ABSTRACT
The fortunes of governments reflect largely their performance in office over the preceding four or five years, as set against the effectiveness of the opposition parties. Of course, later events replace earlier experiences and so the second half of a government's term of office is normally the most important influence on ‘public opinion’ at the subsequent general election. The 1979-83 period was no exception to this general rule. However, it was characterized by some dramatic changes of party fortunes; we examine these for two periods, before and after the Falklands war. For each period we review the changes in government policy and the developments inside the opposition parties that affected the parties’ relative standings in the opinion polls.
