Fifty years ago

For some of us, repeats of BBC TV coverage of past elections are always fascinating. Last Saturday, BBC Parliament treated us to a re-run of the 1970 general election. The technical differences between then and now were obvious, but there were some striking parallels with today.

The immediate impression was that of the personalities involved. As with too many of these programmes until comparatively recently, the presenters and reporters were all male. Until Janet Fookes appeared in an excruciatingly patronising interview by Robin Day, the only glimpse of a female face in the studio was that of one of the assistants among the banks of CRT monitors. There was also an overwhelming Conservative air to the presentation: Day himself and Cliff Michelmore may not have been "out" as Conservatives at this time, but their enjoyment of Edward Heath's victory was clear. The psephologists David Butler and Robert Mackenzie were regarded as more Liberal in their attitudes but there was no whiff of socialism - unless you count the young John Humphrys, who put in a brief appearance. Humphrys, David Dimbleby and the Sultan of Swing himself, David Butler, are happily still with us, but all the other famous faces have passed.

Reminiscent of 2019 was the evisceration of the Liberal Party. After the revival of the mid-1960s, the fall in representation from 12 MPs to 6 must have been a shattering blow. However, the rebound to 13 after the 1974 elections was just round the corner. A pattern seemed to have become established: the party's fortunes rose and fell with the unpopularity of the Conservatives. Something similar happened to Liberal Democrats between 1979 (when we lost only two seats, it should be noted, even after participating in the Lib/Lab pact) and 1997. However, I am not optimistic of a swift bounce back today, as we lost our reputation for political integrity under Nick Clegg and it will take some time to regain it. 

A sombre parallel was how 1970 was dominated by race. Result after result showed the biggest swings to Conservative candidates who were outspokenly xenophobic or in areas, like the Black Country, where race was a predominant issue.  The saving grace was that the leader himself and his trusted colleagues were socially liberal, as opposed to today when the prime minister is on the racially prejudiced wing of his party and is happy to play on this for electoral purposes.