Many original members of the future Social Democratic Party had been members of the Manifesto Group within the Labour Party. This group opposed what they saw as a leftward shift in Labour policy... The final straw for many in the Manifesto Group was the behaviour of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey at a meeting with them during the Labour leadership campaign to replace James Callaghan. He bluntly told those assembled to vote for him and answered their questions uninformatively. At the end, one asked him why they should vote for him, and Healey answered "You have nowhere else to go"* (to stop the left-winger Michael Foot from winning). Healey's arrogance convinced many that their days as members of the Labour Party were now over. Ivor Crewe and Anthony King found five defectors who claimed to have voted for Foot in order to saddle Labour with an unelectable leader and make life easier in their new party. One defector, Mike Thomas, said he was tempted to send a telegraph to Healey reading "Have found somewhere else to go".
The birth of the SDP, according to Wikipedia. Thirty years on, with electoral reform as far off as ever, how's the realignment of British politics going?
Do the Lib Dems want to abandon the Coalition? If so, they have a death wish: any election in the near future would result in a near-total obliteration of their representation in the Commons.
The Telegraph, 11th May 2011
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
*my italics
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