Former councillor recalls Liberal/SDP breakthrough in Lambeth

8.22.41pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 22nd Oct 2006

John Medway and Paul Reynolds celebrate victory in 1981

On July 23 1981, Lambeth SDP and Vauxhall Liberal Association celebrated a historic breakthrough when they won two seats in a Lambeth Council by-election in Bishop's ward in the far north of Lambeth. John Medway, elected for the SDP, recalls the memorable events a quarter of a century ago.

"The Liberal Party in Vauxhall had recently come to life with a core of dedicated activists. The SDP had formed in March of that year and Lambeth SDP got off to a flying start. Lambeth was a natural place for the SDP and revived Liberal Party to flex their muscles. 'Red Ted' Knight was in charge at the Town Hall and the takeover of the Labour Party in Lambeth by the loony left seemed almost complete.

Then, at one of our early meetings, Tom Cornwall came in with the dramatic news that two Labour councillors in Bishop's Ward had resigned. We quickly reached an agreement that the SDP and the Liberals would each put up one candidate and support the other. At that stage there was no formal SDP-Liberal Alliance at national level and this by-election was a trail-blazer for co-operation between the parties.

I became the SDP candidate and Paul Reynolds stood for the Liberals. Early in the campaign we worked separately but increasingly Paul and I would do a double-act with the loudhailer to bring home to people the unprecedented spectacle of two parties working together.

At the start of the campaign I thought we had little chance of winning in what was Labour's third-safest ward in Lambeth. However, the Liberals bombarded the ward with Focus leaflets while Tom, who was my agent, produced election literature far superior to anything seen in the constituency before.

Serious campaigning was something new for such a safe Labour area. Half way through the campaign, riots erupted in Brixton and perhaps brought home to people the need for new thinking.

Then, one week before polling day, came the famous Warrington by-election. This was another very safe Labour area but Roy Jenkins came sensationally close to winning. As he said: "This is the first time I have ever lost an election. Yet this is my greatest victory."

The sensation spilled over into Bishop's Ward. For the last week of the campaign there was clearly a big shift towards us. Even so, the result took us by surprise. Paul and I got 1,029 and 1,153 votes to Labour's 712 and 700. We were famous for a day, with television and radio interviews and front-page coverage in the national press.

Over the next few months, a number of Labour councillors, including Patrick Mitchell and Andrew Sawdon, crossed the floor to join us. Our main concern was the full council elections for the following May. After the Bishop's result we had high hopes of winning control and we fought hard all over the Borough. However, the main campaign coincided with the Falklands War and it was the Tories who benefited from the big swing against Ted Knight.

Paul and I hung on to our seats (just) and the Alliance, as we then called ourselves, won three seats in neighbouring Prince's Ward. But that was it. The balance of seats on the Council was 32 Labour, 27 Tory and 5 Alliance. However the outgoing Labour mayor was so disgusted with the Knight regime that he used his casting vote for a Tory successor.

We then spent an uncomfortable but exhilarating six months sharing power with the Tories. Labour had some unsavoury allies; one Alliance councillor had graffiti daubed on his house and another had his car set on fire and graffiti sprayed on it.One of our number cracked and defected to Labour.

Misrule returned to the Town Hall and continued until a series of breakthroughs in the early 1990s made the Lib Dems the main contenders to Labour for power in Lambeth."