The third men (and women)

The 2022 conference of the UK Social Democratic Party has generated a little publicity. Rod Liddle, a well-known journalist and party member, summed up its credo as a combination of social conservatism and a preference for the nationalisation of public transport and the utilities. Recent conservative governments have given up on the former, and the labour opposition on the latter. Oddly enough many supporters of the labour party would have shared this credo. Deindustrialisation and the rise of New Labour weakened their influence in the party.

There is nothing unusual in this stance. Third parties typically exist because compromises have to be made within parties large enough to be serious contenders for office. Large parties are usually faction-ridden to the point where they alienate members who can’t come to terms with one faction or the other, or lead from the middle. Thus is was forty years ago when Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, David Owen and Bill Rogers left the labour party to form the SDP. Within less than ten years it merged with the Liberals, an older party which rejected the ’extremes’ of conservatism and socialism. The joint enterprise fared no better.

Politics is after all about competition for power. This means that contenders have to define themselves as different from each other. This creates more heat than light and those who don’t like the heat may decide to leave the kitchen.