Michael Foot dies

Sir_Humphrey

Generali wrote: »

Wasn't it Healey that said, "I'll tax them [the rich] until the pips squeak"? I think he was Chancellor when the IMF were asked for help too. It's funny that at the time he was considered to be on the right of the Labour Party* whereas now he'd be on the very extreme left of British politics.

It is well worth reading Healey's autobiography. Healey was as badly misrepresented as Foot was in his day.

Generali wrote: »

IIRC Healey was a war hero. Wasn't he IC on the beaches during the invasion of Italy?

He was the leader at the landing in Anzio. IIRC he spent 24 hours [EDIT: Actually it was four days) holed up in a shellhole. He ended the War as a Major. In the 1940s and 1950s he worked on modelling Mutually Assured Destruction theory for nuclear war. All this made him rather better qualified to be Defence Secretary in the 1960s than the current armchair generals you get.

Generali wrote: »

*Again IIRC, the leadership election that ended with Foot becoming leader had a 'Dream Team' of Healey and Benn as Leader and Deputy representing right and left wings of the party being postulated by the press and BBC. The unions preferred Foot so he won.

It was all very messy. The person who did the most damage to Michael Foot was actually Tony Benn.

EDIT: On the subject of moving to the right; the description of privatisation as "selling the family silver" was actually made by Harold MacMillan.

torontoboy45

Generali wrote: »

Wasn't it Healey that said, "I'll tax them [the rich] until the pips squeak"? I think he was Chancellor when the IMF were asked for help too. It's funny that at the time he was considered to be on the right of the Labour Party* whereas now he'd be on the very extreme left of British politics.

IIRC Healey was a war hero. Wasn't he IC on the beaches during the invasion of Italy?




*Again IIRC, the leadership election that ended with Foot becoming leader had a 'Dream Team' of Healey and Benn as Leader and Deputy representing right and left wings of the party being postulated by the press and BBC. The unions preferred Foot so he won.

the 'pips squeak' stuff is a press-generated myth in the same vein as callaghan's 'crisis? what crisis' non-question.

healey achieved rank of major.

footy became a caretaker leader during the frenzied days. he was under no illusions about his role (i.e holding the party together with absolutely no chance of a GE win).

much maligned and misunderstood, IMO.

Generali

torontoboy45 wrote: »

footy became a caretaker leader during the frenzied days. he was under no illusions about his role (i.e holding the party together with absolutely no chance of a GE win).

Why choose someone from an extreme wing of the party (right or left) to hold the party together? It makes no sense to me.

Sir_Humphrey

Generali wrote: »

Why choose someone from an extreme wing of the party (right or left) to hold the party together? It makes no sense to me.

It was a lot more complicated than that. Neither Foot nor Healey were on the furthest fringes of the party.

From Left to Right (not exhaustive)

Militant (Trots)
Tony Benn
Michael Foot
Denis Healey
Roy Hattersley
Roy Jenkins
David Owen (probably to the right of many Tory wets).

The far right split off to form the SDP and the far left Trot entryists were expelled by Kinnock.

blueboy43

Generali wrote: »

Wasn't it Healey that said, "I'll tax them [the rich] until the pips squeak"? I think he was Chancellor when the IMF were asked for help too. It's funny that at the time he was considered to be on the right of the Labour Party* whereas now he'd be on the very extreme left of British politics.

IIRC Healey was a war hero. Wasn't he IC on the beaches during the invasion of Italy?

*Again IIRC, the leadership election that ended with Foot becoming leader had a 'Dream Team' of Healey and Benn as Leader and Deputy representing right and left wings of the party being postulated by the press and BBC. The unions preferred Foot so he won.

It was "squeeze property speculators till the pips squeak" a pretty big difference and one probably embraced by a fair few on this board.

Ironically it was Thatcher who raised taxes in the 1981 budget.

I don't believe that Benn actually stood for the leadership in 1980, I think Healey stood against Foot and it was only in 1981 that Benn then challenged Healey to be deputy leader. The leadership at the time was also voted on by MP's only rather than Unions.

Any leadership team that included Tony Benn would be more of a nightmare than a dream.

purch

Any leadership team that included Tony Benn would be more of a nightmare than a dream

At least they wouldn't have sold off all the Council House stock !!

Sir_Humphrey

purch wrote: »

At least they wouldn't have sold off all the Council House stock !!

I am not sure that was so much a result of what he would have done, but more him being notoriously devious and back-stabbing.

His antics were known as "Tomfoolery and Bennfoolery". IIRC, Healey cattily remarks that Tony Benn's main political legacy was Concorde, used to let rich people cross the Atlantic. Healey has also described David Owen as a ... four letter word starting with a "s".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/aug/04/labour.interviews

This is great stuff IMO.