Ominous Defeat

Labor loses a key by-election

For half a century, Britain's Labor Party has dominated the grubby, working-class constituency of Bermondsey, a South London neighborhood of brick row houses and dreary wharfs. Last week, in a stunning upset, Social Democratic Party/Liberal alliance Candidate Simon Hughes, 31, broke that long hold by winning 57.7% of the vote in a parliamentary by-election. It was a humiliating defeat for Labor's Peter Tatchell, 31, who won only 26.1%. The result, declared Social Democratic Leader Roy Jenkins, was "a sensational, a magnificent victory that exceeded my highest expectations. It is an enormous setback for Labor."

Indeed it was. The Labor Party remains locked in a bitter internecine struggle between its militant left wing and moderate centrists. In the wake of the Bermondsey result, there was rampant speculation that Michael Foot, 69, Labor's rumpled and largely ineffectual leader, would have to step down before the next general election, which Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher could call as early as June.

Thatcher, ironically, found little to cheer in Labor's debacle. Conservative Candidate Robert Hughes, 31, received only 5.5% of the vote in Bermondsey. More important, Simon Hughes' stunning victory last week suggested that the Social Democratic/Liberal alliance, which poses a greater threat than a Labor Party veering too far to the left, may be regaining momentum. Since last summer, Thatcher, 56, has been basking in the glow of Britain's victory over Argentina in the Falklands war. In addition, she has benefited from some long-awaited improvements in the economy, and recent polls show her holding a lead of anywhere from 11% to 21% over Labor.

The by-election exemplified the battle between moderates and leftists for Labor's ideological soul. Moderate Laborite Robert Mellish had held the seat for 36 years, but left-wingers seized control of the Bermondsey party machinery, and the disillusioned Mellish forced a new election by retiring. The local leadership then selected the boyish Tatchell, an Australian immigrant who quickly adopted a position supporting better housing and education, along with radical socialism and homosexual rights. He had first attracted attention when he called for "new, more militant forms of extraparliamentary opposition which challenge the government's right to rule."

Horrified by the choice, Foot first declared that he would never support Tatchell. But adamant local leaders stood by their choice and forced Foot to change his mind. Mellish, meantime, threw his support behind moderate Laborite John O'Grady, 62, who mounted an independent challenge under the label "Real Labor." It was a dirty campaign. Tatchell received 20 death threats, and in an allusion to his rumored sexual preferences, 10,000 pamphlets flooded Bermondsey picturing Tatchell with the monarch above the caption WHICH QUEEN WILL YOU VOTE FOR? The vituperative campaign helped to divide the Labor vote and destroyed any remaining chance for a Labor victory.

Although Labor strife was responsible for much of the disaster in Bermondsey, Alliance Candidate Hughes also deserved credit for the wide margin of his victory. A fresh-faced, articulate lawyer, Hughes worked the district assiduously for three years. Whether his personal victory can be translated into momentum for the S.D.P./Liberal alliance remains to be seen. His "stupendous" victory, said Conservative Party Chairman Cecil Parkinson, was due to "a bizarre set of circumstances" that will not be repeated at the national level.

Labor moderates received some encouragement last week when, on the eve of the Bermondsey vote, Labor's national executive committee expelled five radicals, all key members of the far-left Militant Tendency. But any optimism was stilled by the lonely figure of Foot, who could barely summon comment on the latest blow to the party. Asked the Daily Express: IS IT THE END OF THE ROAD FOR FOOT? Laborites must be asking the same question about their party. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.