Michael Foot and City Bankers

Michael Foot, who died on March 3rd, 2010, was led the Labour Party in the 1983 election to Labour’s worst defeat since 1918. His election manifesto was held to have made Labour unelectable. But this manifesto contained a promise to control the banks.

On March 3rd, 2010, Michael Foot died, aged 96. Shambling about in a donkey jacket, he was mocked as the Labour leader who made the Labour Party unelectable. In the 1983 election, eight and a half million people voted Labour, and over thirteen million voted Conservative, the Tories securing 397 seats in the House of Commons, as against Labour’s 209. It was Labour’s worst performance since 1918.

Michael Foot, then leading the Labour party, was blamed for the defeat, and resigned as leader soon after the election.

Labour’s manifesto, which was judged to have made the party unelectable, contained a promise to control the banks.

Before Michael Foot died, aged 96, he had witnessed the financial disaster caused by the uncontrolled banks gambling beyond their mean, and he should have been able to console himself with the thought he was right in 1983.

Michael Foot did the worst thing a politician can possibly do: Michael Foot was right.

Nothing can excuse a politician for being right.

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