The Manifesto Group was a British parliamentary alliance of

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 ...

MPs led by

Dickson Mabon Jesse Dickson Mabon (1 November 1925 – 10 April 2008), sometimes known as Dick Mabon, was a Scottish politician, physician and business executive. He was the founder of The Manifesto Group of Labour MPs, an alliance of moderate MPs who foug ...

(who preferred to be known as Dick Mabon), who were opposed to what they perceived to be the leftward drift of the Labour Party in the 1970s.

History

In 1974, the left-wing Labour MP

Ian Mikardo Ian Mikardo (9 July 1908 – 6 May 1993), commonly known as Mik, was a British Labour Member of Parliament. An ardent socialist and a Zionist, he remained a backbencher throughout his four decades in the House of Commons. He was a member of Nat ...

was elected as chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Dickson Mabon was opposed to this, as he saw it as evidence of a drift towards the left. As a result, he launched the Manifesto Group of Labour MPs on 17 December 1974, to counterbalance it and to support Labour MPs who "did not regard defending the abourGovernment as a betrayal of socialism".

Membership

Membership of the Manifesto Group included John Smith,

Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he ...

, George Robertson,

Roy Hattersley Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, (born 28 December 1932) is a British Labour Party politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served as Depu ...

Gerald Kaufman Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman (21 June 1930 – 26 February 2017) was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979. Elected as a member of parliament (MP) at the 1970 general election, ...

and

Jack Cunningham John Anderson Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling, PC, DL (born 4 August 1939) is a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament for over 30 years, serving for Whitehaven from 1970 to 1983 and then Copeland until the 2005 ...

. It also included

Brian Walden Alastair Brian Walden (8 July 1932 – 9 May 2019) was a British journalist and broadcaster who spent over a decade as a Labour politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He was considered one of the finest political interviewers in the history ...

David Marquand David Ian Marquand (born 20 September 1934) is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP). Background and political career Marquand was born in Cardiff; his father was Hilary Marquand, also an academic and former La ...

John Horam John Rhodes Horam, Baron Horam (born 7 March 1939) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is the only MP since the Second World War to have sat in the House of Commons for three different political parties, latterly as the Conser ...

Ian Wrigglesworth Ian William Wrigglesworth, Baron Wrigglesworth (born 8 December 1939) is a Liberal Democrat peer. Education He was born in Stockton-on-Tees, brought up in Norton-on-Tees, and educated at Stockton Grammar School, Stockton-Billingham Techni ...

, the then Father of the House

George Strauss George Russell Strauss, Baron Strauss PC (18 July 1901 – 5 June 1993) was a long-serving British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 46 years and was Father of the House of Commons from 1974 to 1979. Early life ...

, the former Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart, Ben Ford,Miliant Choice for Bradford, 'Yorkshire Post', Saturday 26 June 1982, pg.1

Giles Radice Giles Heneage Radice, Baron Radice, (4 October 1936 – 25 August 2022) was a British Labour politician and author. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2001, representing part of County Durham, and then as a life peer in th ...

and

Phillip Whitehead Phillip Whitehead (30 May 1937 – 31 December 2005) was a British Labour politician, television producer and writer. Early life Born in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, he was adopted by a local family in Rowsley, and attended Lady Manners School ...

. It also included many members who were later to defect to the SDP, such as

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

, Bill Rogers,

Shirley Williams Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from ...

and

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 t ...

, including Dickson Mabon himself.

Organisation

Unlike the "Keep Calm" group of 1952, the Manifesto Group did not seek to reconcile opposing wings of the Labour Party, and instead rigorously opposed the left. Mabon ensured the electoral success of Manifesto members to senior positions in the Labour Party, such as the Cabinet and NEC. George Robertson, who later became

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

under Prime Minister Tony Blair, said that Manifesto under Dickson Mabon organised elections better than the

Tribune Group ''Tribune'' is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left ...

had ever managed to.

Success

Two of the Manifesto Group's greatest achievements were the election of moderate Labour MP

Cledwyn Hughes Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos, (14 September 1916 – 22 February 2001) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, usually associated with the moderate wing of the party. He was also regarded, particularly in later years, as a non-politic ...

as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, and the election of

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...

as Labour leader in April 1976, who then became Prime Minister in the Labour-majority Parliament.

Replacement

Following the stated intention of many key members of Manifesto, including that of Dickson Mabon himself, to leave the Labour Party, it was replaced in 1981 by the

Labour Solidarity Campaign The Labour Solidarity Campaign was a British political organisation associated with the Labour Party, founded in February 1981. Born out of the right wing of the Labour Party's struggles with its left wing, it saw itself as protecting the mainst ...

. The small majority of moderate Dennis Healey over

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

in the Deputy Leadership Contest of September 1981, and the party votes for unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from the EEC, solidified their decision, and many left to form 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manifesto Group Labour Party (UK) Labour Party (UK) factions Organizations established in 1974 History of the Labour Party (UK) 1974 establishments in the United Kingdom Groups of British MPs