The Democratic Labour Party, sometimes referred to as the Lincoln Democratic Labour Association, was a minor political party operating in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. It was formed by the Labour MP Dick Taverne when his Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in the Lincoln constituency deselected him as its candidate at the next general election. He had fallen out with it over Britain's proposed membership of the European Communities, which he supported but it did not.
History
Establishment and 1973 by-election
Dick Taverne had been first elected to Lincoln in the 1962 by-election as a Labour MP. A moderate in the party, Taverne had been part of the Campaign for Democratic Socialism. In 1971, despite the wishes of his increasingly left-wing dominated Constituency Labour Party (CLP), Taverne had voted with the Conservative government to join the European Economic Community (EEC). Due to this, Taverne's CLP voted to deselect him as their MP in 1972, and this was upheld by Labour's National Executive Committee after an appeal. He won the ensuing Lincoln by-election, held in March 1973. Taverne ran on a platform of support for the EEC, industrial democracy and price and incomes policy, as well as arguing that MPs should be representatives of their constituencies rather than beholden to a party line. Taverne did try to convince Roy Jenkins to join him in defecting, but was unsuccessful; Jenkins believed he could bring around a dozen Labour MPs with him, but did not think the time was right.
1974 and 1979 general elections
Shortly after his by-election victory, Taverne formed the Campaign for Social Democracy as a national body. He was re-elected in the February 1974 general election, and continued to serve until the October 1974 general election when he was defeated, Harold Wilson having demanded the Labour Party "throw the kitchen sink" at Lincoln in its efforts to displace him. Taverne did not stand in the seat again, but Democratic Labour continued to organise politically, to the extent that Democratic Labour controlled Lincoln City Council from 1973 until 1979 and across England during the 1973 local elections Democratic Labour candidates achieved some success.
At the 1979 general election, Democratic Labour contested two constituencies: Lincoln, and Brigg and Scunthorpe. Taverne advised against nominating any candidates, but campaigned for them anyway. Both were unsuccessful in their attempts to gain seats in the House of Commons, losing their deposits (at that time 12.5% of the vote was required in order to retain deposits; this was reduced to 5% after the 1983 general election). However, both seats were narrowly gained from the incumbent Labour MPs by the Conservative Party's candidates, with the Conservative majority over Labour being less than the Democratic Labour vote. In an analysis of the voting in the election, Ivor Crewe, Director of the British Election Study, stated that the Democratic Labour candidates "splintered enough of the Labour vote ... to allow the Conservatives to gain both seats".
Lincoln local elections
In the 1973 City of Lincoln council election, Democratic Labour got 20 seats, a majority. The party held power until the 1979 election, and it lost its last councillor in 1980.
Merger and legacy
In 1980, Democratic Labour merged with the Social Democratic Alliance. A social club that the groups had established ran until 1987.
Prior to his defection to the Conservatives in 1977, Reg Prentice considered standing as a social democrat and stood on a platform with Taverne calling for a new party.
Election results
General elections
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Election !! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! Percentage !! Position
|-
| 1973 by-election || rowspan="3" | Lincoln || rowspan="3" | || 21,967 || 58.2 || 1
|-
| 1974 Feb general election || 14,780 || 35.6 || 1
|-
| 1974 Oct general election || 13,714 || 34.6 || 2
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1979 general election || Brigg and Scunthorpe || || 2,042 || 2.9 || 4
|-
| Lincoln || || 1,743 || 4.1 || 4
|}
Local elections
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! 1973 Lincoln
| 8,660
| 39.8 (#1)
|
| New
|-
! 1976 Lincoln
| 10,122
| 41.0 (#1)
|
| 3
|-
! 1979 Lincoln
| 7,462
| 18.3 (#3)
|
| 14
|-
! 1980 Lincoln
| 1,842
| 8.0 (#3)
|
| 3
|}