Word: labors
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...election was a disaster for Labor, which suffered its most stinging defeat since 1918. Michael Foot, 69, the donnish, white-haired historian and critic who would have become Prime Minister had Labor won, held on to his parliamentary seat at Blaenau Gwent in Wales, but is expected to resign soon as Labor's leader...
After Callaghan lost to Thatcher in 1979, Foot became a compromise choice as party leader over Centrist Denis Healey, 65. Yet the party wound up more bitterly divided than ever. Jenkins and a score of others from Labor's right wing quit in 1981 to form the S.D.P. Since then...
...Labor has been torn by disputes over a Marxist group known as the Militant Tendency, which calls for such measures as abolishing the monarchy and nationalizing all major industries, including the banks. The moderates wanted Militant Tendency members ousted from the party, but the far left insisted they remain. Though Foot last year vowed that the radicals would run on a Labor ticket "over my dead body," the group stayed, and the Labor leader ended up campaigning with their candidates. Sir Harold Wilson, voicing the frustration of many of his party colleagues at the rise of the leftist militants, bluntly...
...party's direction now depends largely on who is picked to succeed Foot. Healey, whom polls show to be Labor's most popular figure, would like to make one last try for the post, but union leaders have judged him too old. Tony Benn, longtime Laborite leftist and prime architect of the party's disastrous manifesto, planned to make a run, but his unexpected loss last week knocked him out of the race. Among the remaining moderates, the leading contenders are Roy Hattersley, Labor's spokesman for domestic affairs, and Peter Shore, shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Hattersley, who helped...
Another key candidate will be Neil Kinnock, whose leftist leanings and easy candor make him just about the only leading Labor figure with support from both wings of the party. As Labor spokesman for education, he opposes private schools and wants universities open to all without competitive exams. Nonetheless, Kinnock may have a tough battle for the top spot: he is already on the hit list of party radicals angered by his vote to expel the Militant Tendency from the party...