I missed it, but yesterday was the anniversary of the death of John Smith, leader of the Labour Party, in 1994.
When I heard of his death I was closeted with the returning oficer for Wiltshire (it was the time of the Euro elections and I was a candidate). It is hard to think of another party leader having died during an election campaign. Such was the commotion that there was even talk of suspending the election, but the matter was, of course, out of British hands.
Smith was highly intelligent, a good debater, but mostly wrong on a range of subjects. As shadow chancellor he helped lose the election for Neil Kinnock by publishing a draft budget, which we all had plenty of time to ridicule. It is following this humiliation that candidates on both sides are reluctant to reveal the details of their plans, and the ridiculous spectacle of people arguing about £6 billion when they needed to cut £160 billion.
When I heard of his death I was closeted with the returning oficer for Wiltshire (it was the time of the Euro elections and I was a candidate). It is hard to think of another party leader having died during an election campaign. Such was the commotion that there was even talk of suspending the election, but the matter was, of course, out of British hands.
Smith was highly intelligent, a good debater, but mostly wrong on a range of subjects. As shadow chancellor he helped lose the election for Neil Kinnock by publishing a draft budget, which we all had plenty of time to ridicule. It is following this humiliation that candidates on both sides are reluctant to reveal the details of their plans, and the ridiculous spectacle of people arguing about £6 billion when they needed to cut £160 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment