labour deal. The energy secretary also pressed Labour to accept the new STV electoral system without bothering with a referendum. These demands were impossible to agree to. Discussions with the Conservatives explored areas of policy overlap. Steel was a hawk on trade union reform and considered local government to be a farce. He believed there should be lower exchange and interest rates. Steel backed Palestinian statehood. He disagreed with Jenkins chiefly on defence and law and order. The Liberals accepted the rationale for a minimum nuclear deterrent against the Soviet Union but pacifist members did not see any need for Polaris to be replaced. In discussions, Steel and Williams expressed a preference for collective European action to achieve détente and global disarmament. Heseltine’s team responded by insisting on Polaris replacement with the choice of either Trident or a Euro-bomb hanging over the parties. Liberal activists on the left of the party described a “feeling of unease” over a pact with the Tories. The SDP was alarmed at the threat posed by Benn’s Labour but neither Alliance party wanted a swing to the right, after fighting the campaign on a pitch to replace Labour as the main anti-Conservative force. Nonetheless, so it was that five days of talks at Downing Street would produce a blueprint for government which blindsided Labour and offered Mr. Heseltine the chance to save his vulnerable leadership.

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The Alliance stepped up the pressure on Michael Heseltine to sign a binding cross-party programme for government on Tuesday 7 July, by despatching David Owen to float the idea of handing cabinet posts to senior Conservatives. In an attempt to demonstrate the seriousness of the Alliance’s offer, No. 10 said this was a price worth paying to deliver a stable government. “Some Tories won’t like it, many Liberals and Social Democrats might not like it, but the national interest very possibly would like it,” Owen told BBC news. In a second front, Jo Grimond (respected throughout the Liberal Party) also endorsed a deal with the Tories. But the Alliance team stopped short of offering a coalition. Roy Jenkins indicated he would like a formal written agreement, lasting a parliament, in which an Alliance minority government would incorporate key elements of the Conservative manifesto. Nigel Lawson suggested a so-called “confidence and supply” agreement in which the Tories would allow the Liberals and SDP to form a government and pass a Queen's speech but would consider supporting them on a day by day basis.

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Owen said the Alliance could deliver in five areas identified by Heseltine as priorities: housing action trusts to plan investment and re-development of urban centres; tackling crime at the roots with more police; keeping Britain’s defence strong; reforming the tax system to reduce the basic rate; and a new economic plan featuring an industrial strategy, local mayors and some privatisations. But Dr. Owen indicated that there were five areas that would not be up for negotiation: substantially reducing unemployment from its current level of 2 million; legislation for a national minimum wage; making environmental sustainability a national mission; reforming public services in favour of workplace democracy; and earned citizenship for long-term illegal immigrants. No. 10 said the offer promised to help the Conservatives implement key planks of their election manifesto. If the Alliance were rather keen on propping up a friendly Tory leadership with whom they could do business, Heseltine desperately eyed a formal coalition as the best way to avert challenges to his position.

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However, senior Liberals warned their preference was for an agreement that fell short of a coalition. “We are looking for an Alliance government with the engagement of the Conservatives,” Richard Wainwright said. A crucial figure on the Liberal side during the negotiations was the outgoing prime minister’s adviser Baron Chitnis. Heseltine had to tread carefully with his party because he faced a mutiny from the right over the election result. On 9 July, Shirley Williams came out against the prospect of the Alliance striking a formal coalition deal with Heseltine, arguing that it was not in the “Conservatives’ DNA” to move properly in key areas. In private discussions, the SDP leader said she preferred a minority government coupled with cross-party work in two areas: the unemployment crisis and political reform. Williams called for an all-party committee on House of Lords reform and devolution to the English regions, including the Commons speaker and deputy speaker as well as Scottish MPs, to report within a month. Economic policy would be modelled on a proposal made by her in the run-up to the election, for a council for financial stability on which spokesmen from all parties should be included. “I am also concerned about the Tories’ record on equality. Inequality widened under the last Tory government.”

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Ideologically, the Conservatives and the Liberals shared one massive idea. They were both doctrinally suspicious of central government. They championed localism, decentralisation, individual freedom and accountability. The SDP, in sharp contrast, contained an in-built statism. Mr. Heseltine had a chance to change Britain, to reshape the political landscape and to turn the Conservatives into a progressive party. Contrary to reports that die-hards regarded Alliance government as the midwife of Tory oblivion, many right-wingers were comfortable with a pact. One main option was under consideration: a more formal arrangement than “supply and confidence” in which the Alliance would agree to pass bills on domestic policy that were acceptable to the Tories, who would not join the government. The Alliance leaders and Mr. Heseltine, who were tearing strips off each other days beforehand, felt uncomfortable entering negotiations. Dr. Owen counselled Mrs. Williams on policy ‘red lines’ and concessions. A draft document spelled out the latest Alliance demands: a Franco-British minimum nuclear deterrent, an ambitious jobs programme and integration within the Common Market. Norman St John-Stevas endorsed an Alliance-Conservative pact on 11 July.

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Meanwhile, chancellor Bill Rodgers presided over talks behind the curtain with veteran ex-minister Denis Healey and Gerald Kaufman, two men on the Labour right who represented “a wider body of opinion in the parliamentary party”. Rodgers carved red lines on Brussels membership, freedom of capital, defence policy and the retention of Thatcher- and Steel-era trade union laws. For the most part, Labour moderates were happy to accept these conditions. On the news of public conversations, Tony Benn angrily removed the Labour Party whip from Kaufman and Healey, his old leadership rival, triggering a round of defections numbering 10 MPs, who decided to sit in the House of Commons as ‘independent socialists’: Geoffrey Robinson, David Clelland, Brian Wilson, John Gilbert, George Howarth, Alun Michael, Barry Sheerman and Marie Rimmer, along with Mr. Healey and Mr. Kaufman. Rodgers gave way to the Alliance negotiating team. Relations wobbled when Healey clashed with Roy Jenkins in an exchange about Europe. Mutual interest and a social-democratic affinity kept the hope of Lib-Labbery alive. By opening formal talks with the new centre-left bloc of MPs, David Steel and Mrs. Williams also gained a stronger hand in dialogue with the Tories. In a stunning move, Williams gave the Alliance and Conservative teams 24 hours to finalise a deal. Otherwise, alternatives that came with potential for a less stable anti-Benn parliamentary majority could be on the table.

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