Social Democratic Party (UK)

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was a United Kingdom political party that existed as a national party between 1981 and 1990. It was founded by defectors from the Labour Party, who considered that Labour had become too left wing, and was led by Roy Jenkins. It entered into an electoral alliance with the Liberal Party in the 1983 and the 1987 general elections. The majority formally merged with the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988.

History

Foundation

The origin of the party lies in a 1981 speech by Roy Jenkins - that year's Dimbleby Lecture - as he finished his time working for the European Commission. Jenkins argued the necessity for a realignment in British politics, and discussed whether such a concept should be done around the existing Liberal Party, or from a new grouping based on social democratic principals similar to other European states.

Related Topics:
Roy Jenkins - Social democratic

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There were long-running claims of corruption and administrative decay within Labour at local level, and concerns that experienced and able Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) of many years could be deselected (i.e., lose the Labour Party nomination) by those wanting to put either their friends or members of their own Labour faction (in particular, the Militant Tendency) into a safe seat. Eddie Milne on Teeside and Dick Taverne in Lincoln were both victims of this intrigue during the 1970s, and in both cases they fought for and won their seats again as independent candidates against the official Labour candidates. In Taverne's case, he resigned his seat to force a by-election to highlight the issue - fighting the seat as a Democratic Labour candidate. Militant were held to be systematically targetting weak local party branches in safe seat areas in order to have their own candidates selected, and thus become MPs.

Related Topics:
Members of Parliament - Militant Tendency - Eddie Milne - Teeside - Dick Taverne - Lincoln

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Many members of the future Social Democratic Party were members of the Manifesto Group within the Labour Party. This group opposed the leftward shift in Labour policy, the increasing prominance within the party of Michael Foot & Tony Benn, and the involvement of trade unions in choosing the leader of the Labour Party. They argued that a new political force was needed to challenge the Conservative Party, and the leader of that party should be elected by its entire membership, rather than the electoral college in use in the Labour party.

Related Topics:
Manifesto Group - Michael Foot - Tony Benn - Conservative Party - Electoral college

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The final straw for the Manifesto Group was the behaviour of Denis Healey at a meeting with them during the Labour leadership campaign to replace Jim Callaghan. He bluntly told the assembled to vote for him "because you haven't really got any choice, have you?" Healey told them that they had to back him simply as the only one with a chance of stopping the left-wing supported Michael Foot from winning. Healey's arrogance (ironically, he had formerly been a member of the Communist Party) convinced many that their days as members of the Labour Party were now over. One notable exception was future Shadow Scottish Secretary George Robertson, who openly refused to join the new party because he feared he would not be able to keep his seat at a general election. This earned him the nickname of "Chicken George" thereafter.

Related Topics:
Manifesto Group - Denis Healey - Jim Callaghan - Michael Foot - George Robertson

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The founding members or "Gang Of Four", Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams, were leading figures on the Labour Right. They announced the new party at a press conference, and outlined their policies in the "Limehouse declaration" http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/record.jsp?type=page&ID=176&limehouse%20declaration - Limehouse being Dr David Owen's London home.

Related Topics:
Roy Jenkins - David Owen - Bill Rodgers - Shirley Williams

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Twenty-eight Labour MPs joined the new party, along with one member of the Conservative Party, Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler. Williams and Jenkins were not at the time MPs, but were elected to the Commons in by-elections at Crosby and Glasgow Hillhead respectively amid great media fanfare. Jenkins unsuccessfully contested a by-election at Warrington in March 1982, and in the Glasgow Hillhead by-election, another candidate named Roy Jenkins was nominated by Labour Party activists to contest the seat in order to confuse voters and split his potential vote.

Related Topics:
Conservative Party - Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler

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The formation of the Alliance

The SDP formed the SDP-Liberal Alliance with the Liberal Party late in 1981, under the joint leadership of Roy Jenkins (SDP) and Liberal leader David Steel. Initially, the Alliance achieved considerable success in parliamentary by-elections and, at one point, an opinion poll rating of over 50%. In early 1982, after public disagreements over who could fight which seats in the forthcoming election, the poll rating dipped, but was still well ahead of the Conservatives, and far ahead of Labour.

Related Topics:
SDP-Liberal Alliance - David Steel

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Labour embarrassingly lost one of their ten safest seats - Bermondsey - in a by-election in early 1983 to Liberal-SDP candidate Simon Hughes. (The local Labour MP `- Bob Mellish - had resigned over similar circumstances to that of Dick Taverne in Lincoln, & his agent stood in the bitterly contested by-election as an Independent). Bermondsey has remained a SDP/Liberal Democrat constituency ever since.

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But following victory in the Falklands War of April to June 1982, the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher soared in popularity (they had been third in the polls prior to this), and the standing of the Alliance and Labour declined.

Related Topics:
Falklands War - Margaret Thatcher

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The formation of the Alliance raised questions as to whether it would lead to a merged party, or the two parties were destined to compete with each other. Part of the problem was that Jenkins' saw the SDP as simply a vehicle for siphoning off the right wing of the Labour Party into a new centrist party with the existing Liberals that would provide a more pro-European & stable party of government avoiding the destructive policy swings from left to right caused by Labour & the Conservatives. Owen however saw the party as being a replacement for Labour altogether, of the same mould as the German Social Democrats which benefitted from not being tied down by Trade Union control & thus were seen as more approachable by business interests. It was Owen's vision that attracted the SDP with what was to prove its main sponsor - the Sainsbury supermarket chain (a certain MP from Sedgefield, Tony Blair, was ironically a very vocal critic of the SDP's business links).

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The Alliance did well in the 1983 general election, winning 25% of the national vote, close behind Labour's 28%, but thanks to the British "first-past-the-post" electoral system, only 23 Alliance MPs were elected, six of whom were members of the SDP. In the 1987 general election, with the SDP under the leadership of David Owen, the Alliance's share of the vote fell slightly and the SDP's parlimentary party was reduced from eight members to five. (Mike Hancock had won a by-election at Portsmouth South in 1985 and Rosie Barnes had won a bitterly contested by-election in 1987 at Greenwich - on both occasions these were former Labour seats where the local party had been taken over by the Militant Tendency.)

Related Topics:
1983 general election - 1987 general election - David Owen - Mike Hancock - Rosie Barnes

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Proposed merger

After the disappointment of 1987, Steel proposed a formal merger of the two parties. This had been what Jenkins had wanted all along (especially now he had lost the leadership of the SDP to Owen). He was fiercely opposed by Owen, but the majority of the SDP's now demoralised membership agreed to the union. Owen was quoted as saying that Jenkins should have been honest and joined the Liberals in 1981 with his closest supporters, including Dick Taverne, Tom Ellis, Tom Bradley and Neville Sandelson. Owen resigned as leader and was replaced by Robert Maclennan. Steel and Maclennan headed the new "Social and Liberal Democrat Party" (SLD) from March 3, 1988. The party was re-named the Liberal Democrats in October 1989.

Related Topics:
Merger - Dick Taverne - Tom Ellis - Tom Bradley - Neville Sandelson - Robert Maclennan - March 3 - 1988 - Liberal Democrats

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Many SDP members, including SDP MP and future Leader of the Liberal Democrats Charles Kennedy, joined Maclennan in the merged party. But Owen remained defiantly at the head of the newly re-established and much reduced SDP, along with two other MPs, John Cartwright and Rosie Barnes.

Related Topics:
Charles Kennedy - John Cartwright

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The Owenite rump

The SDP carried on with the financial support of Lord Sainsbury, owner of the Sainsbury chain of supermarkets. The rump SDP beat the other parties to second place behind William Hague in the Richmond by-election in 1989, but in 1990, it finished behind the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the Bootle by-election. Within a week Owen had announced the end of the party.

Related Topics:
Lord Sainsbury - Sainsbury - William Hague - 1989 - 1990 - Official Monster Raving Loony Party

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Whilst most members of the SDP who joined the Liberal Democrats have remained in that party (with one or two exceptions - notably Roger Liddle) a sizable proportion of the Owenites went on to join the Conservative Party, with one, Danny Finklestein becoming a close aide of both John Major and William Hague. A few others, such as Polly Toynbee, moved back towards Labour.

Related Topics:
Roger Liddle - Danny Finklestein - John Major - William Hague - Polly Toynbee

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The last stand of the SDP?

A small number of SDP activists carried on without David Owen under the SDP name for several years after the official demise of the party in 1990 - ironically lead by the very Jack Holmes whose defeat by the Raving Loonies at Bootle had caused the party's demise.

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The rump SDP finished fourth at the Neath by-election in 1991 - only a whisker behind the Liberal Democrats (although their candidate was shortly to defect to them anyway), and they were to hold a number of council seats in Yorkshire and South Wales throughout the 1990s.

Related Topics:
1991 - Yorkshire - Wales - 1990s

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To this day the occasional Social Democratic Party candidate pops up in the odd council election, and there have been occasions when they have won. The Social Democratic Party is officially listed on the Register of Political Parties for England, Scotland and Wales; the cited leader being John Bates, a formidable figure, forever seen in bow tie. But the year 2000 conference was held in a Birmingham school and the 2001 conference in a Weston-super-Mare hotel. The only elected members now are Cllrs. Ray Allerston, Winifred Taylor, Leslie Taylor and Christine Allerston, who hold all four seats for the Old Town ward in Bridlington, East Yorkshire. (Source: Bridlington Town Council.)This group appears to be the last redoubt of the party, although there has been a recent upturn in their fortunes with the announcement that Councillor Christine Allerston is the new Mayor of Bridlington for 2005/2006.

Related Topics:
John Bates - Birmingham - Weston-super-Mare - Bridlington - East Yorkshire

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