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"Labour Isn't Working" was an advertising campaign in the United Kingdom. It was run by the Conservative Party in 1978 in anticipation that Labour Party Prime Minister
James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...
would call a general election. It was revived for the general election campaign the next year, after the government lost a
vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
in the wake of the
Winter of Discontent The Winter of Discontent was the period between late September 1978 and February 1979 in the United Kingdom characterised by widespread strikes by private, and later public sector trade unions demanding pay rises greater than the limits Prime ...
. It was designed by advertising agency
Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi and Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency ...
.


History

In 1978,
unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
was high by post-war UK standards with 1.6 million unemployed, between 5 and 6% (though the unemployment rate has remained at or above these levels for most of the UK's subsequent history). The poster's design was a picture of a snaking dole queue outside of an unemployment office. Above it was the slogan " Labour isn't working" with the phrase "Britain's better off with the Conservatives" in a smaller text below. The picture in the poster originally planned for 100 extras to be used for the picture. However, only 20 volunteers from the
Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...
Young Conservatives turned up to be photographed. The desired effect was achieved by photographing the same people repeatedly and then striping them together. The picture was used in the 1979 election campaign with the slogan "Labour still isn't working."


Reception

The way the photo was taken was leaked and Labour's
Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he remains the lo ...
criticised it in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
, saying the people in it were not genuinely unemployed and said that the Conservatives were "selling politics like soap-powder". The campaign was a success as it was viewed as backing up the Conservatives' claims against Labour. In May 1979, the Conservatives won the election with a 43-seat majority with the party leader,
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
becoming
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. Conservative Party treasurer, Lord Thorneycroft claimed that the poster won the election for the Conservatives. In 1999, '' Campaign'' voted the poster as the "Best Poster of the Century".


Later re-uses

The poster was considered popular; similar versions of it have been released in later years in the UK. In October 2012, the Conservatives used "Labour isn't learning" in a poster in preparation for the next general election and in March 2012
UK Uncut UK Uncut was a network of United Kingdom-based Protest, protest groups established in October 2010 to protest against cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK. Various sources have described the group as Left-wing politics, left-win ...
used "austerity isn't working" and recreated the picture outside
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on Budget Day. In 2012 during the
United States Presidential Election The election of the president of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are Voter registration in the United ...
, the Republican Party used a copy of the poster, using the slogan "
Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...
isn't working" instead of "Labour isn't working". In December 2013,
Church Action on Poverty Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
launched a campaign "Britain isn't eating", using a modified version with the queue leading to a
Food Bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...
. In the 2015 UK General Election campaign, the Labour Party unveiled a very similar poster, this time highlighting A&E waiting times, with the headline "The Doctor Can't See You Now." and subtitled "The Tories Have Made It Harder To See A GP". The idea was used by
UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
in its campaign in the
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, where the intended message was against
mass immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-t ...
, with a poster titled "Open Door Immigration Isn't Working", subtitled "London's Population Is Growing By One Million Every Decade". UKIP used the idea again in the
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions o ...
, when a poster titled "Breaking Point" with the subtitle "The EU has failed us all" showed a long, snaking line of refugees waiting to come into the country. In 2020, the
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ran the headline "Tories Aren't Testing", pairing it with a photo of a
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testing queue in London. In 2023, the
Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a small socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and ...
ran an image saying "Capitalism isn't working". Ahead of the
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,
Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...
published a similar image titled "Immigration Isn't Working".


See also

* "
It's The Sun Wot Won It "It's The Sun Wot Won It" was the headline that appeared on the front page of United Kingdom newspaper ''The Sun'' on 11 April 1992 in which it claimed credit for the victory of the Conservative Party in the 1992 general election. It is regular ...
"


References

{{1979 United Kingdom general election, state=collapsed Advertising campaigns British advertising slogans Political posters of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) terms 1978 in the United Kingdom 1979 in the United Kingdom 1979 United Kingdom general election British political phrases (1950–1999) 1978 quotations