bitterest foe of the He led the opposition to the councils It was victory by Thatcher in these than anthing else, government against the as insufficiently popular than - and which would thereby have aided of support, in particular women, weakened the whole extreme represen1.8E and Kinnock's 'bash Mili tant' speech. Labour's lead over the Tories fell from a five per cent lead to no lead all following that performance The same occurred with the 1986 conference and its 'I will die for my country' speech and the general bash the left' tone of the went into the 1986 conference leading the lores bv tour per cent. Bv a month following it Labour was three per cent behind Worsening or Labour's posi- Conservatives tion by seven per cent in two months.
The facts show that the witch hunting, bash the left, line is unpopular in terms of Labour's standing in the There is simolv no factual doubt about it.
The reason for this is not that Militant, for example, is popular. It is that the working Class community regard such issue as The poll taken in Liverpool this election. showing that only two per cent of the population considered that Militant was the decisive issue in the election, compared to per cent who said that unemployhave to discipline ourselves and keep plugging away at our central themes developing our campaign ir properly thought out fashion rather than just responding other parties are doing!
Labour, in short, began to try to set the political That is began to recover rapidly in the polls because it was dealing with issues which really affected working class lives.
Reason The reason that Labour not within striking difference of winning, nowever, shows up just what is the weakness of conception of 'working class issues' is.
The single biggest wenkies or this campaign is tallure to win over women The national polis show only Lauvu. behind the Tories among men. But it is 12 per cent behind among women.
The figures in London more shattering middle or May shinted middle showed Labour 4 per cent behind the Conservatives among men and 23 per cent among women. The beneficiaries were the Alliance -stood at 15 per cent among