UK politicians David Owen, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and Bill Rodgers, known as The Gang of Four, defected from the Labour Party in 1981 to form which party?
Social Democratic Party (UK) as tactically to ensure Labour suffered an embarrassing loss. (Guinness had been elected as Chairman specifically to eradicate such links.) On 25 January 1981, leading figures from the Labour Party (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers, known collectively as the "Gang of Four") launched the Council for Social Democracy, which later became the Social Democratic Party in March, after outlining their policies in what became known as the Limehouse Declaration. The "Gang of Four" were centrists, who had defected from the Labour Party due to what they perceived to be the influence of the Militant tendency and
Limehouse Declaration Limehouse Declaration The Limehouse Declaration was a statement issued on 25 January 1981 by four senior British Labour politicians, all MPs or former MPs and Cabinet Ministers: Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams. It became known as the Limehouse Declaration as it was made from David Owen's London home in Limehouse. The opening paragraph of the declaration indicates that it was triggered by decisions taken at the Labour Party conference in January 1981. In this document the so-called 'Gang of Four' signalled their intent to leave the Labour Party and form a Council for Social Democracy, as