The Gang of Four SDP

[alanvt1]

Roy JenkinsMmm what an oppuntunist turd he was,Labour, SDP,Oh! and europe, paid well! national interest? self interest came first! ....low IQ (house of lords/ v Margaret Thatcher reading verbatim from notes....dustbin of history comes to mind!

[Marnerbanana]

JUDAS, JUDAS EVERYWHERE!

[BRUTUALTRUTH]

ha ha bye bye Labour Party. You soom changed your sociliast policies after FOUR ELECTION DEFEATS!

[NotHomelessAnymore]

I hate this lot almost as much as the Tony Blair and Nick Clegg. They might aswell have joined the Conservative Party for what good they did.

[rfitzhen100]

Four useless bunch of tossers

[trevorx1960]

There was actually a gang of five . . the original four, plus David Owen's mirror. The latter was to be the undoing.

Now the Lib-Dems, are just Cameron posh poodles. The gang of four by leaving Labour retarded the purge of the nutters from Labour under Kinnoch, and turned the Libs into what they are today . . nothing like a Liberal party. Just a ready-piece in a right-wing Cameron jigsaw. The four spent their vanities without result.

[flametaledfox]

@trevorx1960 Ha ha, true about David Owen. However, Charles Kennedy is the most outspoken anti-tory Lib Dem in the House of Commons, and he was an SDP. Also, Shirley Willaims is rather uncertain about the coalition; and Roy Jenkins would have hated it. But David Owen would'nt have minded...

[lakshmimittal]

@flametaledfox I have just written a piece where I discuss, in general terms, the importance of a new centre ground in British politics. Roy Jenkins is my political hero, although I do not agree with everything he did. If you feel you would enjoy reading what I have written, I am more than happy to send it.

I believe in social democracy, and of it's relevance in British politics. So did Robin Cook, and many of the titans of the first term of New Labour. It can come back.

[flametaledfox]

@lakshmimittal Thanks for the message. I feel I would enjoy reading about the importance of a new centre party; have you written it as a book or an internet artcile?

[Svetlanka83]

@flametaledfox On David Owen i actually saw an interview with him recently where he was praising Ed Millibands leadership and was considering rejoining Labour, although i don't think many would welcome him back as for Shirley Williams i think her careers over now sheshould leave the Lib Dems and just sit as an Indepenant in the House of Lords rather than support this coaltion. In fact if AV fails i think this may happen

[Feisty1967]

@trevorx1960 I agree entirely with what you said.

[mattcast44]

Thanks for the info, I hadn't seen that. However, it does rest theoretical evidence in that we don't know how people's voting behaviour would have changed and to what extent it would have stayed the same. The point I was really trying to make was about the margins of the Tory victories in '83 & '87, which appeared to give a clear mandate for change yet in reality didn't carry the overwhelming support of the population.

[ajuk1]

Copywrite?

[mattcast44]

The SDP was essentially born due to the personal ambitions of its founders being blunted, finding themselves, as they did, outside of the dominant current of the Labour Party as the right lost its grip on the party. If you look at the figures, it is very possible to argue that the creation of the SDP allowed Thatcher to keep power in '83 and '87, and especially to do so with majorities in the HoC which made it appear that she had an overwhelming mandate to continue with her hard-right agenda.

[ajuk1]

@mattcast44 The BBC website shows a projection of what would have happened in '83 and '87 under AV, the Tories would still have won.

[plonkerification]

Croatia hates this lord owen guy. hope he will burn in hell

[flametaledfox]

@supremerat Your comment of the NF, similar to the SDP, is outdated misplaced and irrelevant to the real need.

[2010dispencer]

They were all flops when they were in the Labour Party. If they believed in their convictions they should have stayed on and fought the Militant Tendency as Kinnock and co had to...

[flametaledfox]

@2010dispencer Well, either way, those who joined the SDP could not support a party in parliament that supported radical left wing views, damaging the fabrian social democatic process of reform.

[LunarEcli]

what a set of wankers

[flametaledfox]

@LunarEcli Whys That?

[LunarEcli]

@flametaledfox They messed up Kinnock's campaign and basically made Labour a conservative party.

[modtherod]

The SDP was a very necessary movement which moved us away from the old sytle dogmatic Labour party and a step away from the old class ridden and diviided britain which the tories also symbolized at that time.

Thank God for the SDP

[Svetlanka83]

The SDP was complete flopp!

[rinka33]

Spitting Image must have based David Owen's puppet on the way he looked in this video ! Anyway, fun to see this again and thanks !