ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how opposition in Britain was viewed twenty years ago. Opposition is not unified and highly concentrated but divided and more fragmented. The major opposition party cannot be certain to form the next government even if opinion polls point to a desire for change in the country. The duty of the Opposition to criticise, Harry and oppose the government in the House of Commons has taken second place to campaigning in the country and attending to internal disputes. The electoral system and the House of Commons remain more suited to the politics of the 1950s than to those of the 1980s. Partisan dealignment, and its attendant electoral volatility, has produced a highly fluid situation in British politics, which makes it idle to speculate about the outcome of the next general election and developments thereafter. Possibilities run from a third successive Conservative victory to an outright Alliance victory.
