Kinnock, Neil Gordon

Kinnock, Neil Gordon (b. 28 Mar. 1942). British Labour leader 1983–92 Born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, into a working-class family. He attended University College, Cardiff, where he was President of the Students' Union. He then worked for the Workers' Educational Association, and in 1970 was elected to Parliament for the Labour Party to represent Bedwellty. From the left wing of the party, he opposed British membership of the EEC (European integration), and supported the CND. After the party's defeat in 1979, he became its spokesman on education, and, after a further defeat in 1983, he became leader of the party. He started an arduous process of reforming the party and shifting it to the right. Seeking to reclaim some of the middle ground from Thatcher, he ended Labour's commitments to unilateralism and withdrawal from the European Community, along with its advocacy of nationalization as a major economic strategy. This culminated in a full-scale policy review after a further defeat in 1987. Despite the fact that he was one of the best platform orators of his generation, he often had difficulties performing well in Parliament, such as during the Westland Debate in 1986. This, combined with the fact that he had moved away from some of his earlier convictions, gave him an image of unreliability and weakness. He resigned the leadership after defeat in the 1992 elections, and, ironically in the light of his earlier beliefs, became one of the British representatives on the European Commission. In this position, he was responsible for reforming the bureaucratic apparatus of the Commission and making it more effective, though many of the changes he instituted met with fierce opposition from the Commission staff.