Michael Foot, the Role of Ideology and the Labour Leadership Elections of 1976 and 1980
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University of Huddersfield Repository Crines, Andrew Michael Foot, The Role of Ideology and The Labour Leadership Elections of 1976 and 1980 Original Citation Crines, Andrew (2010) Michael Foot, The Role of Ideology and The Labour Leadership Elections of 1976 and 1980. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/9646/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ MICHAEL FOOT, THE ROLE OF IDEOLOGY AND THE LABOUR LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS OF 1976 AND 1980 Andrew Scott Crines A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the "copyright") and he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trade marks and any other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the "Intellectual Property Rights") and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables ("Reproductions"), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available to use without prior written permission of the owners(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. 1 Dedicated to Patricia and Harold Crines, loving parents of the author. Michael Foot (1913-2010) 2 ABSTRACT The orthodox interpretation of Michael Foot's election as Labour Party leader in 1980 is that it resulted from a left-wing surge within the broader Party throughout the 1970s. This thesis challenges this assumption. It does so by presenting a contextualised analysis of Foot, the Labour Party and the leadership elections of 1976 and 1980. This thesis argues that it was Foot's reputation and loyalty in government that enabled his political evolution to accelerate towards becoming a conciliatory figure during his leadership. To undertake this reconsideration of the orthodoxy, this thesis has adapted a previously illuminating research approach as utilised by Timothy Heppell. Heppell has produced a number of analyses upon ideological compositions of the Conservative Party during leadership elections, and, more recently, the Labour Party. This research approach was initially devised to consider only ideology. The approach has been improved by this thesis by including non-ideological considerations in order to draw out Labour specific factors in this analysis, because the extent to which the approach can be transferred to a different party at a different time required scrutiny. It is also necessary to acknowledge the need for a re-categorisation of the ideological factions within the Labour Party in order to gain a more complete understanding of Labour's ideological eclecticism. The social democratic right, the centrists, the inside left and outside left demonstrate that the simple assumption of 'left' and 'right' conceals a more complex Parliamentary composition. It is important to contextualise the analysis with a philosophical and historical discussion which places Michael Foot within Labour history. This enables a greater understanding of why he became the Labour leader to emerge. Foot's appropriateness as leader can only be fully appreciated by considering those who influenced him and his career in the Party along with the divided nature of the Labour Party over the period prior to his election. Through these discussions it becomes clear that Foot was able to secure the leadership because of his loyalty to the Labour Party, his record in government, and his Parliamentary interpretation of socialism which separated him from the outside left. This enabled him to be a leader the mainstream of the Party were able to broadly accept at a time of extreme division. His increased appropriateness as leader becomes more evident when contrasted against the likelihood of destructive divisions had a more ideologically dogmatic candidate such as Denis Healey or Tony Benn secured the leadership. The prevailing circumstances as well as the man must, therefore, be considered. This thesis also evaluates Foot's leadership with a view to demonstrate his ability to navigate the Labour Party following his election. The conclusion must be drawn that Labour's ability to prevail without disintegrating illustrates Foot's success as leader, and that the simplistic view that his leadership was simply the result of a left-wing surge is inadequate. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the help of my supervisor, Professor Brendan Evans who ensured I remained focused throughout the exhaustive research undertaken. Thanks must also be extended to Professor Jim McAuley for providing guidance into the direction of the research. I should also like to thank Doctor Andrew Mycock, Doctor Catherine McGlynn, Doctor John Craig and Mr. Robert Nicholls, who have assisted me at various points of this research. On a personal level, I should like to thank my brother, Darren Lee Crines for providing me with the finance necessary to undertake these years of exhaustive research. Without his money, I should surely have retreated to a bank job some years ago! I should like to thank John Isles for helping me 'keep it real', and also I should like to thank Kevin Hiley for putting up with my fears and doubts for so many years. Special thanks to Carl Bowler. Extra special thanks must be extended to Lord Clark, Lord Rodgers, Lord Anderson, Lord Graham, Stanley Crowther, John Cartwright and to those who did not wish to be named for the assistance they provided in guiding this research. Although very frail, Michael Foot took the time to respond to my early request for an interview. He was unable to reciprocate due to his ill health, which unfortunately caught up with him earlier this year. However, my supervisor, Professor Evans had previously interviewed him and was invaluable in disclosing relevant insights into Foot's political career. I should also like to express my profound thanks to the following organisations that have allowed me to access their archives in the course of the research of this thesis. The staff of the People's History Museum in Manchester, the staff of the University of Huddersfield Library and Archive, the staff of the University of Leeds library (especially their Hansards collection), the staff of the John Rylands University Library at the University of Manchester, and the staff of the British Library in London. These organisations have provided a great deal of primary sourced materials upon which this thesis relies. 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Alternative Economic Strategy..................................................................... AES British Broadcasting Corporation.................................................................. BBC Britain In Europe........................................................................................... BIE Campaign for Labour Party Democracy....................................................... CLPD Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament............................................................ CND Constituency Labour Party........................................................................... CLP European Union............................................................................................ EU Industrial Relations....................................................................................... IR International Monetary Fund......................................................................... IMF Labour Representation Committee............................................................... LRC London School of Economics....................................................................... LSE Member of Parliament.................................................................................. MP National Executive Committee..................................................................... NEC National Referendum Campaign.................................................................. NRC National Union of Journalists........................................................................ NUJ National Union of Mineworkers..................................................................... NUM Parliamentary Conservative