History of the Labour Party (UK) 1983 election, Labour suffered a landslide defeat, winning only 27.6% of the vote and securing just 209 seats. This was their worst performance at a general election since 1918. Labour won only half a million votes more than the SDP-Liberal Alliance, which had attracted the votes of many moderate Labour supporters, although the Alliance only won 23 seats. Michael Foot criticised the Alliance for "siphoning" Labour support and allowing the Tories to win more seats. Michael Foot resigned and was replaced as leader by Neil Kinnock who was elected on 2 October 1983 and progressively moved the party towards the
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