by Alwyn Turner
Which is not to say that the divisions were caused by one side alone. At the opening of the new Parliament in 1979, Tony Benn shared an ice-war moment with Heath, inadvertently borrowing one of the adjectives from that list of Atkinson’s Tory: ‘I said I had some sympathy with Thatcher – with her dislike of the wishy-washy centre of British politics. He gave me such a frosty look that I daresay I had touched a raw nerve.’
The question of what would have happened to the Labour Party had Callaghan been re-elected in 1978 is less clear than the impact on the other side. In reality, the growing anger among activists exploded in the wake of the actual election defeat, plunging the party into a bout of fratricidal blood-letting without parallel in modern times, and ultimately leading to a split on the left with the creation of the Social Democratic Party. How much of that anger might have been contained had Labour remained in office is debatable, but it would surely have erupted at some point.
Meanwhile, the huge wave of public support for the SDP on its launch in 1981 suggested much of the country had a yearning for the old ‘wishy-washy centre’ after all. Asked to choose between, on the one hand, a right-wing government that was presiding over an appallingly deep recession and, on the other, a left-wing opposition widely perceived to be more extreme than any that had gone before – between Margaret Thatcher and Michael Foot – more than half the respondents in opinion polls opted instead for the calm reassurance offered by Roy Jenkins, in alliance with the youthful, non-aligned enthusiasm of David Steel. There were many, on both left and right, who wanted to believe that 1979 was Britain’s Year Zero; that the future could not be built on the scorched earth of the centre ground. The electorate, however, begged to differ. Already there was a sense that change was happening too quickly; the country was leaving its comfort zone, and the dogmatic assertions of neither side were winning much favour. Social democracy, however unfashionable in Westminster and Fleet Street, still had an attraction.
That highpoint of SDP support lasted barely a year, culminating in the return to Parliament of Jenkins, elected as MP for Glasgow Hillhead in a by-election of March 1982. A week later, the military dictatorship of Argentina staged an invasion of the Falkland Islands, and normal politics was temporarily suspended as British armed forces attempted to recapture the territory.
In terms of the country as a whole, the Falklands War was of little lasting significance. Public support for the action was overwhelming but interest proved short-lived and, although the retaking of the islands was an impressive and swift military operation, the fact remained that more British servicemen had been killed in Northern Ireland in the 1970s than died in the Falklands. The conflict did, however, allow the prime minister to tap into one of the great cultural themes of recent years: nostalgia for the certainties of the Second World War, a celebration of the myths surrounding 1940. Draping herself in Churchillian colours, Thatcher argued that victory in the South Pacific was a harbinger of the great days that still lay ahead for Britain, that the nation had rediscovered its soul and its historic mission. For just long enough, sufficient numbers of former Conservative voters were convinced by the rhetoric of the past, tempted back into the fold to defeat a divided left. And the hopes for a return to consensual, centrist politics were deflated.
That outcome was not a foregone conclusion. On 20 May 1982, the night before the British troops landed on East Falkland, Enoch Powell and Tony Benn – the two men who had embodied the long struggle against the consensus, who had fought to imprint their own separate visions on the country and who had faced all the consequent desolation and dejection – met once more, this time in a lavatory in the House of Commons. ‘As we stood side by side,’ recorded Benn, ‘I said: “Well, Enoch, we may disagree about what we should do but our analysis is the same – they are selling out.”’
References
Note: References taken from personal communication are indicated here by the letters ‘pc’.
Title page
here We’re living – Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, Rondor Music, 1972; Howard turns – Bradbury, The History Man p. 18; Titanic – Chappell, Rising Damp, ‘The Good Samaritans’ 1977
Intro: Seventies
here New Economics Foundation – www.neweconomics.org/gen/news_mdp.aspx; as I might – Cato, Crash Course for the Ravers p. 125
here well chuffed – ibid. p. 19; cigarette butts – author’s memory; consumed arts – Daily Mail 7 January 1978; 18.6 hours – ibid. 1 December 1971; 22 hours – ibid. 4 January 1978; over 95 per cent – Adonis & Pollard, A Class Act p. 223
here until 1977 – Butler & Sloman, British Political Facts 1900–1979 p. 462; always impartial – Brian Whitaker, News Limited p. 20
here trivialization – Daily Mail 12 November 1971; staggering – Powell, No Easy Answers p. 84
Part One: Hang On To Yourself: 1970–74
here our difficulties – Benn, Office Without Power p. 232; Affluence – Pawley, The Private Future p. 13; Tory saying – Tony Marsh, The Sweeney, ‘Jackpot’
1: The Heath Years
here master plan – Sullivan, Citizen Smith, ‘Spanish Fly’ 1979; swinging London – Sunday Times 20 January 1974; ’70s – Pete Townshend, Melody Maker, 12 December 1970; Huddersfield Town – Wilson, Memoirs p. 9
here date for the election – Benn, Office Without Power p. 249; cup final – Boyson (ed.), Right Turn p. 89
here international incident – Hunt, World Cup Stories p. 126; the beginning – ibid. p. 143; political effect – Benn op. cit. p. 289
here strange reversals – Times 18 June 1970; haunting feeling – Castle, Diaries 1964–70 p. 805; explaining – Daily Mirror 19 June 1970; voted Labour – Sun 20 June 1970; union movement – Heffer, Never A Yes Man p. 135
here City of London – Dennis Skinner (pc); fed up – Stewart, Protest or Power? p. 14; two evils – Sun 23 April 1970; In an era – Daily Mirror 1 June 1970; a pipe – Daily Mail 17 June 1970; Selsdon Man – Pimlott, Harold Wilson p. 553
p. 8 populism – Thatcher, The Path to Power p. 160; campaign poster – Campbell, Edward Heath p. 274; Edgar Broughton Band – Peter Jenner (pc); people say – Daily Telegraph 1 October 1970; hidden wish – Campbell op. cit. p. 295; visited the set – Daily Mirror 13 January 1978
here decadent people – Campbell op. cit. p. 254; feared – Hennessy, The Prime Minister p. 342; malice – Times, 1 December 1973; achievement – Yarwood, And This Is Me! p. 157
here Millions of gallons – Daily Telegraph 5 October 1970; Downing Street – Times 2 November 1970
here non-inflationary – Times 6 November 1970; Driving home – Tebbit, Upwardly Mobile p. 102; unofficial – Coates, The Crisis of Labour p. 63; a crime – Gormley, Battered Cherub p. 93
here seven-thirty – Steve Jones (pc); conviction could mean – Daily Telegraph 14 February 1972; potential gravity – ibid. 15 February 1972
here remaining source – ibid. 11 February 1972; living proof – Routledge, Scargill p. 73; battlefield – Clarke, The Shadow of a Nation p. 107; victory for violence – Thatcher op. cit. p. 218; power cut – Prior, A Balance of Power p. 73
here national strike – Gormley op. cit. p. 95; great strikes – Rigelsford, The Doctors p. 96; one of the leaders – Dicks, Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon p. 20; I believe – Gormley op. cit. p. 89
here absolutely sick – Benn op. cit. p. 239; boat is sunk – Benn op. cit. p. 301; use the crisis – Benn, Against the Tide p. 66; not much good – Campbell, Roy Jenkins p. 152
here One estimate – Times 2 May 1972; The nation – Stewart op. cit. p. 17; The Grocer – Daily Mirror 7 January 1972
here street numbering – Sunday Express 7 June 1970; six weeks – James Herbert (pc)
here I would like – Tebbit op. cit. p. 114; a captain – Van Greenaway, The Man Who Held the Queen to Ransom p. 88; ashamed – Daily Mirror 21 January 1971; U-turn – Benn, Office Without Power p. 417
here It is fatal – Times 8 November 1972; rallied reluctantly – Tebbit op. cit. p.
128; in the mind – ibid. p. 126; cold-shouldered – Thatcher op. cit. p. 225; socialist country – Childs, Britain Since 1945 p. 235; Israel’s intransigence – ibid. p. 236; Arab Oil – Daily Telegraph 19 November 1973
here world underdog – Daily Mail 6 December 1973; the principle – Sun 14 January 1974; fingers crossed – Times 19 December 1973
here three-day spirit – Sunday Times 20 January 1974; switch on – Daily Telegraph 17 February 1972; SOS – Sun 18 January 1974; one room – Daily Mail 28 December 1973; The suggestion – Sun 19 January 1974; help the government – Daily Mail 19 December 1973
here Bad news – Hall, Diaries p. 70; sales of wines – Daily Mail 13 December 1973; disastrous period – Holder, Who’s Crazee Now? p. 190; moved to England – Russell Mael (pc)
here economic crisis – Times 1 January 2005; colonial masters – Times 31 December 1973
here same course – Weight, Patriots p. 537; early days – Benn op. cit. p. 247; Bernard Levin – Times 25 October 1977
Bowie lyrics published Mainman/Chrysalis, 1972–74
2: Rivals
here wilder fringes – Daily Mirror 3 January 1975; hope – Hall, Diaries p. 170; noteworthy contenders – Amis, Memoirs p. 198; a politician – Sun 21 May 1970
here Press Association – Shepherd, Enoch Powell p. 392; on the country – Crosland, Tony Crosland p. 210; millions – Wise, Who Killed Enoch Powell? p. 30; the pattern – ibid. p. 42
here His vision – ibid. pp. 121–2; Frightening – Morning Telegraph, quoted in blurb of Wise, Who Killed Enoch Powell?; Order and Authority – Roth, Enoch Powell: Tory Tribune p. 123
here official policy – Powell, Freedom and Reality pp. 213–19
here racialist – Shepherd, Enoch Powell p. 352; overwhelming majority – Powell op. cit. p. 227; Gallup poll – Smithies & Fiddick, Enoch Powell on Immigration p. 13; Television programmes – Hiro, Black British, White British p. 288; clever people – Powell op. cit. p. 230; intellectuals – Wise op. cit. p. 10; once-bisexual – Parris, Chance Witness p. 259; can’t do – Times 1 December 1973
here threat of division – Shepherd op. cit. p. 393; bit slow – Muller, The Lost Diaries of Albert Smith p. 205; excellent speaker – ibid. p. 33; We are lucky – ibid. p. 264
here without purpose – Van Greenaway, The Man Who Held the Queen to Ransom p. 81; impotent – Barlow, The Burden of Proof p. 54; They talked – Palin, Diaries p. 63; I hope – Times 2 June 1970; Bolts – Daily Mirror 2 June 1970
here AMAZING ATTACK – Sun 4 June 1970; ENOCH PERIL – Daily Mirror 5 June 1970; BELSEN FLAG – Daily Telegraph 4 June 1970; evil feature – Daily Mirror 5 June 1970; whole emphasis – Daily Telegraph 5 June 1970; Union Jack – Wharton, The Stretchford Chronicles pp. 159–60; grotesque exaggeration – Sun 4 June 1970; savage – Daily Mirror 5 June 1970; silly – Sun 5 June 1970; In 1939 – Shepherd op. cit. p. 395; talks about money – Sun 5 June 1970; nonsense – Daily Mail 15 June 1970
here biggest mistake – Shepherd op. cit. p. 401; he is saying – Daily Express 15 June 1970; DOUBLES HIS MAJORITY – Sun 19 June 1970; would not say – Clark, Diaries p. 19; Commons – Benn, Against the Tide p. 76
here straight as a die – Balham, The Human Pipeline p. 41; Not their fault – Yuill, Hazell and the Menacing Jester p. 62; great energy – Lenny Henry blog 10 September 2006: www.lennyhenry.com/home/blog_archive.aspx?id=84; sounds daft – Williams, Ee, I’ve Had Some Laughs p. 94; Powell went – Onyeama, Book of Black Man’s Humour p. 29
here seen crying – ibid. p. 29; weighty – Williams-Ellis, England and the Octopus p. 9; left-wing answer – Crosland op. cit. p. 210; insuperably difficult – Powell, No Easy Answers p. 111
here thoughtful lectures – Benn, Against the Tide p. 486; ambition – Gilmour & Garnett, Whatever Happened to the Tories; the motive – Mitchell, Four Years in the Death of the Labour Party p. 30; Tony fell out – Foot, Loyalists and Loners p. 117; way forward – Benn, Office Without Power p. 285
here significant development – Benn, Against the Tide p. 61; upper reaches – Stewart, Protest or Power? p. 98; come from below – Times 1 June 1970; Women’s Lib – Stewart op. cit. p. 100; aristocratic disdain – Chapple, Sparks Fly! p. 144; profound contempt – ibid. p. 145; curious way – Benn, Against the Tide p. 482; upper-class – Mitchell op. cit. p. 30; weakness – Ashton, Red Rose Blues p. 203
here was transformed – Foot op. cit. p. 110; I had the idea – Benn, Office Without Power p. 443; his background – Who’s Who (A&C Black, London, 1968–83); older Tories – Norman Tebbit (pc)
here dangerous figure – Evening Standard 27 February 1974; Llew Gardner – Benn, Office Without Power p. 443; resort to anarchy – Times 1 May 1972; I think – Benn, Against the Tide p. 148
here immatures with age – Powell, Tony Benn p. 121; tasteless self-parody – Sunday Times 6 January 1974; genuine fear – Benn, Against the Tide p. 486
here spoken up – Wise op. cit. p. 134
3: Environment
here elil – Adams, Watership Down p. 159; Vicar – Kneale, The Stone Tape; pollution – Clement & La Frenais, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, ‘Moving On’ 1973; rat population – Daily Telegraph 6 October 1970
here rotting garbage – Daily Mail 11 March 1975; biggest hazard – Sun 9 April 1975; dim shadows – Herbert, The Rats p. 15; invisible – James Herbert (pc)
here councils – Herbert op. cit. p. 59
here puppies – Times 15 January 1975
here fashionable – ibid. 24 November 1978; much the same – ibid. 19 March 1975; relative safety – Daily Mail 7 November 1973; offers smokers – News of the World 10 July 1977; disgusting insult – Pawley, The Private Future p. 148
here Gold Award – Daily Telegraph 3 January 1977; British smokers – Sun 3 April 1975; New Inn – Daily Mail 10 November 1971; the biggest – Times 3 February 1968; Brentford Nylons – Daily Telegraph 30 November 2006; £3.3 million – Times 27 February 1976; Lonrho directors – ibid. 12 February 1982
here The kids – Rhodes & Knight, The Art of Zandra Rhodes p. 174; a skirt – Daily Mirror 3 January 1978; temporary craze – Prince Charles, speech in Cardiff 18 February 1970
here sudden fad – Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful p. 14; overpopulation – Prince Philip, foreword to Loraine, The Death of Tomorrow; real challenge – Benn, Office Without Power p. 399; anti-democratic – Crosland, Tony Crosland p. 257; technological – Chapple, Sparks Fly! p. 158
here capital items – Schumacher op. cit. p. 12; great rhythms – ibid. p. 186
here rabbits – Adams, Watership Down p. 261; lingua franca – ibid. p. 153; Doomsday Disney – Daily Mail 22 September 1977; the good – Adams, The Plague Dogs p. 27
here no cruelty – Times 3 April 1975; William Molloy – Guardian 7 March 1975; Lady Parker – Times 5 February 1975; flood of letters – Sun 3 April 1975; volleyed – Oakes, Experiment at Proto p. 97; the chimpanzee – ibid. p. 112; oil companies – Bryers, Hollow Target p. 174
here Nature abhors – Harris, The Fifth Horseman p. 48; barrier project – Doyle, Deluge p. 40
here very ingenious – Chris Spedding (pc); one director – Mike Batt (pc)
here isolated store – quoted Daily Telegraph 16 February 1972; local authority – Times 11 December 1972; go-ahead – Daily Mail 19 November 1971; initial period – Times 23 September 1972; power – Daily Telegraph 16 February 1972
here alarm – ibid. 3 October 1970; modern methods – Times 1 January 2001; My dad – Yuill, Hazell and the Menacing Jester p. 8; petrol prices – Michie & Hoggart, The Pact p. 105; natural resources – Daily Mail 22 November 1971
4: Violence
here assumed – Times 18 February 1971; bimbos – Wodehouse, Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen p. 10; boots – Lee Hazlewood, ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin’’ (Mecalico, 1966)
here unique – Barlow, The Burden of Proof p. 192
here Power – Newman, Sir, You Bastard pp. 38–9; more villains – Cox, Shirley & Short, The Fall of Scotland Yard p. 15; general
acceptance – Mark, In the Office of Constable p. 129
here Four-letter words – Alvarado & Stewart, Made for Television p. 61; opinion poll – Sun 2 February 1977; What are we for – Everett, You’ll Never Be 16 Again p. 104
here single group – Pete Fowler, ‘Skins Rule’ in Gillett (ed.), Rock File p. 15; exploited – Daniel & McGuire (ed.), The Paint House p. 79; restaurants – Fowler op. cit. p. 20; blacks in China – Daniel & McGuire op. cit. p. 81; long-haired – Daily Mirror 4 June 1970; also be possible – Times 27 May 1970; Mashriq – Hiro, Black British, White British p. 311
here policeman’s job – Times 7 February 1970; schoolboy – Elms, The Way We Wore p. 63; 36 hours – Daily Mirror 12 January 1972; disillusioned – Allen, Skinhead p. 6; violence – ibid. p. 127
here swarmed – ibid. p. 95; dictator – ibid. p. 97; permissive society – Allen, Suedehead p. 5; 1968 survey – Daily Mail 27 November 1971
here aim of the Act – Times 13 January 1976; vandalism – ibid. 21 January 1976; survey of teachers – Daily Mail 5 September 1977; caretakers – Times 19 November 1970; James of England – Daily Mail 12 January 1978
here teacher training – ibid. 5 March 1975; London swing – Daily Telegraph 16 April 1965; Garbo! – Steven Thomas (pc); Biba weekend – Bradbury, The History Man p. 76; macabre tribute – Guardian 19 July 1975
here busy being born – The Angry Brigade p. 31; dubious claim – Craig Austin (pc); call for Ireland – Andrews, ‘Soldier’ (Essex International, 1972); on the brink – Sunday Times, Ulster p. 96; bloody awful – McKittrick & McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles p. 63
here Other possibilities – Times 1 January 2002; blind man – Reed, Ireland p. 162; 2,000 explosions – McKittrick & McVea op. cit. p. 83; the dead dog – Hill (ed.), Tribune 40 p. 188; politicians’ failure – Daily Express 5 January 1974; Jack and Jill – The Regimental Journal of 15th/19th the King’s Royal Hussars, vol. 3 no. 4, May 1972, p. 924
here blackened – Daily Telegraph 3 February 1972; Let us remember – ibid.; turmoil – Whitelaw, The Whitelaw Memoirs p. 84; rival slogans – Sunday Telegraph 2 January 1977; 1969 survey – Target, Unholy Smoke p. 14
