The night things changed in Chorlton ......... May 1st 1986

It is now 33 years since the Labour Party won its first council seat in Chorlton which was a historic result given that during the early 20^th century the area alternated between electing Liberal and Conservative councilors, before settling down to a period of unbroken Tory representation from 1945 through to 1986. 

Arguing for change, 1986

And that first Labour success was confirmed a year later by the election of Keith Bradley as the first Labour MP for Manchester Withington.

So sublimely confident had the Liberals and Conservatives been of their dominance here in Chorlton, that both opened grand social clubs during the 1890s, while the small group of socialists were relegated in the early years of the next century to open air meetings on Chorlton Green or in the upstairs room of the Lloyds Hotel.

And in the post war years the Conservative vote remained rock solid, but by the early 1980s there was a growing sea change, which was evidenced by the greater number of Labour posters, a more energetic election campaign and a narrowing of the Tory majority.

David Black canvassing, 1986

Everyone will have a different take on why this was happening.  Some have pointed to an influx of young people who, were attracted to the area because it was cheaper than other parts of south Manchester and offered up plenty of small un-modernized properties at prices which today seem laughable.

The canvas returns at the time suggested they were more sympathetic to the Labour Party, which may in part have been a reaction to the policies of the Conservative Government.

This was also a period which saw an intensification of the Cold War, reflected in hard line leaders in Washington and Moscow and the deployment of a new range of missiles which could carry nuclear warheads to their targets in Europe quicker than before.

And in 1986 there had been the nuclear disaster in the Ukraine and a US missile attack on Libya, both of which had occurred in the month before the election.

The result

As the local election agent for the Labour Party at the time, I remained cautious, but it was the veteran MP Frank Allaun who saw from the responses he encountered while canvassing that there was a significant shift in voter intentions.

And Mr. Allaun’s judgement was  confirmed on the night, when David Black, the Labour candidate gained  2,848 votes which gave him a 48% share of the votes cast.

There had been an equally impressive Labour victory in Whalley Range which resulted in Chris Morris achieving 49% of the total vote.

But politics is a funny thing and the following year the Conservative candidate was returned with a large majority.

Next; when Chorlton elected its first woman councillor

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; election leaflet for the Labour Party, from an original design by T Grimshaw, and David Black, canvasing in Chorlton, 1986, from the collection of Andrew Simpson