Talk:1980 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

Timing, electoral college and the future SDP
I'm not 100% sure but hadn't the votes to create the electoral college already happened? I seem to recall reading that Callaghan was opposed to the college, believing (like others) that it would etrench left-wing leaders, and called the election before the constitutional changes took effect so that MPs would elect his successor.

Also didn't some of the future SDP MPs famously vote for Foot so as to make their breach with the party easier? The prospect of a breakaway had been raised by commentators since at least 1974. Timrollpickering 16:47, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Statement in the lead about the gang of four
While it is correct to say that "none of the SDP's founding "Gang of Four" were among those who "deliberately voted for Foot in order to give the Labour Party a man whom they regarded as an ostensibly unelectable left-wing leader" this could be seen as slightly misleading in that only Bill Rodgers and David Owen were eligible to vote in the contest. As noted at this point the position of leader (which was technically of the Parliamentary Party rather than the Labour Party as a whole) was exclusively chosen by MPs - it would not be until 1981 that the new rules giving members and trade unions a say would come into practice. Shirley Williams was out of parliament, having lost her seat in 1979, while Roy Jenkins had ceased to be an MP in 1977. Though both would return to the House of Commons in by-elections, they did so after the formation of the SDP. I would therefore suggest qualifying the statement, by indicating that neither Rodgers nor Owen voted in this way.Dunarc (talk) 21:38, 22 January 2020 (UTC)