The Battle for the Labour Party by David Kogan

Author:David Kogan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

John Silkin

The decision of John Silkin to stand for the deputy leadership reflects the division within the party between Inside Left and Outside Left. Silkin was the last of several candidates who had been approached to stand against Benn. He made his name in the late 1960s as the Chief Whip at a time when Richard Crossman was attempting to introduce more liberal methods of securing party discipline. He was Minister of Agriculture in the 1974–79 Government, and his aggressive anti-common market stance had firmly established him in the mainstream of Tribune Group politics. In 1980 he stood for the leadership of the party against Michael Foot, Denis Healey and Peter Shore, and by 1981 had established himself as a capable representative of the Tribune Group.

Once Benn had announced that he would stand for the deputy leadership against Healey, thus opening the field to all who wanted to stand, the Inside Left began to look for a candidate who would be acceptable both for his policies and for his attitudes to internal party democracy. Eric Heffer seemed a likely candidate but his constituency refused to support him, and Neil Kinnock, another potentially strong candidate, decided not to run. Finally, a group of Tribune supporters, including Judith Hart and Stan Orme, voiced support for Silkin and, rather belatedly, he entered the race.

It was clear from the beginning of his campaign that Silkin stood little chance of winning. He seemed to admit that his two rivals had more appeal than he, but that, rather like Michael Foot, he represented the basic desire for unity within the Labour Party. This somewhat staid appeal did not match the emotion and excitement surrounding the other two candidates. But it allowed those on the Inside Left who had doubts about Benn and some of his supporters to vote for a more traditionalist left-wing candidate.

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