Democratic Labour Party (UK, 1972)
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Democratic Labour was a minor
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
operating in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in the 1970s. It was formed by the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP
Dick Taverne Dick Taverne, Baron Taverne, (born 18 October 1928) is a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1962 to 1974. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he was a Labour MP until his deselection in 19 ...
when his
Constituency Labour Party __NOTOC__ A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...
(CLP) in the Lincoln constituency asked him to stand down as its candidate at the next general election. He had fallen out with it over Britain's proposed membership of the
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, which he supported but it did not. Taverne resigned from Labour on 6 October 1972, forming the Lincoln Democratic Labour Association, which his supporters in the CLP joined. His initial intention was to eventually rejoin the Labour Party, but there were some who attempted to persuade him to try to establish a new party of the political centre. Taverne
resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...
from
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at the same time that he resigned from the Labour Party in order to force the issue into the open, and he won the ensuing Lincoln by-election, held in March 1973. His victory was aided by the controversial adoption of
Jonathan Guinness Jonathan Bryan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne (born 16 March 1930), is a British peer and businessman. A member of the Guinness family, he is the elder of the two sons of Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, and his first wife Diana Mitford (later Lady M ...
by the Conservatives, and by the lack of a
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate, for the Liberal Party decided to support Taverne's candidacy (in those days the party, financially weak, was only able to stand in a limited number of places, and had a very limited base to work from in Lincoln). Shortly after his by-election victory, Taverne formed the
Campaign for Social Democracy The Campaign for Social Democracy was a minor political party which ran candidates in the February 1974 United Kingdom general election. History The party was formed in September 1973 by Dick Taverne, who had resigned from the Labour Party, a ...
as a nationally based body. He was re-elected in the February 1974 general election, and continued to serve until the October 1974 general election when he was defeated,
Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
having demanded the Labour Party "throw the kitchen sink" at Lincoln in its efforts to displace him. Taverne did not stand in the seat again, but Democratic Labour continued to organise politically, to the extent that Democratic Labour controlled Lincoln City Council from 1973 until 1979 and across England during the 1973 local elections Democratic Labour candidates achieved some success. At the 1979 general election, Democratic Labour contested two constituencies: Lincoln, and Brigg and Scunthorpe. Taverne advised against nominating any candidates, but campaigned for them anyway. Both were unsuccessful in their attempts to gain seats in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, losing their
deposits A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, Transaction account#Current accounts, current accounts or any of several othe ...
(at that time 12.5% of the vote was required in order to retain deposits; this was reduced to 5% after the 1983 general election). However both seats were narrowly gained from the incumbent Labour MPs by the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
's candidates, with the Conservative majority over Labour being less than the Democratic Labour vote. In an analysis of the voting in the election,
Ivor Crewe Sir Ivor Martin Crewe DL FAcSS (born 15 December 1945) was until 2020 the Master of University College, Oxford, and President of the Academy of Social Sciences. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex and also a Professo ...
, Director of the
British Election Study The British Election Study is an academic project to analyse the results of British elections that has examined every general election in the United Kingdom since 1964. The lead researchers are based at the University of Oxford and the University o ...
, stated that the Democratic Labour candidates "splintered enough of the Labour vote... to allow the Conservatives to gain both seats". In 1980, Democratic Labour merged with the
Social Democratic Alliance The Social Democratic Alliance ( is, Samfylkingin - jafnaðarflokkur Íslands), officially The Alliance – Iceland's Social Democratic Party, is a social democratic, and pro-European political party in Iceland. The Social Democratic Alliance wa ...
."Boost for Labour right", ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 15 February 1980
A social club that the groups had established ran until 1987. In many ways, Democratic Labour can be seen as a forerunner of the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
, which broke away from Labour in the early 1980s, putting forward many of the same viewpoints as Taverne. He twice stood as a Social Democratic Party candidate but failed to be elected.


Election results


References

{{reflist Defunct social democratic parties in the United Kingdom Defunct political parties in England Political parties established in 1972 1972 establishments in the United Kingdom Political parties disestablished in 1980 1980 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) breakaway groups Politics of Lincoln, England Labour parties in the United Kingdom