Social Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | SDP |
| Founders | |
| Founded | 26 March 1981[1] |
| Dissolved | 3 March 1988 |
| Split from | Labour Party |
| Merged into | Liberal Democrats |
| Succeeded by | SDP (1988) (minority) |
| Headquarters | 4 Cowley Street, London |
| Youth wing | Young Social Democrats |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre tocentre-left |
| National affiliation | SDP–Liberal Alliance |
| European Parliament group | Technical Group of Independents (1983–1984) |
| Colours | Red and blue |
| Slogan | Breaking the Mould |
TheSocial Democratic Party (SDP) was acentrist tocentre-leftpolitical party in the United Kingdom.[2][3][4] The party supported amixed economy (favouring a system inspired by the Germansocial market economy),electoral reform,European integration and a decentralised state while rejecting the possibility of trade unions being overly influential withinindustrial relations.[5] The SDP officially advocatedsocial democracy,[5] and unofficially forsocial liberalism as well.[6][7]
The SDP was founded on 26 March 1981 by four seniorLabour Party moderates, dubbed the "Gang of Four":[8]Roy Jenkins,David Owen,Bill Rodgers, andShirley Williams, who issued theLimehouse Declaration.[9] Owen and Rodgers were sitting Labour Members of Parliament (MPs); Jenkins had left Parliament in 1977 to serve asPresident of the European Commission, while Williams had lost her seat in the1979 general election. All four had held cabinet experience in the 1970s before Labour lost power in 1979. The four left the Labour Party as a result of the January 1981 Wembley conference, which committed the party to unilateralnuclear disarmament and withdrawal from theEuropean Economic Community. They also believed that Labour had become too left-wing, and had beeninfiltrated at theconstituency party level by theTrotskyistMilitant tendency, whose views and behaviour they considered to be at odds with theParliamentary Labour Party and Labour voters.
Shortly after its formation, the SDP formed apolitical and electoral alliance with theLiberal Party, theSDP–Liberal Alliance, which lasted through the1983 and1987 general elections. In 1988, the two parties merged, forming theSocial and Liberal Democrats, later renamed the Liberal Democrats,[10] although a minority, led by Owen, left to form acontinuing SDP.
The origin of the party can be traced back to the ideological divisions in the Labour Party in the 1950s (with its forerunner being theCampaign for Democratic Socialism established to support theGaitskellites), but publicly lies in the 1979Dimbleby Lecture given byRoy Jenkins as he neared the end of hispresidency of theEuropean Commission. Jenkins argued the necessity for a realignment in British politics, and discussed whether this could be brought about from within the existingLiberal Party, or from a new group driven by European principles ofsocial democracy.[11]
In some areas, theMilitant tendency were held to be systematically targeting weak local party branches in safe seat areas in order to have their own candidates selected, and thus become MPs.Eddie Milne atBlyth andDick Taverne inLincoln were both victims of such intrigues during the 1970s, but in both cases there was enough of a local outcry by party members – and the electorate – for them to win their seats as independents.[12]
In Taverne's case, he had been fighting efforts by the LincolnConstituency Labour Party to deselect him largely over his support for British membership of theEuropean Communities. In October 1972 he resigned his seat to force aby-election in which he fought as aDemocratic Labour candidate against the official party candidate. Taverne won by an unexpectedly large margin.[13] He founded the short livedCampaign for Social Democracy (CFSD) thereafter, and wrote a book about events surrounding the by-election calledThe Future of the Left – Lincoln and After (1972). But the CFSD failed to gain nationwide support, and Taverne lost the seat at theOctober 1974 general election. Some independent Social Democrats contested the October 1974 and1979 general elections, but none were elected.
Taverne's Lincoln by-election campaign was also helped to a lesser degree by problems with theConservative candidate,Monday Club chairmanJonathan Guinness. His suggestion during the by-election that murderers should have razor blades left in their cells so they could decently commit suicide resulted in him being nicknamed "Old Razor Blades" during the campaign. This, combined with considerable Conservative grassroots disquiet over the Monday Club's links to theNational Front, persuaded some Conservative voters to switch to Taverne in protest as much as tactically to ensure Labour suffered an embarrassing loss. (Guinness had been elected as Chairman specifically to eradicate such links.)
On 25 January 1981, leading figures from theLabour Party (Roy Jenkins,David Owen,Shirley Williams andBill Rodgers, known collectively as the "Gang of Four") launched the Council for Social Democracy, after outlining their policies in what became known as theLimehouse Declaration. In March it was renamed the Social Democratic Party. The "Gang of Four" were centrists, who defected from the Labour Party due to what they perceived to be the outsized influence of Militant and the "hard left" within the party.[14][15]
Thirteen Labour MPs initially declared support for the Council for Social Democracy. On 20 February 1981, three of theseTom Ellis,Richard Crawshaw andIan Wrigglesworth resigned the Labour whip and another,Tom Bradley, announced he would not contest his seat again as a Labour candidate. These moves were reported to be a clear move towards formally creating a new centre party.[16] Former Labour Party deputy leader,Baron George-Brown also announced his membership of the Council for Social Democracy.[17]
Possible names for the party included ones similar to Labour, such as "Democratic Labour", "Progressive Labour" and "New Labour"[a]. Other, simpler names like "Democratic", "Radical", "Progressive" and "Centre" were also all mentioned as possible names for the new party. However, eventually a consensus emerged for the "Social Democratic" name as it helped to distinguish the party from Labour, and had been widely used to refer to the group in the media.[18]
The opening statement of principles contained in the preamble of the party's constitution stated that: "The SDP exists to create and defend an open, classless and more equal society which rejects prejudices based upon sex, race, colour or religion". The constitution set out the establishment of a "Council for Social Democracy" (CSD) which was, in effect, the party's standing conference. Each area party was entitled to elect delegates to the CSD. A number of internal groups flourished within the new party, the most notable of which was theTawney Society (mirroring the function of the Fabian Society within the Labour Party).
Twenty-eight Labour MPs eventually joined the new party, along with one Conservative MP,Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler ofNorth West Norfolk, who joined on 16 March 1981. Williams and Jenkins were not at the time Members of Parliament, but were elected to theHouse of Commons at by-elections inCrosby in 1981 andGlasgow Hillhead in 1982 respectively.
The defecting Labour MPs were:
Nine Labour members of theHouse of Lords also joined the SDP on its creation, eight of whom had previously held ministerial office. In a letter to Labour Party leaderMichael Foot, the defecting peers said they had taken their decision "with great sorrow".[19] They were:
Much of the party's initial public membership came from theSocial Democratic Alliance. The party also received a boost with the recruitment of former student leaders from outside the Labour Party. These included former Communist Party of Great Britain memberSue Slipman as well as Conservative Party members including:Adair Turner andTom Hayhoe.[citation needed]
Although the SDP was seen as being largely a breakaway from the right-wing of the Labour Party, a 1984 internal party survey found that 65% of its membership had not belonged to a political party before, with 22% being drawn from Labour, 8% from the Conservatives and 8% from the Liberals.[21][22] A 1981 Opinion Research Centre survey of SDP members commissioned byWeekend World found that 72% of SDP members had never been in a party before were joining a political party for the very first time, and that only 15% being former Labour Party members.[21]
The party enjoyed a considerable honeymoon period with the press, who made much mileage out of Roy Jenkins' apocryphal fondness forclaret; claret is an "agreeable" wine, and a metaphor for the party's harmonious internal relations compared to those of the strife-torn Labour Party of the period.
The policies of the SDP emphasised a middle position between the perceived extremes ofThatcherism and the Labour Party. Its constitution argued for "the fostering of a strong public sector and a strong private sector without frequent frontier changes". The SDP favoured someneoliberal Thatcherite reforms during the 1980s, such as legislation aimed at restricting trade unions (although the parliamentary SDP actually split three ways on Norman Tebbit's 1982 Industrial Relations Bill, most voting for, some against, and others abstaining[23]). However, the party took a more welfarist position than the Conservative Party, being more sceptical of Conservative welfare reforms (particularly regarding the National Health Service).[citation needed]
At the party's first electoral contest, Jenkins narrowly failed to win aby-election at Warrington in July 1981, describing it as his "first defeat (in many years), but by far my greatest victory". At theGlasgow Hillhead by-election in March 1982, another candidate called Douglas Parkin, nominated by a party called the Social Democratic Party which had been formed inManchester in 1979, changed his name to Roy Harold Jenkins to contest the seat.[24] SDP polling agents were given special dispensation by the Returning Officer to have placards outside of polling stations to state which one on the ballot papers was the real Roy. Ultimately, the SDP's Jenkins was elected.
Aleadership election was held later in the year, Jenkins beating Owen in the ballot to become the first leader of the new party. Later in the year, Shirley Williams defeated Bill Rodgers in the ballot to become SDP president.
The SDP formed theSDP–Liberal Alliance with theLiberal Party in June 1981, under the joint leadership of Roy Jenkins and Liberal leaderDavid Steel. The Liberal Party, and Steel in particular, had applauded the formation of the SDP from the sidelines from the very start. Senior Liberal MP forRochdaleCyril Smith caused some embarrassment, however, by publicly stating that the SDP "should be strangled at birth".[25]
During an era of wide unemployment and public disillusionment with Labour and the Conservatives, the Alliance achieved considerable success at parliamentary by-elections. At one point in late 1981, the Alliance had an opinion poll rating of over 50%.[26] That same year, David Steel addressed the Liberal Party conference with the phrase "Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government!"[27]
In early 1982, after public disagreements over who could fight which seats in the forthcoming election, the Alliance's poll rating dipped, but they remained ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives. However, following the outbreak of theFalklands War on 2 April 1982, the Conservative government ofMargaret Thatcher soared from third to first place in the public opinion polls, and the Alliance and Labour declined. By this stage, however, the SDP already had 28 MPs in parliament.
Labour lostBermondsey, one of their ten safest seats, at aby-election in February 1983 to Liberal candidateSimon Hughes. Sitting Labour MPRobert Mellish had resigned to work for theLondon Docklands Development Corporation but, being opposed to the selection by his left-wingConstituency Labour Party ofPeter Tatchell, supported the former leader ofSouthwark council John O'Grady as "Real Bermondsey Labour" giving an impression of Labour division and in-fighting.
At the1983 general election, the SDP–Liberal Alliance won more than 25% of the national vote, close behind Labour's 28%, but well behind the 44% secured by the Conservatives. However, because of the characteristics of thefirst-past-the-post system used in the United Kingdom, only 23 Alliance MPs were elected; just six of those were members of the SDP. The party's leader, Roy Jenkins, managed to retain his seat atGlasgow Hillhead, but SDP President Shirley Williams was defeated at Crosby (which she had won at a by-election in November 1981) as a result of unfavourable boundary changes. Labour Party leader Michael Foot, who resigned within days of the election, was critical of the SDP–Liberal Alliance for siphoning support away from Labour, allowing the Conservatives to win more seats and secure a triple-digit majority, while Labour was left with 209 seats in Parliament.[28]
Following the result, Jenkins was pressured to step down as leader of the SDP byDavid Owen, MP ofPlymouth Devonport who between 1974 and 1979 had been a minister in the Labour governments ofHarold Wilson andJames Callaghan.[29] On 13 June, Jenkins stood down and of the six SDP MPs elected in 1983, only Owen stood for leader of the Party.[29] Subsequently he became leader without any contest a week later.[29] Owen was more sceptical about close relations with the Liberals than his predecessor Roy Jenkins, and favoured retaining the party's distinct identity. Owen's influence ensured that proposals for a merger between the two parties were shelved after a lengthy debate at the 1983 SDP conference.
During the 1983–87 parliament, some SDP members started to become unsettled at what appeared to be the increasingly right-wing course taken by Owen. This resulted in some members launching the Limehouse Group in an attempt to keep the party on the centre-left course that was first propounded in theLimehouse Declaration.
Two more SDP MPs were elected at by-elections during the 1983–87 parliament, but at the1987 general election, the Alliance's share of the vote fell to 23%, and the SDP's parliamentary party was reduced from eight members to five. Jenkins was among those who lost their seats.Mike Hancock had won aby-election at Portsmouth South in 1984 from the Conservatives which was lost in 1987, butRosie Barnes, who had won the bitterly contestedGreenwich by-election in February 1987 from Labour, managed to hold on at the general election in June that year.
From the outset, the formation of the Alliance had raised questions as to whether it would lead to a merged party, or the two parties were destined to compete with each other. This in turn led to grassroots tensions in some areas between Liberal and SDP branches that impaired their ability to mount joint campaigns successfully. Such cross-party feuding was part of the reason for Jenkins losing his Glasgow Hillhead seat toGeorge Galloway of Labour in 1987.
Liberal pride was further damaged by the sustained lampooning of the Alliance by the ITV sketch comedy seriesSpitting Image, which portrayed Steel as the craven lickspittle of Owen; One sketch had Owen proposing to a simpering Steel that the parties merge under a new name: "and for our side we'll take 'Social Democratic', and from your side, we'll take 'Party'"; and indeed a new leader "from your side we will take 'David' and from ours 'Owen'", to which a hesitant Steel agreed.
Following the disappointment of 1987, Steel proposed a formal merger of the two parties. Jenkins and Steel had believed this to be eventually inevitable after the party failed to break through at the 1983 election. The proposal, also supported by Williams and Rodgers, was fiercely opposed by Owen, who argued that such a merger would not be accepted by the electorate, and would not reverse their declining share of the vote. Jenkins denied that a merger had been his original intent.[30]
But the majority of the SDP's membership (along with those of the Liberals) voted in favour of the union. Owen resigned as leader and was replaced byRobert Maclennan. Steel and Maclennan headed the new "Social and Liberal Democrats" party from 3 March 1988. An interim working name for the party, the "Democrats", was adopted by conference on 26 September 1988. This proved to be unpopular, and the party was renamed theLiberal Democrats in October 1989, as had been originally proposed at the September 1988 conference by the party'sTiverton branch.[31]
Most SDP members, including MP and future Liberal Democrat leaderCharles Kennedy, joined Maclennan in the merged party, but Owen created acontinuing SDP, along with two other MPs,John Cartwright andRosie Barnes. This party disbanded after placing behind theMonster Raving Loony Party at aMay 1990 by-election inBootle,[32] although athird SDP was formed, which currently operates on a much less influential scale.[33] There was also a continuingLiberal Party, led byMichael Meadowcroft and David Morrish, mainly based on Liverpool and West Country Liberals who feared a dilution by the former SDP members of the Liberal tradition within the merged party.[34] It too continues in the present day.
Following the dissolution of the SDP, a number of members endorsed the Conservatives in the1992 general election.[35]
The basic unit of the SDP was its Area Parties, most of which corresponded with more than oneWestminster constituency.[36][37] Of the 223 area parties that existed in September 1986, only 42 were single-constituency Area Parties.[36] Area Parties were considered by party leaders as better at resistingentryism or the formation of local cliques that opposed the national party, issues the SDPs founders believed theCLPs of theLabour Party struggled with.[36][37] Additionally area parties aided the SDP's coöperation SDP–Liberal Alliance, as multi-constituency area parties were at less risk of disenfranchisement in cases ofLiberal Party led seats.[36][37]
The Party had three key leading organs. The first was the National Committee, which was the executive body of the party,[38] the second was the Council for Social Democracy (CSD),[38] and the last was Policy Committee which set the policy of the SDP.[39]
The Policy Committee was a sub-committee of the National Committee, and was the most powerful body of the SDP.
Membership of the Policy Committee was composed of:[39]
The National Committee was the SDP's executive body and was responsible for much of the day-to-day administration of the party
Membership of the National Committee was composed of:[38][40]
The Council for Social Democracy was the largest of the three organs. Totaling approximately 400 elected members, it was often nicknamed as the "Parliament of the Party".[38][41] The constitution of the SDP stipulated that the CSD met thrice yearly, and that it be chaired by the President.[38]
| Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | ||||
| 1983 | Roy Jenkins | 3,507,803 | 11.5 | 6 / 650 |  6 |  4th | Conservative |
| 1987 | David Owen | 3,168,183 | 9.7 | 5 / 650 |  1 | 4th | Conservative |
As of the dissolution of parliament before the 1983 election, the SDP had 32 MPs. In the 1983 election, only 4 SDP MPs gained through defections were held.
Between the 1983–1987 elections, the SDP won two by-elections taking their total to 8 at dissolution, however neither were re-elected. They are not counted in the seats gained or lost section.
| By-election | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Position | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 Crosby | Shirley Williams | 28,118 | 49.1% | 1st | SDP | |
| 1981 Warrington | Roy Jenkins | 12,521 | 42.4% | 2nd | Labour | |
| 1982 Peckham | Dick Taverne | 7,418 | 32.9% | 2nd | Labour | |
| 1982 Gower | Gwynoro Jones | 9,875 | 25.1% | 2nd | Labour | |
| 1982 Mitcham and Morden | Bruce Douglas-Mann | 9,032 | 29.4% | 2nd | Conservative | |
| 1982 Glasgow Hillhead | Roy Jenkins | 10,106 | 33.4% | 1st | SDP | |
| 1984 Portsmouth South | Mike Hancock | 15,358 | 37.6% | 1st | SDP | |
| 1984 Cynon Valley | Felix Aubel | 6,554 | 19.9% | 2nd | Labour | |
| 1984 Stafford | David Dunn | 14,733 | 31.8% | 2nd | Conservative | |
| 1985 Tyne Bridge | Rod Kenyon | 6,942 | 29.7% | 2nd | Labour | |
| 1986 Fulham | Roger Liddle | 6,953 | 18.26% | 3rd | Labour | |
| 1987 Greenwich | Rosie Barnes | 18,287 | 53.0% | 1st | SDP | |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 1,233,490 | 9.3 (#4) | 0 / 81 |
| # | Name (Birth–Death) | Portrait | Constituency | Entered office | Left office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roy Jenkins (1920–2003) |  | Glasgow Hillheadfrom 1982 | 7 July 1982 | 13 June 1983 | |
| 2 | David Owen (born 1938) |  | Plymouth Devonport | 13 June 1983 | 6 August 1987 | |
| 3 | Robert Maclennan (1936–2020) |  | Caithness and Sutherland | 29 August 1987 | 3 March 1988 | |
| # | Name (Birth–Death) | Portrait | Entered office | Left office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shirley Williams (1930–2021) |  | 7 July 1982 | 29 August 1987 | |
| 2 | John Cartwright (1933–2024) | .jpg) | 29 August 1987 | 16 July 1988 | |
On the other hand, the British SDP might settle into an ideological space in line with most West European Social Democrats, i.e., on the center-left, a position perhaps facilitated by the strong pro-Europeanism of its leaders.
The case for merger arose only once the partnership had been tried on the ground ... At the beginning, while I was committed in my mind to a close partnership, I had no set view either for or against eventual merger.
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