Browse Items (44 total)

To reassure those who feared Labour would not be able to manage the economy, Blair promised to keep within planned Conservative spending plans during the first half of his government and maintain the top rate of tax across the Party’s entire term. It…

Labour members remained in a daze as to their party’s achievement and celebrated it for weeks after. The future Labour Shadow Chancellor and stern left-wing critic of Tony Blair was just one MP to mark the occasion.

Labour’s campaign was effectively reduced to five Pledges, which featured heavily on the party’s posters and advertising. Some pledges aimed to attract long-time Conservative voters, with promises on reducing crime and taxes. Others appealed to…

Tony Benn was the figurehead of the Labour Party’s left. He had a strong influence on the party during the 1970s and 1980s. Benn believed the party should stick with the policies of 1983. But such was the scale of the defeat this looked unrealistic…

“Of course, as opponents of the change immediately pointed out once it was announced, it was largely symbolic. No one except the far left ever really believed in Clause IV as it was written. In a sense, that was my point: no one believed in it, yet…

Events were exclusively designed for the media so as to guarantee the most favourable coverage for the party. In this photograph Tony Blair is surrounded by a carefully selected group of sympathetic nurses, pensioners, children and young parents.

The 1997 general election increased the number of female MPs to 121. 101 of these were Labour MPs. Women held major ministerial posts for the first time. They included Harriet Harman in the newly created role of Minster for Women, Margaret Beckett as…

The Labour Party’s 1983 manifesto was heavily influenced by the party’s leftwing. It called for unilateral nuclear disarmament, higher taxes, withdrawal from the European Economic Community and greater state control of the economy. The leftwing…

Conservative troubles meant Labour under John Smith enjoyed a lead in the polls. However in May 1994 he died. Some strongly believe that had Smith lived he would have led the party back to power without the transformations associated with Blair.…