Must Labour Lose: 1959 & all that
The serious consequences of Labour’s loss at the 2019 General Election will be keenly felt by many of Britain’s ‘have nots’ much as they will be celebrated by many of the ‘haves’.
It is the fourth Election Labour has lost and while it may not have been expected to win it outright neither were the Tories expected to win a large majority.
The debate on what happens next for Labour is already underway but it has echoes of an earlier period. Labour had been expected to do well at if not win the 1959 Election. As it turned out they lost, for a third time. Indeed they barely scraped home 5 years later in 1964 despite the fact that the Tory leader Alec Douglas Home was a living fossil
A well-known survey, published as a book in 1960 (Abrams & Rose) was titled Must Labour Lose?
Tony Benn recorded in his Diary (11 Oct 1959) that Douglas Jay wanted to change the party’s name. Benn noted that the name had been successfully resuscitated by clever marketing, reflecting his early spin doctoring skills.
Benn records that then Labour leader Gaitskell said he didn’t want to fight another Election with nationalisation as a policy, while Roy Jenkins wanted a deal with the Liberals and was concerned on union links.
It sounds familiar 60 years on.
Labour didn’t do any of these things, it didn’t, either, move to the left when Wilson became leader on the death of Gaitskell. It did though win the next Election in October 1964.
There is a lot more to the history than that (which I’ll post on) but it is a caution against over dramatic reactions
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