Moderate Labour Party
The Moderate Labour Party was a minor political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in January 1987 by former members of the Labour Party who were opposed to the miners' strike and associated with the Union of Democratic Mineworkers. Its logo was a white dove holding a red rose in its beak.[1][2]
Founders included Michael Gallagher, who had previously defected from Labour to the SDP while sitting as an MEP.[3] Moderate Labour was particularly active in Nottinghamshire, especially Mansfield where they initially planned to stand 100 candidates.[4][5] Mansfield's miners had opposed strikes and supported the UDM and MLP because their coalfields were comparatively efficient and productive.[6] It fielded 26 candidates in local elections, including five sitting councillors, none of whom won their seats.[4] They fielded two candidates in the 1987 general election against left-wing Labour candidates, with its chairman, Brian Marshall, standing in Mansfield against Alan Meale.[4] Another candidate, Allan Harrison, stood in Batley and Spen.[7] Benefiting from the endorsement of retiring Labour MP Don Concannon and the UDM leader David Prendergast, Marshall won 1,580 votes in Mansfield. The Conservative Party nearly took the seat, but Meale held it for the main Labour Party with a majority of only 56 votes versus Concannon's 2,216-vote majority from 1983.[7][8][9] Moderate Labour won a seat in Bassetlaw District in May 1988 with Terry Nicholson retaining his Harworth East seat (held as a Labour councillor) by 76 votes over the Labour candidate.[10][11]
The party were called "traitors" by Militant, who said that some of those joining Moderate Labour had earlier worked to expel members of Militant from Labour.[1] A local anarchist newsletter said the Nottingham Evening Post supported the party to split the anti-Conservative vote, and called it a "blandwagon".[12] The Evening Post used the headline "Backlash!" when reporting on the launch of Moderate Labour and printed their full manifesto. Academic Mick Wallis said Moderate Labour "spoke with the voice of the Daily Express and the new Tory right."[2]
Gallagher rejoined Labour in the mid-1990s, regarding the whole party by then as moderate.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 Hoare, John (30 January 1987). "New right wing split in Notts" (PDF). The Militant.
- 1 2 Wallis, Mick (2024). "Gramsci-the-goalie: Reflections in the bath on gays, the Labour Party and socialism". In Mick Wallis, Simon Shepherd (ed.). Coming on Strong: Gay Politics and Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 207. ISBN 9781040012062.
- 1 2 Pollack, Anita (October 2009). "Part I. 1979-84: Elected to withdraw". Wreckers or Builders: A History of Labour MEPs: 1979-1999 (PDF). John Harper Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 9780955620294.
- 1 2 3 Rogers, Roy (25 May 1987). "Nottinghamshire a hotbed of vote-hunting in the marginals". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ↑ "Central News East: 21.01.1987: Moderate Labour Party". MACE Archive. 21 January 1987.
- ↑ Gartzou-Katsouyanni, Kira; Olivas Osuna, Jose Javier; De Lyon, Josh; Jablonowski, Kuba; Kiefel, Max; Bolet, Diane; Bulat, Alexandra; Kaldor, Mary (September 2018). "Understanding Brexit impacts at a local level: Mansfield case study" (PDF). Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit. The LSE.
- 1 2 Derbyshire, J. Denis; Ian Derbyshire (1988). Politics in Britain: from Callaghan to Thatcher. Chambers. ISBN 0-550-20742-2.
- ↑ "Don Concannon". The Times. 18 December 2003. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ↑ Ben Jackson, Robert Saunders, ed. (2 August 2012). Making Thatcher's Britain. Cambridge University Press. p. 162. ISBN 9781107012387.
- ↑ "Labour's poll joy". Nottingham Evening Post. 6 May 1988.
But shock former Labour chairman Terry Nicholson retained Harworth under the Independent Moderate Labour Party tag trouncing an official Labour candidate
- ↑ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. "Bassetlaw District Council Election Results 1973-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Plymouth University.
- ↑ "The Moderate Labour Party:Jumping on the Blandwagon" (PDF). Nottingham Anarchist News. April 1987.
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