Neil Kinnock Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Right Honourable Neil Kinnock (born March 28, 1942) is a British politician. He was the leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992, when he resigned after the general election defeat. He was succeeded by John Smith.
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2 Youngest Labour Pary Leader 3 Later Years as Party Leader 4 European Union Commissioner 5 Personal Life |
First elected in 1970, he became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in 1978. He was known as a left-winger, and gained renown for his outspoken attacks on Margaret Thatcher's handling of the Falklands War.
Nicknamed "the Welsh Windbag" by Private Eye magazine and "Kinocchio" by the Conservatives, he had the thankless task of leading the Labour Party during its so-called "unelectable" period. Although he was seen as very much the coming man when he succeeded his spectacularly unsuccessful predecessor, Michael Foot, he had a long and difficult path to bring the party back to its pre-Thatcher position. Kinnock was responsible for many of the early reforms to the party which were built upon by John Smith and Tony Blair until Labour was eventually re-elected in 1997.
His first period as party leader - between the 1983 and 1987 elections was dominated by his struggle with the hard left. Although Kinnock had come from the left of the party he parted company with many of his previous allies on his appointed to the Shadow Cabinet by Michael Foot in 1980. In 1981 Kinnock effectively scuppered Tony Benn's attempt to replace Denis Healey as Labour's deputy leader by first supporting the candidacy of the more traditionalist Tribunite John Silkin and then urging Silkin supporters to abstain on the second, run-off, ballot.
All this meant that Kinnock had little or no good will on the left when elected as leader and he was almost immediately in serious difficulty as a result of Arthur Scargill's decision to lead his union, the National Union of Mineworkers into a national strike (in opposition to pit closures) without a ballot. The NUM were widely regarded as the Labour Movement's praetorian guard and the strike convulsed the Labour Movement. Kinnock supported the aim of the strike - which he famously dubbed the "case for coal" - but, as an MP from a mining area, was bitterly critical of the tactics employed. In 1985 he made his critcisms public in a speech to Labour's conference widely regarded as the best he ever delivered.
The strike's defeat and the rise of the Militant meant that 1985's Labour conference should have been a disaster for Kinnock (as 1984's - in the middle of the strike - was). Instead, by sheer force of personal will, Kinnock turned it into a triumph with a powerful attack on the Militant-dominated Liverpool City Council and a direct confrontation with Scargill. In 1986 the party's position appeared to strengthen further with excellent election results and a thorough rebranding of the party under the direction of Kinnock's director of communications Peter Mandelson.
Labour, now sporting a continental social democratic style emblem of a rose, appeared to be able to run the governing Tories close, but Margaret Thatcher did not let Labour's makeover go unchallenged.
The Tories 1986 conference was well managed and effectively relaunched the Tories as a party of radical free-market liberalism and Labour suffered from a persistent image of extremism, especially as Kinnock's campaign to root out the Militant dragged on as figures on the hard left of the party tried to stop its progress. Kinnock's personal committment to unilateral nuclear disarmament also hurt the party as voters remained concerned about the intentions of the Soviet Union even under Gorbachev.
As a result Labour faced the 1987 election with the clear prospect of coming third and in secret Labour's aim became to secure second place and secure a good 35% of the vote - effectively cutting into the Tory majority but not yet in government.
In reality Kinnock succeeded in his first aim, and was widely regarded as having fought a good campaign. But Labour only polled 31% of the vote and the Tories retained a three-figure majority in the House of Commons.
The second period of Kinnock's leadership was dominated by his drive to reform the party's policies and so win power. This began with an exercise known as "Labour Listens" - essentially an effort at public consultation and invoilvement in Labour's policy agenda, in the autumn of 1987.
In organisational terms the party leadership continued to battle with the Militant, though by now the Militant were in retreat in the party and were simultaneously attracted by the opportunities to grow outside Labour's ranks - opportunities largely created by Margaret Thatcher's hugely unpopular poll tax.
After Labour Listens the party went on, in 1988, to produce a new statement of aims and values - meant to replace the arguably semi-Marxian formulation of Clause IV of the party's constitution (though, crucially, this was not actually replaced until 1995 under the leadership of Tony Blair) and was closely modelled on Anthony Crosland's social democratic thinking - emphasising equality and not public ownership.
The party then began a full scale policy review, with the aim of re-writing all its policies. At the same time Kinnock was challenged by Tony Benn for the party leadership. Later many identified this as a particular low period in Kinnock's leadership - as he appeared mired in internal battles after five years of leadership and the Tories still dominating the scene. In the end, though, Kinnock's victory humiliated Benn, showed how marginal the hard -left had become and marked the opening period of extraordinary productive period of leadership.
The policy review - reporting in 1989 saw Labour move ahead in the polls just as the poll tax row was destroying Tory support and Labour won big victories in local by-elections.
Kinnock also scored hits on Margaret Thatcher in the Commons - previously a area in which he was seen as weak - and finally Tory MPs voted to remove Thatcher as their leader, installing John Major.
Public reaction to Major's elevation was highly positive - many voters clearly feeling that removing the Tories at a general election was now no longer necessary.
In the 1992 election Labour made some progress - reducing the Conservative majority to just 21 but the reality was that Kinnock was doomed never to get to the promised land of Labour government (at least as party leader). Though his legacy was a realistic committment to party reform, a thorugh puge of Trotskyist entryism and a solid platform for his successors.
Having inevitably lost the 1987 election, Kinnock remained party leader and was hot favourite to become prime minister in the months leading up to the 1992 election. It came as a shock to many when the Conservatives remained in power, but the percieved triumphalism of a Labour party rally in Sheffield may have contributed to putting off voters. On the day of the 1992 election The Sun ran a famous front page featuring Kinnock that he blamed in his resignation speech for losing Labour the election. Kinnock himself later claimed to have half-expected the loss and proceeded to turn himself into a media personality, even hosting a chat show on BBC Wales. In the 1980s he helped set up the Institute for Public Policy Research and remains on its Advisory Council.
He was appointed one of Britain's two members of the European Commission, which he served as Transport Commissioner under Commission president Jacques Santer. Following the forced Santer Commission Resignation in 1999, he was re-appointed to the Commission under new president Romano Prodi. He became vice-president of the European Commission, his term of office as a Commissioner was due to expire on 30 October 2004, but was delayed owing to the withdrawal of the new commissioners. On 20 February 2004 it was announced that with effect from 1 November 2004 he will become head of the British Council. At the end of October, it was announced that he would become a member of the House of Lords (intending to be a working peer), when he was able to leave his EU responsibilities. In 1978 he had remained in the House of Commons, with Dennis Skinner, while other MPs walked to the Lords to hear the Queen's speech opening the new parliament. He had dismissed going to the Lords in recent interviews. Kinnock explaned his change of attitude, despite the continuing presence of 90 hereditary peers and appointment by patronage, by asserting that the Lords was a good base for campaigning.
He is married to Glenys Kinnock, MEP for Wales from 1999 to present and MEP for South Wales East from 1994 to 1999.
Career Overview
Youngest Labour Pary Leader
Later Years as Party Leader
European Union Commissioner
Personal Life
| Preceded by: Michael Foot | Leader of the British Labour Party 1983-1992 | Followed by: John Smith |
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