The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is the second highest ranking politician in the British Labour Party . The Deputy Leader also serves as the Deputy Chairperson of the Labour Party, and acts as Leader in the House in events where the leader cannot.
71-441: The Labour Leader does not have the power to appoint or dismiss their Deputy. The post is instead directly elected by party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters on a one-member-one-vote basis; before 2015, it was elected using the party's former electoral college system; and before 1981, it was elected by Labour MPs. Recently, the office of Deputy Prime Minister has been revived and held by senior politicians in
142-461: A peerage upon their retirement, particularly if they served as prime minister ; examples of this include Clement Attlee and Harold Wilson . However, Neil Kinnock was also elevated to the House of Lords , despite never being prime minister, and Michael Foot declined a similar offer. Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock , PC (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who
213-475: A "one member, one vote" system, in which the votes of party members and members of affiliated organisations are counted equally. MPs' and MEPs' votes are not counted separately, although a candidate needs to receive the support of 10% of Labour MPs in order to appear on the ballot. A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1906. It is not uncommon for a retired leader of the Labour Party to be granted
284-546: A Commissioner was due to expire on 30 October 2004, but was delayed owing to the withdrawal of the new Commissioners. During this second term of office on the Commission, he was responsible for introducing new staff regulations for EU officials, a significant feature of which was substantial salary cuts for everyone employed after 1 May 2004, reduced pension prospects for many others, and gradually worsening employment conditions. This made him disliked by many EU staff members, although
355-514: A degree in Industrial Relations and History. The following year, Kinnock obtained a postgraduate diploma in education. Between August 1966 and May 1970, he worked as a tutor for a Workers' Educational Association (WEA). He married Glenys Kinnock in 1967. They have two children – son Stephen Kinnock (born January 1970, now a Labour MP), and daughter Rachel Kinnock (born 1971). Glenys died on 3 December 2023. In June 1969, Kinnock won
426-501: A family man and associating him with images of Wales away from the coal mining communities where he grew up), and a speech to that year's Welsh Labour Party conference asking why he was the "first Kinnock in a thousand generations" to go to university . On polling day, Labour easily took second place, but with only a 31% share of the vote to the SDP-Liberal Alliance's 22%. Labour was still more than ten percentage points behind
497-565: A general election (excluding temporary acting leaders) are George Lansbury (who stood down) and John Smith (who died in office). Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson , Tony Blair and Sir Keir Starmer remain the only four leaders to have led the party to victory in general elections. Out of the four, Blair is the most successful, having won three consecutive electoral victories in 1997 , 2001 (both landslide victories ), and 2005 . Wilson won four general elections out of five contested, in 1964 , 1966 , February 1974 and October 1974 . Attlee,
568-547: A guest host of the programme. Kinnock announced his resignation as Leader of the Labour Party on 13 April 1992, ending nearly a decade in the role. John Smith , previously Shadow Chancellor, was elected on 18 July as his successor. Kinnock remained on the Advisory Council of the Institute for Public Policy Research , which he helped set up in the 1980s. Kinnock was an enthusiastic supporter of Ed Miliband 's campaign for
639-449: A member of the NEC left the conference stage in disgust at Kinnock's comments. In June 1986, the Labour Party finally expelled the deputy leader of Liverpool council, the high-profile Militant supporter Derek Hatton , who was found guilty of "manipulating the rules of the district Labour party". By 1986, the party's position appeared to strengthen further with excellent local election results and
710-445: A new leader, who serves until a new Leader is elected. Such a vacancy has occurred only twice, when Harold Wilson resigned as Leader and Prime Minister in 1976, and when Tony Blair did so in 2007, but each remained in office until, respectively, James Callaghan and Gordon Brown had been elected as successor, and so no Acting Leader was required to take over. To date, the only Deputy Leaders who have gone on to be elected Leader of
781-437: A new statement of aims and values—meant to supplement and supplant the formulation of Clause IV of the party's constitution (though, crucially, this was not actually replaced until 1995 under the leadership of Tony Blair ) and was closely modelled on Anthony Crosland 's social-democratic thinking—emphasising equality rather than public ownership . At the same time, the Labour Party's commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament
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#1732858637873852-518: A number of supporters. The majority in the group were now disenchanted with entryism, and chose to function outside Labour's ranks, forming the Socialist Party . In the three years leading up to the 1992 general election , Labour had consistently topped the opinion polls, with 1991 seeing the Conservatives (rejuvenated by the arrival of a new leader with John Major the previous November) snatch
923-470: A shock to many when the Conservatives won a majority, but the 'triumphalism' perceived by some observers of a Labour Party rally in Sheffield (together with Kinnock's performance on the podium) may have helped put floating voters off. Although internal polls suggested no impact, while public polls suggested a decline in support had already occurred, most of those directly involved in the campaign believe that
994-657: A speech delivered at the conference: I'll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council – a Labour council – hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers ... I am telling you, no matter how entertaining, how fulfilling to short-term egos – you can't play politics with people's jobs and with people's services or with their homes. One Liverpool MP, Eric Heffer ,
1065-529: A speech to Labour's conference: The strike wore on. The violence built up because the single tactic chosen was that of mass picketing, and so we saw policing on a scale and with a system that has never been seen in Britain before. The court actions came, and by the attitude to the court actions, the NUM leadership ensured that they would face crippling damages as a consequence. To the question: "How did this position arise?",
1136-676: A thorough rebranding of the party under the direction of Kinnock's director of communications Peter Mandelson , as well as seizing the Fulham seat in West London from the Conservatives at an April by-election. Labour, now sporting a continental social democratic style emblem of a rose (replacing the party's first logo, the Liberty logo), appeared to be able to run the governing Conservatives close, but Margaret Thatcher did not let Labour's makeover go unchallenged. The Conservatives's 1986 conference
1207-459: A working peer for practical political reasons." When his peerage was first announced, he said: "It will give me the opportunity ... to contribute to the national debate on issues like higher education , research, Europe and foreign policy." His peerage meant that the Labour and Conservative parties were equal in numbers in the upper house of Parliament (subsequently the number of Labour members overtook
1278-434: Is "a red herring" and that the same result would have happened without the rally. On the day of the general election, The Sun newspaper ran a front page featuring Kinnock with the headline 'If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.' In his resignation speech , Kinnock blamed The Sun for Labour losing the election, along with other right-wing media sections who had backed
1349-660: Is in government , as it currently is, the leader usually becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, first lord of the Treasury and minister for the civil service , as well as appointing the cabinet . Concordantly, when the Labour Party is in opposition , the leader would usually act (as the second-largest party) as the leader of the Opposition , and chair the shadow cabinet . Unlike other British political party leaders,
1420-432: The 1970 general election . He became the Labour Party's shadow education minister after the Conservatives won power in the 1979 general election . After the party under Michael Foot suffered a landslide defeat to Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 election , Kinnock was elected Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. During his tenure as leader, Kinnock proceeded to fight the party's left wing , especially
1491-583: The 1975 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Communities , Kinnock campaigned for Britain to leave the Common Market. Following Labour's defeat at the 1979 general election , James Callaghan appointed Kinnock to the Shadow cabinet as education spokesman. His ambition was noted by other MPs, and David Owen 's opposition to the changes to the electoral college was thought to be motivated by
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#17328586378731562-654: The House of Commons in 1995 to become a European Commissioner . He went on to become Vice-President of the European Commission under Romano Prodi from 1999 to 2004, before being elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Kinnock in 2005. Until the summer of 2009, he was also the chairman of the British Council and the president of Cardiff University . Kinnock, an only child, was born in Tredegar , Wales on Saturday 28 March 1942. His father, Gordon Herbert Kinnock
1633-557: The Militant tendency , and he opposed NUM leader Arthur Scargill 's methods in the 1984–1985 miners' strike . He led the party during most of the Thatcher government , which included its third successive election defeat when Thatcher won the 1987 general election . Although Thatcher had won another landslide, Labour regained sufficient seats for Kinnock to remain Leader of the Opposition following
1704-536: The hard-left Militant tendency , then still a dominant force in the party. Kinnock was determined to move the party's political standing to a more centrist position, in order to improve its chances of winning a future general election. Although Kinnock had come from the Tribune left wing of the party, he parted company with many of his former allies following his appointment to the Shadow Cabinet. The Labour Party
1775-412: The "case for coal" – but, as an MP from a mining area, was bitterly critical of the tactics employed. When heckled at a Labour Party rally for referring to the killing of David Wilkie as "an outrage", Kinnock lost his temper and accused the hecklers of "living like parasites off the struggle of the miners" and implied that Scargill had lied to the striking miners. In 1985, he made his criticisms public in
1846-561: The Conservatives at the 1989 European elections , winning 40% of the vote; the first time Labour had finished in first place at a national election in fifteen years. In December 1989, Kinnock abandoned the Labour policy on closed shops —a decision seen by many as a move away from traditional socialist policies to a more European-wide agenda, and also a move to rid the party of its image of being run by trade unions . Michael Heseltine challenged Thatcher's leadership and she resigned on 28 November 1990 to be succeeded by then- Chancellor of
1917-533: The Conservatives in the opinion polls (an Ipsos MORI poll in April 1990 had actually shown Labour as being more than 20 points ahead of the Conservatives), but many opinion polls were actually showing the Conservatives with a higher amount of support than Labour, in spite of the deepening recession . By now Militant had finally been routed in the party, and their two MPs were expelled at the end of 1991, in addition to
1988-620: The Conservatives in the run-up to the election. The following day's headline in The Sun was ' It's The Sun Wot Won It ', which Rupert Murdoch – many years later, at his April 2012 appearance before the Leveson Inquiry – stated was both 'tasteless and wrong' and led to the editor Kelvin MacKenzie receiving a reprimand. The Labour-supporting Daily Mirror had backed Kinnock for the 1987 general election and did so again in 1992. Less expected
2059-613: The Conservatives, who retained a three-figure majority in the House of Commons . However, the Conservative government's majority had come down from 144 seats in 1983 to 102. Significantly, Labour had gained twenty seats at the election. Labour won extra seats in Scotland , Wales and Northern England , but lost ground particularly in Southern England and London , where the Conservatives still dominated. The Conservatives also regained
2130-548: The Exchequer , John Major . Kinnock greeted Thatcher's resignation by describing it as "very good news" and demanded an immediate general election. Public reaction to Major's elevation was highly positive. A new Prime Minister and the fact that Kinnock was now the longest-serving current leader of a major party reduced the impact of calls for "Time for a Change". Neil Kinnock's showing in the opinion polls dipped; before Thatcher's resignation, Labour had been up to 10 points ahead of
2201-714: The Fulham seat which it had lost to Labour at a by-election just over a year earlier. A few months after the general election, Kinnock gained brief attention in the United States in August 1987 when it was discovered that then-US Senator Joe Biden of Delaware (and future 46th President ) plagiarised one of Kinnock's speeches during his 1988 presidential campaign in a speech at a Democratic Party debate in Iowa . This led to Biden's withdrawal of his presidential campaign. The two men met after
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2272-693: The House of Commons in his first cabinet . In the event of a vacancy in the office of Leader when the Labour Party is in opposition, the Deputy Leader automatically becomes temporary Leader of the Party until a new leader is elected. If a vacancy in the leadership occurs while the Labour Party is in government, then the Cabinet, in consultation with the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, chooses
2343-431: The Labour Party is the highest position within the United Kingdom's Labour Party . The current holder of the position is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , Keir Starmer , who was elected to the position on 4 April 2020, following his victory in the party's leadership election . The post of Leader of the Labour Party was officially created in 1922. Before this, between when Labour MPs were first elected in 1906 and
2414-414: The Labour Party are Clement Attlee and Michael Foot . Margaret Beckett briefly served as Labour Leader following the unexpected death of John Smith in 1994. Harriet Harman was Leader after Gordon Brown resigned in 2010 and after Ed Miliband resigned in 2015. Conversely, John Robert Clynes served as Leader prior to becoming Deputy Leader. Leader of the Labour Party (UK) The leader of
2485-587: The Labour Party nomination for Bedwellty in South Wales , which became Islwyn for the 1983 general election . He was first elected to the House of Commons on 18 June 1970, and became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in October 1978. Upon his becoming an MP, his father said "Remember Neil, MP stands not just for Member of Parliament, but also for Man of Principle." In
2556-471: The Labour government was in favour of devolution for Wales . Kinnock was one of just six MPs in South Wales who campaigned against devolution, and personally backed an amendment to the Wales Act stating that devolution would require not only a simple majority , but also the backing of 40% of the entire electorate. He later clarified that he supports devolution in principle, but found the proposed settlement at
2627-486: The Labour leader does not have the power to dismiss or appoint their deputy. Both the leader and deputy leader are elected by an alternative vote system. From 1980 to 2014 an electoral college was used, with a third of the votes allocated to the Party's MPs and MEPs , a third to individual members of the Labour Party, and a third to individual members of all affiliated organisations, including socialist societies and trade unions . The 2015 leadership election used
2698-508: The Leadership of the Labour Party in 2010, and was reported as telling activists, when Miliband won, "We've got our party back" – although Miliband, like Kinnock, failed to lead the party back into government, and resigned after the Conservatives were re-elected with a small majority in 2015 . Labour received their lowest seat tally under Miliband since the 1987 general election; when Kinnock was leader at that time. In 2011, he participated in
2769-553: The Welsh family history television programme Coming Home where he discovered hitherto unknown information about his family. Kinnock was appointed one of the UK's two members of the European Commission , which he served first as Transport Commissioner under President Jacques Santer , in early 1995; marking the end of his 25 years in the House of Commons. This came less than a year after
2840-744: The autumn he had insisted that there would be no general election in 1991. Labour had gained four seats from the Conservatives in by-elections since the 1987 general election , having initially suffered disappointing results in some by-elections, namely a loss of the Govan constituency in Glasgow to the Scottish National Party in November 1988. However, by the end of 1991, the Conservative majority still stood at 88 seats and Labour needed to win more than ninety new seats to gain an overall majority, although there
2911-482: The candidacy of the more traditionalist Tribunite John Silkin and then urging Silkin supporters to abstain on the second, run-off, ballot. Kinnock was known as a left-winger , and gained prominence for his attacks on Margaret Thatcher 's handling of the Falklands War in 1982. Following Labour's landslide defeat at the 1983 general election , Michael Foot resigned as Leader of the Labour Party aged 69, and from
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2982-513: The continuing presence of ninety hereditary peers and appointment by patronage, by asserting that the Lords was a good base for campaigning. On 28 January 2005, he was created a life peer as Baron Kinnock, of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent , and was introduced to the House of Lords on 31 January 2005. On assuming his seat, he stated: "I accepted the kind invitation to enter the House of Lords as
3053-584: The death of his successor, John Smith and the election of Tony Blair as the party's new leader. He was obliged to resign as part of the forced, collective resignation of the Commission in 1999. He was re-appointed to the Commission under new President Romano Prodi . He now became one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Commission, with responsibility for Administrative Reform and the Audit, Linguistics and Logistics Directorates General. His term of office as
3124-428: The election. Kinnock led the Labour Party to a surprise fourth consecutive defeat at the 1992 general election , despite the party being ahead of John Major 's Conservative government in most opinion polls, which had predicted either a narrow Labour victory or a hung parliament . Shortly afterwards, he resigned as Leader of the Labour Party; he was succeeded in the ensuing leadership election by John Smith . He left
3195-496: The end of October, it was announced that he would become a Member of the House of Lords (intending to be a working peer), when he was able to leave his EU responsibilities. In 1977, he had remained in the House of Commons, with Dennis Skinner , while other MPs walked to the Lords to hear the Queen's speech opening the new parliament. He had dismissed going to the Lords in recent interviews. Kinnock explained his change of attitude, despite
3266-500: The first Labour prime minister , leading a minority government which lasted nine months. Clement Attlee would become the first Labour leader to lead a majority government in 1945 . The first to be born in Wales was Neil Kinnock , who was elected in 1983 . The most recent party leader to not be from England is Gordon Brown , who was born in Scotland. The only Labour leaders not to contest
3337-408: The first leader to lead Labour to a majority won the general elections of 1945 and 1950 . In addition, Labour also won the popular vote in 1951 by securing nearly 49 percent of the voteshare (however Labour won fewer seats than the Conservatives). Starmer, having been appointed after a poor party result in 2019 , led a revival in fortunes and oversaw a landslide in 2024 . When the Labour Party
3408-635: The general election in 1922 , when substantial gains were made, the post was known as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party . In 1970, the positions of leader of the Labour Party and chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party were separated. In 1921, John R. Clynes became the first leader of the Labour Party to have been born in England ; all party leaders before him had been born in Scotland . In 1924 , Ramsay MacDonald became
3479-466: The governing party. A previous Labour Deputy Leader, John Prescott , held this post from 1997 to 2007. However, the Deputy Leader is essentially a party official and there is no constitutional link between the two roles. The former Labour British Prime Minister , Gordon Brown , announced on his formal election as Labour Leader that the newly elected Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman , would instead become Party Chair. Brown subsequently appointed her Leader of
3550-421: The incident, forming a lasting friendship. The second period of Kinnock's leadership was dominated by his drive to reform the party's policies to gain office. This began with an exercise dubbed the policy review , the most high-profile aspect of which was a series of consultations with the public known as " Labour Listens " in the autumn of 1987. Following Labour Listens, the party went on, in 1988, to produce
3621-498: The lead from Labour more than once before Labour regained it. The rise in Conservative support came in spite of the economic recession and sharp rise in unemployment which affected Britain in 1991. Since Major's election as Leader of the Conservative Party (and becoming Prime Minister), Kinnock had spent the end of 1990 and most of 1991 putting pressure on Major to call a general election that year, but Major had held out and by
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#17328586378733692-400: The man from the lodge in my constituency said: "It arose because nobody really thought it out." In 2004, Kinnock said of Scargill, "Oh I detest him. I did then, I do now, and it's mutual. He hates me as well. And I'd much prefer to have his savage hatred than even the merest hint of friendship from that man." Kinnock blamed Scargill for some of the mine closures. The strike's defeat early in
3763-421: The number of Conservative members for many years). Kinnock was a long-time critic of the House of Lords, and his acceptance of a peerage led him to be accused of hypocrisy, by Will Self , among others. Kinnock is a supporter of Welsh devolution, with proposals for a Welsh Assembly included in the Labour Party's 1992 manifesto when he was leader. However, in the build up to the 1979 Welsh devolution referendum ,
3834-401: The outset; it was expected that the much younger Kinnock would succeed him. He was finally elected as Labour Party leader on 2 October 1983, with 71% of the vote, and Roy Hattersley was elected as his deputy; their prospective partnership was considered to be a "dream ticket". His first period as party leader between the 1983 and 1987 general elections was dominated by his struggle with
3905-471: The poor. He accepted membership in the European Economic Community , whereas the party had pledged immediate withdrawal from it under Michael Foot . He discarded the rhetoric of class warfare. These actions meant that Kinnock had made plenty of enemies on the left wing of the party by the time he was elected as leader, though a substantial number of former Bennites gave him strong support. He
3976-622: The pressure on budgets that largely drove these changes had actually been imposed on the Commission from above by the Member States in Council. In February 2004, it was announced that with effect from 1 November 2004, Kinnock would become head of the British Council . Coincidentally, at the same time, his son Stephen became head of the British Council branch in Saint Petersburg , Russia. At
4047-415: The rally only came to widespread attention after the electoral defeat itself, with Kinnock himself changing his mind to a rejection of its negative impact over time. In an essay exploring why Kinnock never became Prime Minister, Steve Richards notes that the impact of the rally on the 1992 election "acquired a mythological status as fatal event" after Labour's defeat. He further argues that this explanation
4118-443: The realisation that they would favour Kinnock's succession. Kinnock remained as education spokesman following the resignation of Callaghan as Leader of the Labour Party and the election of Michael Foot as his successor in late 1980. In 1981, while still serving as Labour's education spokesman, Kinnock was alleged to have effectively scuppered Tony Benn 's attempt to replace Denis Healey as Labour's Deputy Leader by first supporting
4189-486: The same time battling the Militants. Under his leadership, the Labour Party abandoned unpopular old positions, especially the nationalisation of certain industries, although this process was not completed until future party leader Tony Blair revamped Clause IV in the party's manifesto in 1995. He stressed economic growth, which had a much broader appeal to the middle class than the idea of redistributing wealth to benefit
4260-450: The scene, and being ahead in the opinion polls. In the end, though, Kinnock won a decisive victory over Benn and would soon enjoy a substantial rise in support. The policy review — reporting in 1989 —coincided with Labour's move ahead in the polls as the poll tax row was destroying Conservative support, and Labour won big victories in local council elections as well as several parliamentary by-elections during 1989 and 1990. Labour overtook
4331-575: The year, and the bad publicity associated with the entryism practised by the Trotskyist Militant group were the immediate context for the 1985 Labour Party conference. Earlier in the year, left-wing councils had protested at Government restriction of their budgets by refusing to set budgets, resulting in a budget crisis in the Militant-dominated Liverpool City Council . Kinnock attacked Militant and their conduct in
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#17328586378734402-418: Was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992 . He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1970 to 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn . He was Vice-President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. Kinnock was considered to be on the soft left of the Labour Party. Born and raised in South Wales , Kinnock was first elected to the House of Commons in
4473-627: Was a former coal miner who later worked as a labourer; and his mother Mary Kinnock (née Howells) was a district nurse. Gordon died of a heart attack in November 1971 aged 64; Mary died the following month aged 61. In 1953, at eleven years old, Kinnock began his secondary education at Lewis School, Pengam , which he later criticised for its record on caning . He went on to the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff (now Cardiff University), where he graduated in 1965 with
4544-466: Was almost immediately in serious difficulty as a result of Arthur Scargill 's decision to lead his union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) into a national strike (in opposition to pit closures) without a nationwide ballot. The NUM was widely regarded as the labour movement's praetorian guard and the strike convulsed the Labour movement. Kinnock supported the aim of the strike – which he dubbed
4615-499: Was also threatened by the rise of the Social Democratic Party / Liberal Alliance , which pulled out more centrist adherents. On a broader perspective, the traditional Labour voter was disappearing in the face of de-industrialisation that the Conservative government had accepted since 1979. Kinnock focused on modernising the party, and upgrading its technical skills such as use of the media and keeping track of voters, while at
4686-526: Was dropped, and reforms of Party Conference and the National Executive meant that local parties lost much of their ability to influence policy. In 1988, Kinnock was challenged by Tony Benn for the party leadership. Later many identified this as a particularly low period in Kinnock's leadership — as he appeared mired in internal battles after five years of leadership with the Conservatives still dominating
4757-525: Was of unilateral nuclear disarmament ), and believed that the Conservatives would be better than Labour at defending the country. In early 1987, Labour lost a by-election in Greenwich to the SDP 's Rosie Barnes . As a result, Labour faced the 1987 general election in some danger of finishing third in the popular vote, with the Conservatives once again expected to secure a comfortable victory. In secret, Labour's aim
4828-414: Was still the hope of forming a minority or coalition government if Labour failed to win a majority. In the run-up to the election, held on 9 April 1992, most opinion polls had suggested that the election would result in either a hung parliament or a small Labour majority. At the 1992 general election , Labour made considerable progress – reducing the Conservatives' majority to just 21 seats. It came as
4899-461: Was the Financial Times backing Kinnock at the 1992 general election. Kinnock himself later claimed to have half-expected his defeat at the 1992 general election and proceeded to turn himself into a media personality, hosting a chat show on BBC Wales and twice appearing on the topical panel show Have I Got News for You within a year of the defeat. Many years later, he returned to appear as
4970-539: Was to secure second place in order to remain as Official Opposition . Mandelson and his team had revolutionised Labour's communications – a transformation symbolised by a party election broadcast popularly known as "Kinnock: The Movie". This was directed by Hugh Hudson and featured Kinnock's 1985 conference speech, and shots of him and his wife Glenys walking on the Great Orme in Llandudno (so emphasising his appeal as
5041-499: Was well-managed, and effectively relaunched the Conservatives as a party of radical free-market economic liberalism . Labour suffered from a persistent image of extremism, especially as Kinnock's campaign to root out Militant dragged on as figures on the hard left of the party tried to stop its progress. Opinion polls showed that voters favoured retaining the United Kingdom's nuclear weapons , (Labour's policy, supported by Kinnock,
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