Realignment of the Labour Party 1987-1997

Question 1

Key figures for modernising Labour in the 1990s: ?

Answer 1

-Neil Kinnock
-Tony Blair
-Gordon Brown

Question 2

Key ideas surrounding the modernisation of Labour: ?

Answer 2

-Removal of clause IV
-Commitment to market economics
-Furthering privatisation
-Appealing to the Middle classes

Question 3

What was Kinnock’s goal

Answer 3

Make Labour more appealing to the electorate by making it less left wing and socialist.

Question 4

How did Labour commit to surgery after the 1987 defeat?

Answer 4

Policy review structure

Question 5

What did policy review start with?

Answer 5

Started off with “labour listens”

Question 6

What was “Labour listens”

Answer 6

An attempt to garner the views of ordinary people, this was a step in the right direction for Labour .

Question 7

What had labour done under Michael Foot’s leadership and Tony Benn’s influence that wasn’t happening now?

Answer 7

Under Foot/Benn Labour went down the avenue of leading public opinion rather then following it, under Kinnock this completely changed as Labour with their “labour listens campaign” became the party of following public opinion.

Question 8

What were the stages of policy review?

Answer 8

1st Phase:
-Social justice
-Economic efficiency

2nd Phase:
-Renouncement of public ownership policies

3rd Phase:
-Defined the party policies

Question 9

New economic policy of Labour under Kinnock was?

Answer 9

Labour would know distance itself from public ownership and widespread state involvement in the economy. Continuation of privatisation with possibly only water being the only utility not privatised.

Role of the state was to facilitate industrial investment and economic effectiveness.

Question 10

What was clear under this new style of Labour?

Answer 10

Unions would not be given back the power that they had in the 1970s were Labour to be re-elected.

Question 11

Why were these policies done?

Answer 11

Appealed to the electorate more then previous policies such as the 1983 manifesto

Question 12

What was the 1983 Labour manifesto dubbed as?

Answer 12

‘Longest suicide note in history’

Question 13

Why did policy review have its critics?

Answer 13

Traditionalists didn’t want Labour to abandon traditional policies of a large welfare state and powerful trade unions e.g. Tony Benn and TUs were opposed to reform.

Question 14

When did policy review reached it climax?

Answer 14

The issue of policy review reached its climax in 1988 when Tony Benn challenged Kinnock for the leadership of the party. After Kinnock won, the influence of the left wing of the party declined and those in favour of policy review pressed ahead rapidly.

Question 15

Key reforms under Labour were?

Answer 15

-Change in economic policy
-Removal of Clause IV
-Earn before it spent

Question 16

Change in the economic policy = ?

Answer 16

Drive towards third way socialism and less widespread state involvement in the economy e.g. less public ownership. More privatisation and only increasing tax for the wealthiest people. money for the government was to come from growing businesses and service industry and these would pay for public welfare.

Question 17

Removal of Clause IV = ?

Answer 17

The defining moment whereby Old labour became new Labour and Labour had realigned happened in 1995 when Tony Blair scraped the clause which outlines Labour’s commitment to widespread Nationalisation.

Question 18

Earn before it spent = ?

Answer 18

A Labour government would earn before it spent money on the welfare state, there would be no increase in welfare provisions unless public funds were already available.