Editing Billy Bragg (section)

===From 1983 to 1997===
Bragg's politics were focused by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]]'s 144-seat majority landslide at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]]. He told his biographer, "By 1983, the scales had fallen from my eyes".{{sfn|Collins|2018|p=144}} His record label boss Andy Macdonald observed that "his presence onstage took on more of the avenging angel".{{sfn|Collins|2018|p=145}} Bragg was at the forefront of music's influence on the [[UK miners' strike (1984–85)|1984 miners' strike]], and played many benefit gigs in towns close to coalfields such as Newport and Sunderland.{{sfn|Collins|2018|p=146}} He also released an EP during this year titled "Between the Wars", which connected struggles of class solidarity to the present issue. This single was his most successful up until this point, reaching number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.{{sfn|Tranmer|2012|pp=79–84}} The following year, after playing a short [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]-sponsored Jobs For Youth tour, he joined other like-minded activists in the public eye to form the musicians' alliance [[Red Wedge]], which promoted Labour's cause – and in turn lobbied the party on youth issues – in the run-up to the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]],{{sfn|Tranmer|2001}} with a national tour in 1986 alongside [[the Style Council]], [[Jerry Dammers]] and [[the Communards]].

Bragg travelled twice to the Soviet Union in 1986, the year [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] started to promote the policies of [[perestroika]] and [[glasnost]]. He played a gig in [[Leningrad]], and the Festival of Song in the Struggle for Peace in [[Kyiv]].{{sfn|Collins|2018|pp=181–183}}

On 12 June 1987, the night after Labour lost that year's general election, Bragg appeared on a [[After Dark (TV series)#Teresa Gorman and "Is Britain Working?"|notable edition]] of the [[Channel 4]] discussion programme ''[[After Dark (TV programme)|After Dark]]'', alongside [[David Selbourne]], [[Teresa Gorman]] and [[Hilary Hook]] among others. ''[[The Independent]]'' wrote "A show called ''Is Britain Working?'' brought together victorious Tory MP Teresa Gorman; ... Helen from the Stonehenge [[Peace Convoy|Convoy]]; old colonialist Colonel Hilary Hook... and Adrian, one of the jobless. It was a perfect example of the chemistry you can get. There were unlikely alliances (Bragg and Hook)".<ref name="Independent19880219">''The Independent'', 19 February 1988</ref> Later Gorman "stormed off the set, claiming she had been misled about the nature of the programme"<ref name="Brown">Maggie Brown, ''A Licence To Be Different'', BFI, 2007.</ref> "She told... Bragg: 'You and your kind are finished. We are the future now.'"<ref>Alwyn W. Turner, ''Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s'', Aurum 2010.</ref> Bragg said "I sing in smokey rooms every night and I can keep talking for far longer than you can Teresa".<ref>''An Introduction to the Nature and Functions of Language'', Jackson and Stockwell, Continuum, 2010.</ref> Bragg explained later: "She was so smug. And because she was Essex I took it personally. Then she accused me of being a fine example of Thatcherism".<ref>Daniel Rachel, ''Walls Come Tumbling Down'', Picador, 2016.</ref>