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
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