Editing Michael Foot (section)

==Labour leadership==
{{see also|Shadow Cabinet of Michael Foot}}
Following Labour's [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election defeat]] by [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[James Callaghan]] remained as party leader for the next 18 months before he resigned. Foot was elected Labour leader on 10 November 1980, beating [[Denis Healey]] in the second round of the [[1980 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|leadership election]] (the last leadership contest to involve only Labour MPs). Foot presented himself as a compromise candidate, capable – unlike Healey – of uniting the party,<ref name="birth">{{cite book|last1=Crewe|first1=Ivor|last2=King|first2=Anthony|title=SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party|url=https://www.questia.com/library/99726518/sdp-the-birth-life-and-death-of-the-social-democratic|access-date=6 April 2015|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|page=73|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232640/https://www.questia.com/library/99726518/sdp-the-birth-life-and-death-of-the-social-democratic|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=live}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> which at the time was riven by the [[grassroots]] left-wing insurgency centred around [[Tony Benn]].

The Bennites were demanding revenge for what they considered to be the betrayals of the [[Callaghan government]]. They called for MPs who had acquiesced in Callaghan's policies to be replaced by left-wingers who would support [[unilateral nuclear disarmament]], [[Withdrawal from the European Union|withdrawal from the European Communities]], and widespread [[nationalisation]]. Benn did not stand for the leadership; apart from Foot and Healey, the other candidates (both eliminated in the first round) were [[John Silkin]], a [[Tribune&nbsp;(magazine)|Tribunite]] like Foot, and [[Peter Shore]], a [[Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom|Eurosceptic]].

In 1980, Healey was widely expected by the media and many political figures to be the next Labour leader.<ref name="SRichardspp100-101">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Steve |title=The Prime Ministers We Never Had; Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn |date=2021 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-83895-241-9 |pages=100–101}}</ref> However, [[Steve Richards]] notes that while "Healey was widely seen as the obvious successor to Callaghan", and that sections of the media ultimately reacted with "disbelief" at Labour not choosing him, the "choice of Foot was not as perverse as it seemed". He argues Labour MPs were looking for a figure from the left who could unite the wider party with the leadership, which Healey could not do. Richards states that despite being on the left of the party, Foot was not a "tribal politician" and had proved he could work with those of different ideologies and had been a loyal deputy to Callaghan. Thus Foot "was seen as the unity candidate" and won the election.<ref name="SRichardspp116-119">{{cite book |last1=Richards |title=The Prime Ministers We Never Had |date=2021 |publisher= |location= |isbn= |pages=116–119}}</ref>

When he became leader, Foot was already 67 years old and frail.<ref name="Mirror, Obit" /><ref name="Guardian, Obit" /> Following the [[1979 energy crisis]], Britain went into [[Early 1980s recession|recession]] in 1980, which was blamed on the [[First Thatcher ministry|Conservative government]]'s controversial [[monetarist]] policy against inflation, which had the effect of increasing [[Unemployment in the United Kingdom|unemployment]]. As a result, Labour had moved ahead of the Conservatives in the opinion polls. Following Foot's election as leader, opinion polls showed a double-digit lead for Labour, boosting his hopes of becoming prime minister at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|next general election]], which had to be held by May 1984.

When Foot became leader, the Conservative politician [[Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking|Kenneth Baker]] commented: "Labour was led by [[Dixon of Dock Green]] under [[Jim Callaghan]]. Now it is led by [[Worzel Gummidge]]."<ref name=Baker_Worzel_Gummidge>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/11519453/best-british-political-insults.html?frame=3258865 Daily Telegraph] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327122438/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/11519453/best-british-political-insults.html?frame=3258865 |date=27 March 2016 }}, ''Michael Foot – The best British political insults and putdowns''</ref> Foot's nickname in the press gradually became "Worzel Gummidge", or "Worzel".<ref name=How_Worzel_came_to_save_the_Labour-Party>[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/book-review--how-worzel-came-to-save-the-labour-party-michael-foot--mervyn-jones-victor-gollancz-20-pounds-1369303.html The Independent], 11 April 1994, ''Book Review / How Worzel came to save the Labour Party: 'Michael Foot' – Mervyn Jones: Victor Gollancz, 20 pounds'', by John Torode.</ref> This became particularly common after Remembrance Day 1981, when he attended the Cenotaph observance wearing a coat that some said resembled a donkey jacket.<ref name=Michael_Foot_reflects_on_his_infamous_jacket>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8548282.stm BBC News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729211351/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8548282.stm |date=29 July 2017 }}, 3 March 2010, ''Michael Foot reflects on his infamous jacket''</ref> After his tenure as leader, Foot would be "depicted as a scarecrow on ITV's satirical puppet show ''[[Spitting Image]]''."<ref name=Baker_Worzel_Gummidge/>

Almost immediately following  his election as leader, he was faced with a serious crisis. On 25 January 1981, four senior politicians on the right-wing of the Labour Party ([[Roy Jenkins]], [[Shirley Williams]], [[David Owen]] and [[Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank|William Rodgers]], the so-called "Gang of Four") left Labour and formed the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]], which was launched on 26 March 1981. This was largely seen as the consequence of the Labour Party's swing to the left, polarising divisions in an already divided party.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge83.shtml |title=1983 general election |work=BBC News |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406022756/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge83.shtml |archive-date=6 April 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The SDP won the support of large sections of the [[British media]]. For most of 1981 and early 1982, its opinion poll ratings suggested that the SDP could at least overtake Labour and possibly win a general election. The Conservatives were then unpopular because of the economic policies of [[Margaret Thatcher]], which had seen unemployment reach a postwar high.

The Labour left was still strong. In 1981, Benn decided to challenge Healey for the [[Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party]], a contest Healey won, albeit narrowly. Foot struggled to make an impact, and was widely criticised for his ineffectiveness. He was criticised by some on the left for supporting Thatcher's immediate resort to military action during the [[Falklands War]]. The conflict further undermined his position as he at first demanded an effective government response to the Argentinian aggression, but then emphasised the need to work for a peace settlement with the military junta led by General Galtieri.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/7359721/Michael-Foot.html | title=Michael Foot | date=3 March 2010 }}</ref> The right-wing newspapers lambasted him consistently for what they saw as his bohemian eccentricity, attacking him for wearing what they described as a "[[donkey jacket]]" (actually he wore a type of [[duffel coat]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mehdi-hasan/2010/03/michael-foot-labour-party-bank|title=Michael Foot: RIP|work=New Statesman|first=Mehdi|last=Hasan|author-link=Mehdi Hasan|date=3 March 2010|access-date=12 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006081203/http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mehdi-hasan/2010/03/michael-foot-labour-party-bank|archive-date=6 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> at the wreath-laying ceremony at the [[The Cenotaph|Cenotaph]] on [[Remembrance Day]] in November 1981, for which he was likened to an "out-of-work navvy" by a fellow Labour MP.<ref>{{cite news |first=Dominic |last=Sandbrook |author-link=Dominic Sandbrook |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3663713/A-lion-in-a-donkey-jacket.html |title=A lion in a donkey jacket (Review of Michael Foot: a Life by Kenneth O Morgan) |work=[[Sunday Telegraph]] |date=11 March 2007 |access-date=15 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423153129/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3663713/A-lion-in-a-donkey-jacket.html |archive-date=23 April 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> Foot later said that the [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Mother]] had described it as a "sensible coat for a day like this".<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=Kirkup |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7361078/Michael-Foot-and-the-donkey-jacket-that-wasnt.html |title=Michael Foot and the donkey jacket that wasn't |date=3 March 2010 |access-date=26 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811055727/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7361078/Michael-Foot-and-the-donkey-jacket-that-wasnt.html |archive-date=11 August 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> He later donated the coat to the [[People's History Museum]] in Manchester,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/archive/politics/fashion_leaders.shtml|title=Ode to the Donkey Jacket|publisher=[[BBC]]|website=[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]|access-date=15 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303202018/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/archive/politics/fashion_leaders.shtml|archive-date=3 March 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Collection Highlights |publisher=People's History Museum |url=http://www.phm.org.uk/our-collection/michael-foots-donkey-jacket/ |access-date=20 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120152913/http://www.phm.org.uk/our-collection/michael-foots-donkey-jacket/ |archive-date=20 January 2015 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> which holds a collection that spans Foot's entire political career from 1938 to 1990, and his personal papers dating back to 1926.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection Catalogues and Descriptions |publisher=Labour History Archive and Study Centre |url=http://www.phm.org.uk/archive-study-centre/online-catalogue/ |access-date=20 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113161101/http://www.phm.org.uk/archive-study-centre/online-catalogue/ |archive-date=13 January 2015 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

The formation of the SDP – which formed an [[SDP–Liberal Alliance|alliance with]] the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] in June 1981 – contributed to a fall in Labour support. The double-digit lead that had still been intact in opinion polls at the start of 1981 was swiftly wiped out, and by the end of October the opinion polls were showing the Alliance ahead of Labour. Labour briefly regained their lead of most opinion polls in early 1982, but when the Falklands conflict ended on 14 June 1982 with a British victory over [[Argentina]], opinion polls showed the Conservatives firmly in the lead. Their position at the top of the polls was strengthened by the return to economic growth later in the year. It was looking certain that the Conservatives would be re-elected, and the only key issue that the media were still speculating by the end of 1982 was whether it would be Labour or the Alliance who formed the next opposition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103&view=wide|title=Voting Intention in Great Britain: 1976–present|publisher=[[Ipsos MORI]]|access-date=15 August 2010|date=21 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825171037/http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103&view=wide|archive-date=25 August 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

Through late 1982 and early 1983, there was constant speculation that Labour MPs would replace Foot with Healey as leader. Such speculation increased after Labour lost the [[1983 Bermondsey by-election]], in which [[Peter Tatchell]] was Labour candidate, standing against a Conservative, a Liberal (eventual winner [[Simon Hughes]]) and John O'Grady, who had declared himself the [[Real Bermondsey Labour]] candidate.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} Critically, Labour held on in a subsequent by-election in [[1983 Darlington by-election|Darlington]], and Foot remained leader for the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]].