ABSTRACT
Neil Kinnock is famous for acting as Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992, assuming leadership at a time when its fortunes were at their lowest ebb since the 1930s. Eschewing his past as a left-wing parliamentary rebel in the 1970s he introduced root-and-branch reform in the Labour Party which swept away old shibboleths, such as a commitment to unilateral disarmament, and reformed the Labour Party as a social democratic party. Indeed, he also attempted play down the commitment to public ownership within the Party, to remove Militant Tendency from the Party, and to reduce the power of the trade union movement within the Party. Yet, although he rescued Labour from political oblivion, was appointed because of his ‘sensible Left’ image, and was a good Party manager, Kinnock was always seen as a political lightweight. Indeed, he was never acknowledged to be a leader capable of returning Labour to power. Eventually he resigned as Labour Leader after the poor general election result of 1992, when Labour won just 35.2 per cent of the vote, and 271 seats, 1.7 per cent lower than in the disastrous 1979 general election.
