ABSTRACT
When John Smith succeeded Neil Kinnock as Party leader in July 1992, three months after Labour’s fourth successive General Election defeat, it seemed clear that Kinnock’s commitment to the modernization of the Party’s policies and organization would be maintained. Smith’s leadership indicated, too, that the process of ideological revision that had accompanied his predecessor’s achievements would continue. The only doubts, expressed initially and subsequently, surrounding Smith’s inheritance concerned the pace at which modernization would proceed and the manner in which ideological change would be promoted.
