Laborite Will Quit Parliament
Michael Foot, the fiery socialist orator who led Britain’s opposition Labor Party to its worst defeat in 60 years, said Friday he will retire from Parliament at the next general election.
Foot, a left-wing idealist, led Labor for three years. But he was unable to unite the party’s warring factions and lost to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 election.
He told his Blaenau Gwent constituency party in South Wales that he will not enter the next election, which may be held as early as next year.
At 76, he is the oldest member of the House of Commons, which he first entered in the Labor landslide of 1945.
One of Labor’s most prominent postwar figures, Foot has been a passionate advocate of unilateral nuclear disarmament, a policy the party has now renounced under Neil Kinnock’s leadership.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
