Labour Party (UK) The party manifesto for this election was termed by critics as "the longest suicide note in history". Foot resigned and was replaced as leader by Neil Kinnock, with Roy Hattersley as his deputy. The new leadership progressively dropped unpopular policies. The miners strike of 1984–85 over coal mine closures, which divided the NUM as well as the Labour Party, and the Wapping dispute led to clashes with the left of the party, and negative coverage in most of the press. Tabloid vilification of the so-called loony left continued to taint the parliamentary party by association from the activities of "extra-parliamentary"
Michael Foot Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 1913 – 3 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician and man of letters. Foot began his career as a journalist, on "Tribune" and the "Evening Standard". He co-wrote the classic polemic against appeasement of Adolf Hitler, "Guilty Men", under a pseudonym. Foot served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1955 and again from 1960 until he retired in 1992. A passionate orator and associated with the left-wing of the Labour Party for most of his career, Foot was an ardent supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and