SDP
Launched on a wave of euphoria in 1981, the SDP aroused the hopes and enthusiasm of millions of people. Promising to break the mould of British politics, its leaders included four of the most respected figures in British public life - Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams. But the SDP failed. Despite winning with the Liberals a quarter of the vote in two general elections, by the autumn of 1987 it had disintegrated amidst acrimony and bitter in-fighting. This book, based on unprecedented access to the SDP's archive and extensive interviews with all the leading players, ch
1 online resource (647 pages)
9780198280507, 0198280505
1027151960
Pre-history: 1964-1979 ; The Gang of Three ; Jenkins and the Jenkinsites ; Anguish: 'Severe Mental Pain' ; Born in Despair ; Defectors and Loyalists ; What Kind of Party? And Whose? ; The Golden Age: March - December 1981 ; Jenkins as Leader: 1982-3 ; A 'Partnership of Principle' ; Disappointment: June 1983 ; New Institutions for a New Party ; Machinery, Members, and Money ; A 'Media Party'? ; The Party of a New Class ; The SDP, The Alliance, and the Electorate ; The Owen Ascendency I: 1983-5 ; The Owen Ascendency II: 1985-7 ; Humiliation: June 1987 ; The SDP Disintegrates: 1987-8 ; Of Merger and a Dead Parrot ; Who Was to Blame? ; SDP: A Study in Failure ; Epilogue