Assessing the Achievements of the last Labour Government

It's almost an axiom that the faults of an individual are almost immediately identified, but it takes time to appreciate what they achieved.

The same is true of governments. Thatcher's administrations are more appreciated today than they were in November 1990. Gerald Ford's efforts to help the US recover after "Watergate" are seen more positively than they were at the time. Even LBJ - reviled as he was in the late 1960s and early 1970s - is seen to have accomplished more than Presidents people remembered more fondly.

A new pamphlet has been published - 20 years after Labour won the election in 1997 and entered government for 13 years.

It can be downloaded from here.

Recall of Parliament

Today both Houses of Parliament have been recalled from recess to pay tribute to Baroness Thatcher. There have been 25 recalls of Parliament since 1948. Both Houses will meet at 14.30. If you wish to watch, BBC Parliament will be broadcasting (Channel 81 on Freeview and Channel 504 on Sky); and on the internet you can access both Houses at Parliamentlive.tv and democracylive.

The House of Commons Library has a short paper on the recall of Parliament. It is available here.

What type of Funeral?

With the arrangements being made for Baroness Thatcher's funeral on April 17th - do you know the types of funeral? (State and Ceremonial - sadly not available for you & I from our local Co-op Funeral Services)

The House of Commons Library has produced a short guide at http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06600.pdf

The 1983 Parliament

As Wilson and Callaghan found, having a small - or non-existent majority is hell. But large majorities present their own problems. The 1983 Election saw the Conservatives gain a majority of 123. However it was to be a rough period for Mrs Thatcher. John Wakeham was appointed Chief Whip, replacing Michael Jopling. (In the House of Lords "Bertie" Denham [The 2nd Baron Denham] held the Chief Whip's post from 1979 until 1991). Both Houses were more rebellious than in the 1979 Parliament. MP's failed to restore the death penalty in July 1983 - it was a free vote, but Mrs Thatcher hoped and expected to win restoration. A few days later Tory MPs rebelled over pay.There was a major rebellion in April 1984 over the right to contract into paying the political levy within Trade Unions. In April 1986 the Goivernment lost on the Second Reading of the Sunday Trading Bill. It was only the second time that a Government had been defeated at 2nd Reading since 1924!

The big political story of the Parliament was the Miners Strike of 1984 to 1985. The BBC has a webpage about the strike, available here. It split the country in two.

In October 1984 the IRA unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Mrs Thatcher and other members of the Tory Party hierarchy. The "Brighton Bomb" exploded in the middle of the night, during the Tory Party Conference. A report of the bombing is available here.

The Westland Affair in 1986 led to Michael Heseltine's resignation from the Cabinet - and he cited Thatcher's style of government. Heseltine wanted a European future for the Wessex based helicopter firm. Trade & Industry Secretary, Leon Brittain wanted to see Westland taken over by the US firm Sikorsky. Heseltine resigned on January 9th, Brittain was forced out on 24th over a row about the leaking of a letter on the Westland Affair.

Labour had improved their standing in the opinion polls, but not by enough to dislodge the Conservatives in the 1987 General Election. Mrs Thatcher maintained a majority of over 100.

Books on this period include -

The 1979 Parliament

The 48th Parliament of the United Kingdom saw a Conservative Majority of 43, headed by the first British woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Conventional wisdom held that no Prime Minister could avoid appointing a Cabinet which contained her political rivals and ideological opponents. The main ideological division at this time within the Conservative Party was between the "Wets" (traditional Conservatives - who believed in maintaining the welfare state and the mixed economy, essentially at the levels of the period 1945-1979, who saw a social obligation towards the poorer members of Society; and who regarded unemployment as the greatest danger) and the "Drys" (the New Right that wanted privatisation; significant cuts in Public Spending; and the removal of many of the rights enjoyed by the Trade Unions and workers). While Thatcher appointed a balanced Cabinet in 1979 - by 1983 she had removed most of the "wets".

Within the Parliamentary Party there were some rebellions - but it was a less stressful period for the whips. Michael Jopling was Chief Whip in the Commons throughout the Parliament. Outside Parliament conditions were rougher. Plans to institute a programme of coal mine closures in February 1981 were withdrawn in the face of opposition from the Miners' Union. A Steel strike was fought in 1980. A recession - which many regarded as the result of the Monetarist policies pursued by the Government led to increased unemployment - and in 1981 a wave of riots spread across the country. Thatcher looked to be in danger of being a one-term Prime Minister.

Her survival was helped by the fact that the opposition Labour Party was deeply divided. In March 1981 some of its leading figures left the party to form the Social Democratic Party. This new party soared in the opinion polls. In April 1982 the junta in Argentina ordered an invasion of the Falkland Islands. I was in the public gallery when she came in to the Chamber to announce the surrender by the Argentinians. A successful task force had made Mrs Thatcher a national hero.

In June 1983 a General Election left Thatcher with a large majority of 123.

Books about the period include -

A New Peer

Yesterday Michael Dobbs was introduced into the House of Lords. He has been a key player in the Conservative party for many years - but it is for his writing that he is best known.

In November 1990 the BBC ran the first episode of "House of Cards", written by Michael Dobbs, which began with a monologue by its chief character, in which he says "Nothing lasts forever. Even the longest, the most glittering reign must come to an end someday." - as he looks at a photograph of Margaret Thatcher.



Days later - long after the scheduling of the programme, Mrs Thatcher had fallen!

The series is available on DVD - and worth watching. It is a superb political thriller - and I rate it as one of my favourite fictional portrayals of British politics.





In addition to his writing - he was a Chief of Staff and later Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. He has served as a special adviser to Margaret Thatcher.

Michael Dobbs is not to be confused with his namesame - journalist and author of "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear war" - though both were born in Britain - and studied in the USA.

His website can be accessed here.

Departmental Select Committees

While the twentieth century saw a general decline in the power of Parliament against the Executive, the creation of the departmental select committees has enabled an important fight back. While they still don’t get the attention from the media and the public they deserve – they do play an important role in scrutiny by MPs.
Today is the 30th anniversary of their creation – hence the conference I attended on Tuesday. The far reaching proposals for a system of select committees were made by the Procedure Committee in 1978. Bill Proctor, a Former Clerk of the Committee, gave an interesting paper on the development of the report and its subsequent publication and reception. I hope that the Hansard Society will be able to publish this paper on its website.

Priscilla Barnes wrote a chapter on the “History and Rationale of the 1979 Reforms” in “The New Select Committees” which was edited by Gavin Drewey. Both were at the conference.

The Procedure Committee Report was published in the summer of 1978. It fell to the incoming Government in 1979 to implement the proposals. The hero was Norman St-John Stevas, Leader of the House of Commons. He “rushed the whole system through cabinet committees before it dawned on the Prime Minister [Mrs Thatcher] what was going on” (Christopher Price). As a result of his actions an important structure was set up which is something the Werstminster Parliament can be proud of.