1988 Labour Party (UK) leadership election final 30% of the votes. Neil Kinnock became leader of the Labour Party in 1983 following the resignation of Michael Foot. The party had been moving towards the left, something that Kinnock sought to change. At the 1987 general election, Kinnock was placed front and centre of the Labour campaign, leading to claims that it was almost presidential. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party, seven points ahead in the polls, won the election despite a 1.2% swing to Labour. Rumours were spreading early in 1988 that Tony Benn was planning a leadership challenge against Kinnock. The 63-year-old Benn had lost his seat
Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party Iraq. In 2005, proposed Labour Party posters depicted the Conservative Party leader Michael Howard in a pose resembling Shakespeare's Shylock from "The Merchant of Venice", superimposed onto the bodies of flying pigs and swinging a pocket watch on a chain resembling Fagin from "Oliver Twist". The Board of Deputies of British Jews refused to get involved in the controversy. In 2010, Labour MP Martin Linton said, "There are long tentacles of Israel in this country who are funding election campaigns and putting money into the British political system for their own ends." Community Security Trust spokesman Mark Gardner responded: "Anybody