The Wilderness Years 1979–1994

Abstract

When Labour was vanquished by Mrs Thatcher in the election of 1979 not even the most pessimistic would have believed that the party would have to wander disconsolately for eighteen bleak years in the political wilderness and suffer three more crushing defeats before finally reaching the promised land in May 1997. Or that the party that arrived would be dramatically transformed from the one that departed. It has become received wisdom in the media that the transition to ‘New Labour’ really commenced with Tony Blair’s election to the leadership in June 1994. In reality, without the nine-year leadership of Neil Kinnock it is impossible to envisage the emergence of a Blairite Labour Party: in virtually every respect the party’s metamorphosis began under him. The first major theme of this chapter is to explore the process by which this occurred.