Vox Populi - October 1987 General Election

[Lumine]

October 1987 - Tebbit battles for survival

Prelude: In the middle of a General Strike of sorts and despite a mixed record in government Norman Tebbit is determined to win a third term for the Tories. Can he succeed?

Labour Party: Led by the increasingly old Denis Healey for the last time, Labour has pursued a moderate rebranding by returning to Callaghanism on immigration and some social polices (to seek the return of former Labour voters), while constantly branding Tebbit as an extremist who must leave. The Healey and Owen duo runs on a manifesto of entry into Europe, moderate to conservative social views, hawkish foreign stances, a progressive economy (with conditional support to the unions) and a certain degree of political reform for Britain (including Lords Reform).

Conservative Party: Despite the shortcomings of his government Norman Tebbit has launched himself to the arena as tough, straight-talking populist, rallying against the extremism of the unions while requesting a vote of confidence on the Conservatives. The Conservative manifesto continues to call for uncompromising Euroscepticism, a social conservative social and crime policy, the defence of the free market reforms, a strong but isolationist foreign policy and further investment in the NHS while lowering taxes.

Liberal Party: Led by the elderly and experienced Richard Wainwright (who has taken a hardline approach against scandals), the Liberals are running a "radical centrist" campaign, having moved back into the center to center-left after the Steed years. Wainwright has made political and electoral reform the focus on his campaign, rallying against both corruption and the so called "Conservative-Labour consensus". The Liberal manifesto, among other things, calls for a referendum on entry into Europe, a radical large-scale package of political and government reforms, pacifism, social-liberal views, devolution and a economic prices and incomes policy.

Plaid Cymru / Scottish National Party: Despite disappointing results over the past years MacRae and Wigley continue to lead the SNP and Plaid, attacking Labour and the Conservatives for ignoring devolution while branding themselves as the best alternative to stand for Welsh and Scottish interests. The divide between both parties has changed little towards the past years, with the SNP continuing its socialist road with bitter and complete opposition to Tebbit and Plaid retaining its more social-democratic point of view, if still harshly critical of Conservatism.

Socialist Labour Party: Heffer is another of the leaders fighting his last campaign, optimistic now that the SLP has expanded to fight across the entire nation. Heffer's main focus has been the General Strike, with the SLP taking the firm side of the trade unions against the government while strongly calling for a large-scale nationalization and worker's influence in the economy. Keeping their 1982 manifesto almost unchanged, the SLP remains Eurosceptic while supporting political reform (and abolition of the Lords), pacifist and unilateralist, social-liberal and now strongly environmentalist (hoping to prevent the rise of a Green movement from the left).

Two days.

Note: Socialist Labour now runs across the country, faces no penalty. Anti-incumbent bonus means a 2% swing from CON to LAB.

[MAINEiac4434]

Labour!

[Kingpoleon]

Vote for Europe, social liberalism, devolution, and radical reform! The Liberals!

[Lumine]

A few hours left. Close battle between Lab, Con and SLP.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Tory.

[Intell]

Socialist Labour.

[GoTfan]

SLP

[Lumine]

A hopelessly Hung Parliament, basic numbers are:

CON: 251
LAB: 199
SLP: 171
LIB: 15
SNP: 4
PC: 3
OTH: 7

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

So, there'll be some sort of Labour-SLP coalition government, I assume?

[Lumine]

October 1987 General Election:

October 1987 - Healey takes over while Socialist Labour achieve a breakthrough

Labour Party: 29.0% (199 MP's)
Conservative Party: 28.0% (251 MP's)
Socialist Labour Party: 27.0% (171 MP's)
Liberal Party: 12.1% (15 MP's)
Scottish National Party: 1.3% (4 MP's)
Plaid Cymru : 0.8% (3 MP's)
Others: 1.8% (7 MP's)

The campaign started on a high note for the major parties, Prime Minister Tebbit doing his best to look tough against the widespread strikes as Denis Healey tried his best to portray Labour as a "government in waiting", dismissing the potential threat of the SLP as too inexperienced to breakthrough like the Liberals had done in the past. The first days of the campaign turned into a sort of a personality contest, with Healey and Tebbit harshly attacking each other on speeches, TV broadcasts, interviews and the press to inflict the most damage. With Richard Wainwright and the Liberals soon left behind by the media despite their efforts to recover a significant presence, it seemed as if Labour and the Conservatives would manage to restore two-party politics.

What they didn't expect, of course, was the upsurge in anger derived from the General Strike, which at the same time damaged the Conservatives due to Tebbit's actions and Labour due to Healey's perceived lack of a firm stance for either side. Eric Heffer and his well prepared party waged one of the most successful examples of "guerrilla-style politics", fighting with every means available as they openly backed the trade unions. An attempt by Healey and Tebbit to take Heffer down in the leader's debate turned into disaster as Heffer put on a brilliant (and knowledgeable) performance, aiding his message of a "Labour-Conservative" consensus to be broken. A series of environmental scandals abroad also aided the SLP, as the party had taken a strong environmental commitment that appeared to pay off.

Election Night turned into a shock as neither party could surpass 30% of the vote, Labour and the Conservatives paying a heavy price with mounting losses as Heffer and Socialist Labour scored 27% and a historic 171 MP's, which surpassed the best Liberal performance in the seventies. With the SNP and Plaid facing further losses and the Liberals stubbornly remaining at 12% (picking up 3 MP's), Labour was left as the winner of the popular vote with 29% and 199 MP's, whereas the Conservatives led in MP's at 28% and 251 MP's (aided by the Labour split and continued Unionist success in Northern Ireland). It appeared to be an almost impossible Parliament, with no clear way for the Tories to remain in government and Labour and the SLP being too weak to govern alone.

Unwilling to make deals with the Liberal Party (which appeared doomed from the start) Norman Tebbit resigned right after the election, hoping that Healey would pick up a "poisoned chalice". Healey and Heffer sat down for extensive talks of a potential coalition between the SLP and Labour, and while both men came close to a potential arrangement the talks were sabotaged by disaffected members in both parties (David Owen and Joan Maynard being the main suspects). The Queen had no alternative but to appoint Healey as Prime Minister of a minority government, with Healey pushing for a daring Queen's Speech in what amounted to a challenge to Tebbit and Heffer to vote him down and force another election.

Both men called his bluff, and Healey lost the resulting vote. With only Wainwright's Liberals interested in a repeat of the "National Government" (Healey, Heffer and Tebbit would hear no talk of it), a new election had to be scheduled by January due to the lack of alternatives. For the second time in his life, Denis Healey became a "caretaker" Prime Minister.

[Lumine]

So, there'll be some sort of Labour-SLP coalition government, I assume?

I rolled the die for that, assuming there was a chance for the Labour right and the SLP left to sink the idea. The result was negative, so we're headed for a second election.