'The Celtic Fringe: Westminster Elections In Scotland And Wales, 1970-2010, A Complete Record' by Grant Toway is now available on Amazon. At first glance, this book may seem to be primarily a statistical guide to the 1,200+ constituency contests in Scotland and Wales covering the last four decades, but there are also brief comments which accompany each and every result. The author has also compiled a number of appendices as well as providing his own commentary on the unfolding events.
'Ark of the Covenant' 'socialism' 'the Commonwealth' political language of a bygone era, which I'm a little bit sad about. This was when Conferences were not totally stage-managed but were a genuine forum for debate and argument, especially so given the free voite over Europe. Truly an all-star cast though: Wilson, Callaghan, Foot, Benn, and not forgetting Peter Shore and Barbara Castle.
Well, well, well it look a though Shore and Foot will end up having the last laugh on Europe
It will be deeply ironic if as the result of the financial crisis Cameron ends up taking the UK out of the EU and Osborne has to nationalise the rest of the British banking system to save it from collapse. I will have then lived to see the current Tory government implement two of the key pledges of the 1983 Labour Party manifesto, the supposed longest suicide note in history.
@RichardElden Ugh, you know, when you start to spew such maliciousness around, I think it doesn't matter what side you affiliate with. That's where lines are crossed, and I would call this Richard person an animal, but that would be a slander to all animals, so where would I start? I wonder how some people can live, eat, and sleep thinking the way they do. I had to say something here, Mr. Richard here is just being plain rude and disgusting here, even if it's been a month ago. No place for that.
It's amazing to see that in 70s, most of the Labour party members were pro-Commonwealth and anti-EU. And the new Labour couldn't care less about great organizations such as the Commonwealth. And now, most Conservative party members are pro-Commonwealth and anti-EU.
Peter Shore is something of a forgotten man in British politics. It shouldn't be so. A man of luminous decency and an excellent thinker seeking to spring the left and the right together in a new paradigm. In 1980 he was with Dennis Healey the leading candidate to succeed Jim Callaghan. Roy Hattersley, in his excellent memoir, describes the "cruel abandonment" of Shore for Michael Foot, who was elected partly by right wingers who could then justify leaving to form the SDP.
The politicians in both parties, Tory and Labour, lived through the 1930s depression and the Second World War. Some MPs actually fought in the war and all of them saw terrible suffering and death. That's why they had real principles and took ideology, where conservative or socialist, seriously. The post 1980s generation of MPs grew up in suburbia and respect nothing but the media, thus they can only talk in sound bytes and assume the Great Unwashed are lamebrains with a 5-second attention span.
Why did Woy Jenkins ever join the Labour Party. The Marquis of Salisbury once complained that Jenkins made him ''feel common.'' When somebody mentioned to Nye Bevan that Jenkins was lazy, Bevan replied, ''A boy from Abersychan who talks like that? You can't tell me he's lazy.'' He was a social democrat. A Guardian reading liberal, whose gilded existence amongst fellow Balliol intellectuals blinded him to the disastrous effects of his 60's social reforms.
Thank you for posting this. It shows just how superficial our politics are now. Politicians used to have principles and debate ideas. Neither Attlee nor Churchill would win an election today, they would not be telegenic enough. Our politicians used to be intellectual giants, now they are feeble, superficial, intellectual pygmies.
"VOTE LABOUR and at least redeem something of your tattered and twisted reputations Public! DON'T give us a hung Parliament - you'll only force us to cling to power in alliance with the Lib Dems! (And we want power all on our own as it should be!)"
Click my username for: NEW LABOUR'S TOTALITARIAN ANTI-CHRIST DRUG DEALERS DESERVE AT LEAST POLL DEATH!
The tragedy for Labour was the early death of Anthony Crosland. He would have been a stronger and better leader than Foot and would have kept the "Gang Of Three" together in the party. He was a true caring Public school type of the old school. I watched the 1974 election Housing special and laughed my guts out when he looked at Maggie Thatcher and said in his best Oxford voice "I am morally outraged", she looked like she'd been catching flies. Good old days!
Let's have no more unpleasant and abusive comments, please, TheZanipolo. You demean yourself with this.
Incidentally, I think the conference was a special one on the question of Labour's policy on UK membership of the EEC, and it was held early in 1975 (from memory).
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
thank fuck there is no like of these communist bastards today. Foot was a fucking lunatic - he would have betrayed this country to the Soviet Union - Foot was a traitor. Bloody good job Foot and TrashLabour were smashed in '83.
A traitor? I don't think you could find anyone more English - more British - more Commonwealth. To the point that I disagree with him. Go and have a word with yourself!
Dear Zanipolo "thank fuck there is no like of these communist bastards today. Foot was a fucking lunatic - he would have betrayed this country to the Soviet Union - Foot was a traitor. Bloody good job Foot and TrashLabour were smashed in '83" Such eloquent banter old chap. Perhaps you should start reading The Daily Sport if you're finding The Daily Star a little challenging!
Even more poignant to see this on the day of the great Michael Foot's death! The giants are leaving the stage. Those who truly were Labour People, Barbara Castle and Michael Foot are now gone. Where is their like today??
All those countless billions spent and for what? how many more schools,hospitals and research units could have been made without over spending on defence? feckin dumbass public politicians and politicians.
Michael Foot. R.I.P. One of the last great honest men in politics.What a feckin speaker eh! A true orator with great convictions. He should have kept his mouth shut about nuclear disarmament though no matter what he thought. It was and still is 'paranoid Britain'. Just think of the nations in europe without nuclear weaponry. There is no point in having them as long as you stay onside with America which is what we have done for numerous decades anyway.
So interesting to see how party conferences have changed - you'd never get a debate like this from any party these days. It's sad though, with hindsight, to see the divisions in the Labour Party so visibly on show, that allowed Margaret Thatcher to stay in power for a decade.
@Lab356 Powerful debate. It seems to be lightyears ahead of what pass for political debate in 1974 America and even worst today with 2010 America. Those on the right thinks that Obama is a socialist. Hardly when you compare his politics to even the center of the Labour Party with even Harold Wilson. Michael Foot RIP...
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'The Celtic Fringe: Westminster Elections In Scotland And Wales, 1970-2010, A Complete Record' by Grant Toway is now available on Amazon. At first glance, this book may seem to be primarily a statistical guide to the 1,200+ constituency contests in Scotland and Wales covering the last four decades, but there are also brief comments which accompany each and every result. The author has also compiled a number of appendices as well as providing his own commentary on the unfolding events.
garyw930 1 week ago
'Ark of the Covenant' 'socialism' 'the Commonwealth' political language of a bygone era, which I'm a little bit sad about. This was when Conferences were not totally stage-managed but were a genuine forum for debate and argument, especially so given the free voite over Europe. Truly an all-star cast though: Wilson, Callaghan, Foot, Benn, and not forgetting Peter Shore and Barbara Castle.
BarraTerraceBoy 1 month ago
Whatever happened to the Labour Party of old who used to value democracy over EU dictats?
tdp1909 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Well, well, well it look a though Shore and Foot will end up having the last laugh on Europe
It will be deeply ironic if as the result of the financial crisis Cameron ends up taking the UK out of the EU and Osborne has to nationalise the rest of the British banking system to save it from collapse. I will have then lived to see the current Tory government implement two of the key pledges of the 1983 Labour Party manifesto, the supposed longest suicide note in history.
aminorchacha 2 months ago
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aminorchacha 2 months ago
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aminorchacha 2 months ago
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aminorchacha 2 months ago
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aminorchacha 2 months ago
@RichardElden Ugh, you know, when you start to spew such maliciousness around, I think it doesn't matter what side you affiliate with. That's where lines are crossed, and I would call this Richard person an animal, but that would be a slander to all animals, so where would I start? I wonder how some people can live, eat, and sleep thinking the way they do. I had to say something here, Mr. Richard here is just being plain rude and disgusting here, even if it's been a month ago. No place for that.
haunnnnnn 6 months ago
@haunnnnnn Do you extend the same principal to those who look forward to Thatcher's death and joke about it?
Myndir 6 months ago
It's amazing to see that in 70s, most of the Labour party members were pro-Commonwealth and anti-EU. And the new Labour couldn't care less about great organizations such as the Commonwealth. And now, most Conservative party members are pro-Commonwealth and anti-EU.
324wilson 8 months ago 3
@RichardElden We could sort out this Left-Right difference by going centre-ground, saying... Jeremy Thorpe?
flametaledfox 8 months ago
@RichardElden Interesting prediction, however, I favour Thatcher to pass first.
flametaledfox 8 months ago
@RichardElden Be careful of your words, as you may never know if they will strike you back...
flametaledfox 8 months ago
Peter Shore is something of a forgotten man in British politics. It shouldn't be so. A man of luminous decency and an excellent thinker seeking to spring the left and the right together in a new paradigm. In 1980 he was with Dennis Healey the leading candidate to succeed Jim Callaghan. Roy Hattersley, in his excellent memoir, describes the "cruel abandonment" of Shore for Michael Foot, who was elected partly by right wingers who could then justify leaving to form the SDP.
winifredatwell 8 months ago
Slightly turned on.
KrikenKing 8 months ago
The politicians in both parties, Tory and Labour, lived through the 1930s depression and the Second World War. Some MPs actually fought in the war and all of them saw terrible suffering and death. That's why they had real principles and took ideology, where conservative or socialist, seriously. The post 1980s generation of MPs grew up in suburbia and respect nothing but the media, thus they can only talk in sound bytes and assume the Great Unwashed are lamebrains with a 5-second attention span.
TomthatiscalledTom 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
vote snp gordon brown released Megrahi dont vote labour
MrScottishJamie 1 year ago
Michael Foot was a brilliant platform orator, in my mind the greatest English speaking one I've seen.
MrDeucelow 1 year ago
Why did Woy Jenkins ever join the Labour Party. The Marquis of Salisbury once complained that Jenkins made him ''feel common.'' When somebody mentioned to Nye Bevan that Jenkins was lazy, Bevan replied, ''A boy from Abersychan who talks like that? You can't tell me he's lazy.'' He was a social democrat. A Guardian reading liberal, whose gilded existence amongst fellow Balliol intellectuals blinded him to the disastrous effects of his 60's social reforms.
VonMises1990 1 year ago
Michael Foot, great orator and vey intelligent man, sadly missed.
Feisty1967 1 year ago 2
Thank you for posting this. It shows just how superficial our politics are now. Politicians used to have principles and debate ideas. Neither Attlee nor Churchill would win an election today, they would not be telegenic enough. Our politicians used to be intellectual giants, now they are feeble, superficial, intellectual pygmies.
nelsonandchintz 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
socialist parasites
fericitchannel 1 year ago
I was crying as soon as i heard that Michael Foot was dead
92af 1 year ago
@drtleft "Michael Foot is a virtuoso orator" Yes, perfect as long as he isn't seriously talking about the real world.
gagothesith 1 year ago
And today...
Johnathan Leftwinger MP's special message:
"VOTE LABOUR and at least redeem something of your tattered and twisted reputations Public! DON'T give us a hung Parliament - you'll only force us to cling to power in alliance with the Lib Dems! (And we want power all on our own as it should be!)"
Click my username for: NEW LABOUR'S TOTALITARIAN ANTI-CHRIST DRUG DEALERS DESERVE AT LEAST POLL DEATH!
TheDustpile 1 year ago
The tragedy for Labour was the early death of Anthony Crosland. He would have been a stronger and better leader than Foot and would have kept the "Gang Of Three" together in the party. He was a true caring Public school type of the old school. I watched the 1974 election Housing special and laughed my guts out when he looked at Maggie Thatcher and said in his best Oxford voice "I am morally outraged", she looked like she'd been catching flies. Good old days!
Scampirat 1 year ago
Interesting, thanks for the upload.
desh79 1 year ago
Can someone tell me, was this Conference held before or after the Oct 1974 General Election?
UKSazzy67 1 year ago
Let's have no more unpleasant and abusive comments, please, TheZanipolo. You demean yourself with this.
Incidentally, I think the conference was a special one on the question of Labour's policy on UK membership of the EEC, and it was held early in 1975 (from memory).
1956historian 2 years ago 2
terribly sorry old chap. by the way, do check out the Spitting Image videos of Foot here on YT
TheZanipolo 1 year ago
A great man... Michael Foot!
thurstons 2 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
thank fuck there is no like of these communist bastards today. Foot was a fucking lunatic - he would have betrayed this country to the Soviet Union - Foot was a traitor. Bloody good job Foot and TrashLabour were smashed in '83.
TheZanipolo 2 years ago
A traitor? I don't think you could find anyone more English - more British - more Commonwealth. To the point that I disagree with him. Go and have a word with yourself!
milbomilbo 1 year ago
Dear Zanipolo "thank fuck there is no like of these communist bastards today. Foot was a fucking lunatic - he would have betrayed this country to the Soviet Union - Foot was a traitor. Bloody good job Foot and TrashLabour were smashed in '83" Such eloquent banter old chap. Perhaps you should start reading The Daily Sport if you're finding The Daily Star a little challenging!
Scampirat 1 year ago
@Scampirat thanks, I notice you don't disagree :)
TheZanipolo 1 year ago
@Scampirat I may sue you for copyright infringement
TheZanipolo 1 year ago
Can anyone tell me what happened to Peter Shore? Many people say that he was a good politician but he seemed to fade away after Callaghan.
flametaledfox 2 years ago
He stood for leadership a couple of times but lost out to Foot and Kinnock,.
StrayGator 1 year ago
Thanks
flametaledfox 1 year ago
Even more poignant to see this on the day of the great Michael Foot's death! The giants are leaving the stage. Those who truly were Labour People, Barbara Castle and Michael Foot are now gone. Where is their like today??
bripat22 2 years ago
All those countless billions spent and for what? how many more schools,hospitals and research units could have been made without over spending on defence? feckin dumbass public politicians and politicians.
patmuck 2 years ago
Michael Foot. R.I.P. One of the last great honest men in politics.What a feckin speaker eh! A true orator with great convictions. He should have kept his mouth shut about nuclear disarmament though no matter what he thought. It was and still is 'paranoid Britain'. Just think of the nations in europe without nuclear weaponry. There is no point in having them as long as you stay onside with America which is what we have done for numerous decades anyway.
patmuck 2 years ago
So interesting to see how party conferences have changed - you'd never get a debate like this from any party these days. It's sad though, with hindsight, to see the divisions in the Labour Party so visibly on show, that allowed Margaret Thatcher to stay in power for a decade.
zephyruk 2 years ago
Thanks for this footage, it's nice to look this far back at all those future Labour party leaders. Most were good men, who i have alot of respect for
Lab356 2 years ago 6
@Lab356 Powerful debate. It seems to be lightyears ahead of what pass for political debate in 1974 America and even worst today with 2010 America. Those on the right thinks that Obama is a socialist. Hardly when you compare his politics to even the center of the Labour Party with even Harold Wilson. Michael Foot RIP...
PsychoPunk1965 1 year ago