Turning Points - Unscripted Reflections by Steve Richards - 2 - Formation of the SDP

Comments · 32

• JU

  @juliusdavies2005 · 7 years ago

  I’ve been impressed by Steve on BBC Dateline, even more impressed now!

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• LO

  @louismian4151 · 8 years ago

  Absolutely fantastic Steve

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• HA

  @hants007 · 8 years ago

  Tremendous stuff.

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• IA

  @IanDunlop-sj8jl · 8 months ago

  I love these &quot;Reflections&quot;, watched them the first time round on BBC Parliament. &nbsp;Steve Richards had an equally excellent series on BBC Radio Four (many years ago) detailing critical UK by-elections of<br> the twentieth century. <br>Surely, the SDP was doomed from the start as its establishers were basically has-beens, while Mrs. Thatcher was at the peak of her powers at this time. That Roy Jenkins devalued himself by standing in various by-elections shows that he was more interested in having the letters &quot;MP&quot; after his name than anything else. Ditto Shirley Williams.

• GA

  @GA-wq8xq · 5 years ago

  Great video and very interesting history.

• JO

  @jonmortermusic · 3 years ago

  Please do more of these Steve. I’d love to hear your unscripted thoughts on Change UK, the ERG, Starmer making Labour electable again, the Brexit fiasco, the Trussterf**k etc

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• BO

  @BossySwan · 3 years ago

  Interesting

• TO

  @tonyperrett5497 · 7 years ago (edited)

  Very interesting and informative. Thank you. I was surprised to find out that the SDP are still around. I think they will get an increase in popularity due to the recent political turmoil.

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• DA

  @Dave_Sisson · 5 years ago

  The story of the SDP has very strong parallels with the Australian Democrats. They were formed in 1977 as a breakaway from the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia, managed to gain the balance of power in the proportional representation Senate and in some state parliaments. <br><br>The Australian Democrats started to lose support in the late 1980s for many reasons such as their leader shagging the Labour Party deputy PM and defecting to Labour, &nbsp;the Liberals tending away from the hard right and back towards the political centre and by factional warfare when a socialist faction tried to take control of what was founded as a centre-centre-right-ish party. The Australian Democrats slowly withered and were out of federal and all state parliaments by early this century.

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• ER

  @erickleefeld4883 · 6 years ago

  The SDP needed two things, if they were to supplant Labour as a major party:<br><br>1) Tony Benn to win the Labour deputy leadership challenge against Denis Healey. Benn would’ve been Labour leader within a year, over a destabilized Michael Foot.<br><br>2) For the Falklands War (which was in fact caused by the Thatcher government’s ineptitude, in having slashed all the deterrent defenses there) to never happen.

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• PH

  @philipbrooks402 · 6 years ago

  Steve, in 1981 Michael Foot was a firm opponent of Britain&apos;s membership of the EEC not the EU.

• AL

  @alancassell566 · 4 years ago

  David Owen totally and utterly confused... Leaves the labour party in 1981 because he disagrees with tony Benn... Makes donationto the labour party at the general election of 2017..

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