Word: kinnocks
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...minutes the 1,712 delegates to the annual Labor Party conference in the seaside resort of Blackpool stood and roared an ovation for the man they believe has rescued them from political extinction. From Labor's perspective, the tribute was richly deserved. Neil Kinnock, 44, the copper-haired Welshman with a silver tongue, inherited a divided and demoralized party three years ago. Militant leftists threatened his leadership, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives, fresh from a landslide election victory, held a commanding lead in opinion polls. Kinnock has changed all that. At Blackpool he gave a masterly demonstration...
...Much of Kinnock's success has come despite a bold -- and, for Britain, potentially dangerous -- policy on national defense. Labor delegates last week overwhelmingly reaffirmed the party's commitment to abandon Britain's independent nuclear deterrent and close down all six U.S. nuclear bases in the country. That antinuclear posture has helped Kinnock unite his party, but he is gambling that it will not alienate mainstream voters and cost Labor the election, as it was largely responsible for doing in 1983. If a Labor government under Kinnock carries out that policy, the blow to the alliance would be greater than...
Labor's shadow Foreign Secretary Denis Healey accused the U.S. of "bullying Britain." Kinnock replied to Washington's warnings with similar bluntness. He served notice that a Labor government would withdraw from the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella after closing down American nuclear bases in Britain. In a BBC interview he said, "If we're not prepared to use the weapons systems ourselves, we certainly would not be asking anyone else to jeopardize themselves by the use of that nuclear weapon. It would be immoral...
...Kinnock also claimed the Perle and Weinberger blasts did not have the backing of the White House. But U.S. Ambassador to Britain Charles Price, who attended the Blackpool conference, instantly replied that the two Pentagon officials indeed spoke for the Reagan Administration. Price said U.S. views should be made known so that Labor's defense policy "can be put on the table for examination when the British people come to vote...
...While she will have the advantage of setting the date, the Labor Party has consistently led in the polls for the past nine months. Last week's Liberal- Social Democratic rift over defense policy may have helped the Tories, who stand to profit more than Labor from centrist confusion. Kinnock's resurgent party nonetheless remains a formidable opponent...