Foot in the door for Lock
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-06-23Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 3 →
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WHY DID Michael Foot rush post-haste from Ebbw Vale to London in the early hours of Friday June 10?
The answer is not unconnected with the fact that Neil Kinnock plainly knew on Election night that Foot was likely to announce he was standing down as Labour leader.
Kinnock is Foot's chosen successor: and Foot's delay and mad dash to London were in large part to make arrangements on the Friday to give Kinnock a flying start in the campaign for the leadership.
With late election results still being declared, and the body of the torpedoed election campaign still warm, Foot met with union leaders Clive Jenkins (ASTMS) and Moss Evans (TGWU). They, worked out a plan of action that would secure votes for Kinnock before any other possible candidates even knew for certain the contest was on.
The scheme was that:
*Jenkins would attend the ASTMS NEC meeting on the Saturday, and propose a resolution nominating Foot as party leader, or Kinnock "if' Foot refused to stand.
*He would take this for endorsement to the ASTMS Labour conference delegation meeting on the Sunday.
*From there he would telephone Michael Foot, and tell him of the nomination.
*When (surprise, surprise!) Foot declared he would not be standing, Jenkins would ring Kinnock, who would promptly accept.
*Then Jenkins would at once ring the Press Association, revealing for the first time that Foot was standing down, simultaneously with the ASTMS block vote for Kinnock.
*From there on Moss Evans could use this momentum on the Kinnock bandwagon to knock down any possible resistance on the TGWU Executive, and press through a further block vote of support for Kinnock.
All went according to plan. Jenkins successfully routed an attempt on the ASTMS NEC to have the union take a "low profile" and nominate nobody; made the arranged phone calls on the Sunday - and by the middle of Brian Walden's the news of the leadership elec 'Weekend World" tion was announced to one of Kinnock's rivals, Peter Shore.
CT Audrey Wise, Labour THE CA Peoples march for jobs SO0mL AGWR UTSI Richard Chessum, Labour candidate for Warwick and Leamington There were a number of things that lost us votes, which we found going round on the doorsteps. Surprisingly, what lost us most votes was something not related to policy at all - it was just that people thought that Michael Foot was a