Winter of Discontent
The winter of discontent is the name given to the British winter of 1978-79, during which there were widespread strikes. The phrase is derived from the opening of William Shakespeare's Richard III.
These strikes led to a vote of no confidence in the then Labour Prime Minister, James Callaghan, and ultimately to a defeat of the Labour Party in the 1979 general election by the Conservative party led by Margaret Thatcher.
The industrial unrest was, overall, less threatening to the national economy than had been that under the Conservative Government of Edward Heath, but in the words of the political journalist Peter Jenkins:
- In the Winter of Discontent television did for the class war what it had done for the war in Vietnam.
He added, less tactfully, that:
- Only in parts of Lancashire did the dead go unburied.
Referenced By
Baron Callaghan of Cardiff | British Conservative Party | British Government | British Tory Party | British politics | Concepts and Minor Characters from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy | Concepts and minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Conservative Party (UK) | Conservative and Unionist Party | James Callaghan | Jim Callaghan | Lord Callaghan | Lord Callaghan of Cardiff | Minor Characters from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy | Politics of England | Politics of the United Kingdom | Slartibartfast | The Conservative Party (UK) | The Conservative and Unionist Party (UK) | Trillian (fictional character) | UK Conservative Party | UK Government | United Kingdom/Government | United Kingdom politics
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