Election debates. Leadership interviews. Question Time Special. Party Election
Broadcasts. It won't have escaped your notice that (in the UK) there's a
General Election happening next week.
The political spectrum is much more fragmented these days
and the parties are undoubtedly planning for coalition deals and agreements -
even if they publicly deny this.
Cast your mind back to the mid-80s, at the height of
Thatcherite Britain, and it was still a two-party system. But thoughts of a
possible coalition government were on the minds of the Liberals and the (now
defunct) Social Democrats who had formed the SDP-Liberal Alliance.
These four interviews feature the main party leaders (for
the majority of the decade). Three come from a series of conversations with
Michael Charlton, best known for Panorama, that were broadcast on BBC Radio 3
at a time when the station still carried current affairs amongst the classical
music and drama (see Six Continents).
From 10 December 1985 this is Labour leader Neil Kinnock:
From 3 December 1985 this is Liberal Party leader David Steel:
From 26 November 1985 this is SDP leader David Owen:
And finally from an edition of The World this Weekend on 31 May 1987 is PM Margaret Thatcher talking to Gordon Clough.
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