The Labour Party’s Inquiry into Liverpool District Labour Party and expulsion of nine members of the Militant Tendency, 1985–1986

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article explores the Labour Party’s Inquiry and subsequent expulsion hearings in Liverpool between 1985 and 1986. For Labour, the entrism and influence of the Militant Tendency within both Liverpool City Council and Liverpool District Labour Party led to a widespread inquiry into local procedures and practices which resulted in the expulsion of nine prominent members in 1986. This article argues that the Inquiry and expulsion hearings were key events in not only breaking the hold of Militant on Liverpool City Council, but also in the realignment of Labour’s left into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ factions at a national level.