#OTD 1988. Tony Benn challenges Neil Kinnock to the leadership, arguing that the Labour Party is “worshiping profit and neglecting need”. Eric Heffer stands for Deputy - calling for the return of socialism to the party.

Harold Wilson would have been 110 today… Here he is taking on a protestor during the 1966 election campaign “I’m afraid your aim is no better than your material my friend” 🎯

Historians, archivists, librarians and historians working in the field of labour history. A starter pack to get you going… go.bsky.app/CUqdx9a

Most accurate impression of all time

40 years ago today, Neil Kinnock went to Bournemouth to make a speech thecritic.co.uk/the-neil-kin...

#OTD 1997. Gordon Brown delivers Labour’s first budget for 18 years 🧰 “Previous Budgets pursued the short-term interests of the few. This Budget advances the long-term interests of the many” Windfall tax on privatised companies pays for education & welfare to work programme

24 years ago today… John Prescott connects with the voters in Rhyl as Labour launch their election manifesto 🥊 👊

29 years ago almost to the day - the great Ray French insisting on English beer on the Eurostar to Paris for Super League opener

Looking forward to this one 🎊

#OTD 1900. 125 years ago today. Labour Party is founded. The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) is formed in London following a socialist conference. The 129 delegates pass Keir Hardie's motion to create “a distinct group to represent working class people in Parliament”.

Long Read: After the 1945 landslide, Labour believed they were the “masters now” But while nationalisation won in the North, Middle England struck back against food shortages, austerity and the cost of living crisis. 75 years on from the 1950 election 👇🏼 thecritic.co.uk/masters-no-m...

#OTD 1979. 1.5 million workers out as part of a 'National Day of Action' in biggest strike since 1926 Callaghan says only “rank and file trade unionists”can “ensure that we do not plunge once more over the abyss” He says the “survival of free trade unionism” is at stake now.

#OTD 1963. Death of Hugh Gaitskell. As leader he had urged Labour to change: "Above all our object must be to broaden our base, to be in touch always with ordinary people, to avoid becoming small cliques of isolated doctrine-ridden fanatics, out of touch with the mainstream"

#OTD 1979. Crisis? What Crisis? Callaghan arrives back to transport strikes, fuel & food shortages and calls for a State of Emergency He tells the press there is no “mounting chaos” and they should stop talking the country down. He jokes that he might not be able to get a cup of tea.

#OTD 1972. Miners strike begins. The industry had borne the brunt of  Lord Robens’ cuts, and over the decade, the number of miners dropped from 571,000 in 1960 to 280,000 in 1972 And they had fallen down the wages league table The story of the miners last stand 👇🏼 thecritic.co.uk/the-miners-l...

#OTD 2003. Death of Roy Jenkins. In the 1970s he was a key figure in the 1975 UK referendum campaign to remain in the Common Market: “I think we are in danger of getting bogged down in a debate about theoretical paper sovereignty”.

My column on honours lists, the snubbing of rugby league, a history of racism in 20th century Welsh rugby and why Billy Boston should be league's first knight. www.thetimes.com/sport/rugby-...

His White House Diary record of the visit

RIP President Jimmy Carter aged 100 Here he is in 1977 on his famous visit to the North East with PM Jim Callaghan There were crowds of 20,000 and Carter visited the Corning glassworks in Sunderland where he was given a special gift…

Wham! Last Christmas takes out the Xmas no 1 again 🌲 40 years ago, just a few weeks before it’s release the band had “risked their reputation” by playing a benefit gig for striking miners at Festival Hall, London ⛏️

Pleased to welcome @historytrainsman.bsky.social, a member of our EC, to BlueSky - and to add him to our labour history starter pack go.bsky.app/CUqdx9a

What a mad five years Covid, the Captain Sir Tom Moore Memorial Spa, the lettuce, that week where everyone thought the royal family were covering up the death of the Princess of Wales Just normal country things

#OTD 2019. “Brexit” Election. Johnson and the Conservatives win majority of 80. It is Tories biggest win since 1987 and their highest share of the popular vote since 1979. Labour drop to lowest number of MPs since 1935.

What book would you choose? sslh.org.uk/2022/12/17/w...

This week's new post looked at Wigan: the borough was one of the few to build council housing before 1914: 'a slum abolished, an eyesore removed, the health of the inhabitants remarkably improved, their environment made clean, refined, and elevating' ... municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2024/12/03/c...

#OTD 1955. Clement Attlee steps down as Labour leader after 20 years in charge. The Times leads the tributes to the man they say would be remembered as being "distressed by the needs of the needy, the poverty of the poor and the lack of opportunity for the many"

#OTD 1923 Election. Tories forced to seek mandate on tariff reform as Labour win seats in North. Labour argue tariffs "foster a spirit of profiteering, materialism and selfishness, poison the life of nations, lead to corruption in politics, promote trusts and monopolies, and impoverish the people"

Beveridge report published #OTD 1942. Beveridge was elected Liberal MP for Berwick-on-Tweed in a 1944 by-election, but lost to a Tory at the 1945 general election.

December 🌲🎅🎄🤶

#OTD 1942. The Beveridge Report published. His plan is to tackle the five giants of idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor and want through welfare state. The Daily Mail say it will "create a world sensation" and demonstrates Britain's "capacity for leadership" despite the war.

Lots of great historians, archivists, librarians, writers and others working in labour history in our starter pack (with new names still being added). A quick way to find lots of people you want to follow. go.bsky.app/CUqdx9a

#OTD 1990. John Major becomes Prime Minister as Mrs Thatcher resigns after 11 years in office. With the change the Tories immediately close a 16pt poll deficit thecritic.co.uk/how-labour-l...

#OTD 1935. Clement Attlee elected Labour Leader with Arthur Greenwood as Deputy Attlee admits the task of leading will be “heavy and difficult” but cheered by the “magnificent spirit of comradeship in the movement” He remained leader for 20 years

#OTD 1964. Sterling crisis continues to destabilise the Wilson Government. Eleven nations put together a record $3billion rescue package of currencies to help Britain defend “the beleaguered pound sterling” at its value of $2.80.

#OTD 1922. Clement Attlee makes his Commons Maiden Speech on the "absolute folly" of unemployment in Britain: "As the nation was organised for war and death, so it can be organised for peace and life if we have the will for it"

#OTD 1990. Thatcher quits as Tory leader. Kinnock calls for an election - but Thatcher refuses and argues that there wasn’t one in 1976 when Wilson quit. Back then though she had also called for a snap election…

Thursday 🍻

2001. Labour Manifesto Launch. Deputy PM John Prescott is hit by an egg after encountering pro-fox-hunting protesters in Rhyl. He responds with a left jab. Prescott later tells Blair 'well you asked me to go out and connect with the electorate'. RIP JP 🌹🌹🌹

“I’m me and John is John. And I’ll tell you he’s got many great strengths…. Not least in his left arm”. RIP the legend that was John Prescott 🌹🌹🌹

#OTD 1984. British Telecom privatisation begins with sale of 50.2% of shares following huge advertising campaign. Labour call it an act of “vandalism” and promise to renationalise it.

#OTD 1967. Harold Wilson addresses the nation as the pound is devalued by 14%. He says it will allow Britain to "break out from the straitjacket" and go for growth. "It does not mean that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued."

I went to this match. Shaun was touch and go to play because he'd got severe food poisoning whilst captaining the English Schoolboys union team in Portugal the week before. I remember he was so famous, even at 16, there was a report about him being possibly available to play in the Evening Post.

#OTD 2003. Section 28 is abolished. The clause had banned the "promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities and in Britain's schools. Journalist Boris Johnson wrote that children shouldn't be "taught some rubbish about homosexual marriage being the same as normal marriage."

My new Substack post looks at the decline of Liverpool's Norris Green Estate from the 1970s and how it has been transformed in the brave new world of social housing. municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-norris...

Happy Saturday Night #Blueskyers

30 years ago the country was gripped by National Lottery fever…. 22 million people tuned in as Noel Edmonds drove the cash through London ahead of the draw. “It could be YOU!” 👇🏼

#OTD 1897. Birth of Nye Bevan. Born into severe poverty in South Wales, he rose to become the Labour Health Minister in 1945, overseeing the introduction of the NHS. "No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of a lack of means"

Tony Blair vs hostile Farmers after the Foot and Mouth crisis (2001 Election)

Election Poster 1935 “Smoke from chimneys - not from guns!”

#OTD 1935. General Election. National Government victory. But Clement Attlee revives the Labour vote, increasing the party's number of seats by 102 and winning almost eight million votes (38%) He warned that the government had “made a complete mess” of foreign affairs