Factionalism on the Parliamentary Right of the British Labour Party in the 1970s: a Reassessment

Abstract

This article offers a reassessment of the type, character and implications of factional organisation and activity on the parliamentary right of the British Labour party in the 1970s. Parliamentary Labour right factionalism has received relatively less attention than that of the Labour left and, contrary to conventional accounts of largely limited and loyalist factional activity, the article argues that it was more frequent and adopted a more ‘oppositional’ and divisive form in the 1970s than previously, with significant consequences for the balance of power in the Labour party. The article suggests that a detailed study of parliamentary Labour right factionalism in the 1970s reveals the inherent complexity and gradual ideological, political and organisational fragmentation of the parliamentary Labour right at a crucial juncture of both Labour party and British politics, which has been an underdeveloped factor in explanations of the party's subsequent shift leftward and in the emergence of the SDP in 1981.