"The only hope was Denis Healey. ... But my hopes were shortlived. Soon after the party conference in October [1980], it became evident that Denis Healey, whether he became leader or not, was not going to fight head-on the unilateralist and anti-European policy of the Labour Party. He was not going to make the party face up to the electoral incredibility of being both in effect anti-Nato and anti-European. ... So, Denis Healey was not going to fight the left. That became clear. Denis does not have good political judgement. In that sense he is not a good politician. He has a first-class brain, he is extremely well informed and he's got good judgement about many things, but he's not been a very good judge of feelings and moods within the Labour Party. I think he calculated that by taking the soft approach, the emollient approach, he could woo the left and win the leadership and, having secured it, would then fight for his policies. But he wasn't going to fight beforehand."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomLabour Party (UK) politiciansPeople from LondonAutobiographers from EnglandChancellors of the Exchequer
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
David Owen, Personally Speaking to Kenneth Harris (1987), pp. 169–171
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Denis_Healey
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey PC (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979. He was a Member of Parliament for 40 years (from 1952 until his retirement in 1992) and was the last surviving member of the cabinet formed by Harold Wilson after the Labour Party's victory in the 1964 general election.
68 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Denis Healey →
Related Quotes
"Britain's economic problem is fundamentally far greater than France's since France is much less dependent on foreign …"
"By his conduct of the campaign against the Labour Government Aneurin Bevan has destroyed a good chance of succeeding …"
"Nye [Bevan] thinks that the best way to win friends and influence people is to kick them in the teeth... But there is…"
"'The owl of Minerva only flies abroad when the shades of night are gathering.' Speaking for Conservatism, Hegel was r…"
"Hugh Gaitskell was absolutely right when he said yesterday that what gets cheers at this conference does not necessar…"
"I think the Services can be rightly very upset at the continuous series of defence reviews which the Government has b…"
"Keynesianism has failed."
"I warn my hon. Friends...that once we cut defence expenditure to the extent where our security is imperilled, we have…"
"We did not want middle class Robespierres."
"The upper classes in every country are selfish, depraved, dissolute and decadent. The struggle for socialism in Europ…"