Labour Party | Momentum | Socialism | TV Eye | 1980 

Look at how 40 years ago the average person had such a much better grasp of policy than they do today. Most voters today couldn't name a single manifesto policy of the party they voted for at the last election.

Bill Rodgers speaks a lot of sense. Social democracy might be a bit bland, but it's far more palatable to the electorate than full socialism.

Very obvious from this documentary which side the person doing the voice-over is on. Not the slightest pretence of impartiality.

The Falklands conflict propelled Thatcher on in 1983

The problem the labour party has had for years - so many of the activists and party members are completely unrepresentative of Labour voters, let alone the wider public.

What was taken out of the report?

Now, Mr Rodgers,..there’s a chap who spoke with proper aplomb and hood old common sense, in the Gaitskell, Wilson, Callaghan mode. Would’ve make a superlative PM !

1:51 yeah right!

Until Labour returns to selection of the leader by MPs instead of people who joined the party two weeks ago, the party will be doomed.

@3:10 - There were two elections in 1974. The first one resulted in no party having a majority. The second one gave labour a three-seat majority. Yet the left (and specifically Tony Benn) acted as if the party had won an overwhelming victory and had a mandate from voters to implement massive changes to the economy. From 1974-1979, the best the labour party could do was just hold on to power. They didn't have the votes in the house to pass nationalization or consumer price subsidies. They also didn't have the majority to ride out the consequences of a massive currency devaluation. If, for example, the government had rejected the IMF deal and gone its own way in 1976, the government would have fallen. When the left of the labour party finally fought an election on their full socialist agenda in 1983, they were crushed.

Antony Wedgwood Benn might of given up his title but not his money/properties that was put into trust. Do as i do not as i say! My parents hard working class people who didnt like or trust him.

So Michael Foot is on the bottom of the list at 8% and he is picked as the new leader....gotta love the left...lol

Some of the predictions here are hilariously wrong: the 1980 conference turned out to be the biggest triumph of the Left e.g. in changing the way the leader was elected

You just know Rodger is Owen Jones daddy

Nationalization was such an obsession for many😅USSR nationalized 99.9% of everything and destroyed most innovation and productivity, still producing and driving cars that were copied from the 60s Western cars in 1991...and so many many things

For any community to prosper and be able to have a social programme with provides vital services ie police, NHS, schools, road sweepers etc etc capitalism and competition is vital as taxes pay for those very important services, to be so dreamily idealistic to deny the need for capitalism in modern societies is I have to say rather foolish.

You can almost smell the body odor of those sweaty labour meetings. Red faced and suffocated by tobacco smoke, somebody should open a window to get in some fresh air.

If Healey had become Labour leader in 1980, Labour may not have won the 1983 General Election but they certainly would not have lost it as badly as they did.

Labour members: can we have a democratic party please the right: trotskyists and tony benn are trying to take over pur party

The brilliant Heffer talks so much sense. Bill Rodgers was a joke.