Modern Labour has similarities with 1981

The party was formed by moderates who could not stomach the policies pursued by its left-wing leader

Thirty- five years ago, I left my job in the civil service to go and work for the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The party was formed by moderates in the Labour Party who could not stomach the policies pursued by its left-wing leader Michael Foot.

So I’m particularly interested in what today’s Labour Party moderates will do next. Today’s similarities with 1981 are obvious. But the differences are just as great.

It is telling that the first peer to leave the Labour Party now has done so because, as a Jew, he can no longer tolerate the amount of anti-semitism he sees in the party.

That strand of intolerance was fortunately missing in 1981.

Today’s moderates clearly lack a leader of national stature.

Arguably, in the Gang of Four, the SDP had too many leaders. But it was a good fault, and it gave us credibility as a national party from day one.

And momentum is clearly much more numerous and widespread than the militant tendency.

As a Labour moderate in 1981, the SDP gave me a new home and hope for the future.

Labour’s moderates lack the prospect of both. Unless they were to join the Lib Dems.