The Forcing of the Election

Abstract

In the autumn of 1978 the parties all found that certain costs attended the postponement of the election. When the Liberal conference met at Southport ten days later it was dominated by the extensive coverage of Mr Thorpe’s troubles with the law. Mr Steel had relieved him of his responsibilities for foreign affairs, but had no success in dissuading the former leader from paying a flying visit to the conference. The Labour party conference turned out disastrously for the government when the delegates rejected the pay policy, although Mr Callaghan salvaged some credit with a brilliant speech. Labour’s special relationship with the unions on pay restraint began to seem less and less convincing. The Conservatives gathered at Brighton for their annual conference, confident that Labour support had already peaked. However, they fell into some disarray when Mr Heath gave explicit support for Mr Callaghan’s incomes policy, which he thought should be pursued ‘in the national interest’. His intervention reopened the old wounds, and the polls sub-sequently showed more support for Mr Heath’s line than Mrs Thatcher’s. The Conservatives failed to win the Berwick by-election; there was in fact a pro-government swing, the first in twelve years. Labour soared ahead in the October opinion polls, and Conservative morale was severely buffeted.