The SDP's Big Night Out

All four panellists on this week's Any Questions were former members of the SDP, one of the three toxic streams running into our present Political Class. While its poison is a great deal less virulent than that of the 1970s sectarian Left or the 1980s sectarian Right, it nevertheless includes the betrayal of Gaitskellism over Europe. The betrayal of both Gaitskellism and Christian Socialism over nuclear weapons. The decadent social libertinism of Roy Jenkins. The comprehensive schools mania of Shirley Williams. Her regret at not having resigned in protest against past Labour measures to restrict immigration. And, related to all of those but especially to the last, a fanatical hatred of trade unions.