Robert Harris reports on the 1983 general election - Newsnight Archives

still strike three so that means we do need a little bit more game mail but then we run into mrs. Thatcher was due to address Yorkshire Conservatives last Thursday and Yorkshire Conservatives were leaving nothing to chance the fabrics were tastefully coordinated the lighting minutely adjusted there are enough flowers to stock a small florists if the atmosphere at Hera gates Royal Hall seemed reminiscent of a coronation that was hardly surprising but this was a modern political rally ticket only television dominated and designed to avoid the sort of scenes we used to associate with elections get your fix please Keep Calm [Applause] we'll turn get rid of those eccentrics in the 1960s elections appeared more noisy more passionate and occasionally more violent politicians both endeared abuse and fished it out come here for a serious political I must ask you to sit down sir I have to ask you to leave I say if you are as if I am NOT a little girl do you know as enjoyable as they used to be well that's a difficult question to ask an old gentleman because I find them less enjoyable but then at 75 you find other things less enjoyable too it's always better to do a job well rather than do it badly I believe that we can say quite honestly to the country we have done nothing not in the beginning have you even transport helicopters I never wasted much time on those who would just leave Mickey taking you just took the Mickey back and set up I nearly said the wrong word that MBO and the funny thing was when they used to increase the prescription charges double the prescription charges as it did after 59 these weren't remitted again in the pre-election handle that we used to give thank you very much [Applause] [Music] Toya please I'm afraid your aim is no better than your material my friend if they're just shouting or drumming or making a noise I mean you just sort of took em on that main laughs under they helpful to invite them to you know I said I couldn't hear say it again then you come back even your conservative leader described Rhodesia as a police state you wouldn't last long there my friend now then my brain we do not support savages we just allow them to come to our meetings that's all nowadays the political managers are more fussy about who comes to their meetings in addition to a Union Jack everyone who saw mrs. Thatcher in Harrogate last Thursday was issued with a Maggie in sticker to get a ticket you either had to be a card-carrying conservative or to have had a party member vouch field good behavior it's almost like a Miss World contest now to be truthful said they'd all look horrible in begin ISM it's got much more like that whereas in the sixties is not all that long ago we were still arguing about issues and about local people and I think television has wrecked all that why did it double from 600,000 in 1973 to nearly one and a half million exactly supported if I see what are you fighting for you're fighting for audiences you're not fighting for politics or democracy well the other people fighting for they're fighting for advertisers they're not fighting the politics it will destroy democracy you will destroy everything elections are supposed to be about the other side of that is that it shows up the ranta if you record a man ranting like an old-fashioned soapbox orator I think it's a very good things he should be shown up because it's a very bad form of art rare or even to not democracy fun girls to use that every use word mentioning their names mentioning no names the Prime Minister went to a meeting at hold on oh let's let's let's examine the matters captain yes less carefully we must all give a heard you that's what I was afraid of that Michel foot platform style earned him the reputation of being one of Britain's greatest modern auratus but the technique which rouses audiences in the hall may not be the best way of appealing to the voters at home behind the scenes at Harrogate a technician man's missus Duchess secret weapon an American Auto prompt device which feeds the text of the evening speech via hidden monitors onto a pair of glass screens in front of the Prime Minister many of our industries and the idea is you'll see you don't have to look down at John notes but you gaze into stars looking very sincere and the public had taken in I think it's a perfectly legitimate device but it only slightly amuses me you're not planning to use one I certainly will never use one I hate gadgets I saw Regan do that in and there's a lot of mountains you wouldn't have had one now you get a better impression of sincerity the media advisers say if you appear not to be reading it's coming straight from the heart I am Not sure that sort of just means you'll spend eight hours cent of the Earth's identity everything in our program has been costed and is included within the program of our national plans within our tightly controlled and rigidly expended government expenditure program for the next five years Peter Michael knows we have no plans for expenditure in Vietnam [Applause] the day after the Harrogate rally the Prime Minister's campaign moved south to an industrial estate near reading it was a perfect illustration of the way television has transformed electioneering here there were not even any party faithful the only crowd to greet mrs. Thatcher was a stage army of photographers and TV crews there it here by conservative central office we even outnumbered the factory's employees yes we've been brought here not to ask questions but to observe and it was at this point in his eagerness to convey the scene that your correspondent stepped out of line this is what it's like being on the campaign trail with a prime minister in 1983 it's as far removed from traditional campaigning as it's possible to imagine there aren't many voters in sight what there are are hundreds of members of the media who swarm around the prime minister to follow her as we moved and the idea from the conservative point of view is to get the best possible exposure on the TV news that evening after this brush with the Prime Minister I retreated to my allotted position as an observer if she ever consulted ages unlikely I would say mother get rid of all the Oscar just be yourself and I would say the same to the others too Michael slightly problem because he cut it you won't finish the sentence it made his point very well then he goes up into orbit then his healer yes straight down the middle Labour's election campaign seems less well organised in the Conservatives when Denis Healey turned up in East London the other night he was greeted by a handful of local supporters there were no television cameras apart from our own despite the fact that the party had gone to the trouble of erecting the traveling red set designed to identify their campaign on television with a white floor gym prior Francis Pym even Peter Walker up to the knackers yard here was a meeting open to the public addressed by one of the most controversial politicians in the country yet there was no heckling and little excitement did you used to enjoy heckling oh yes oh yes I mean really for an old pro like me the best part about electioneering is when they start telling you what they want you to tell them about oh yes sure I miss that very much and that you've killed if that's a wonderful piece of film of you of hitting a picture of how Wilson with your spirit from welcome did FAL I look back on their to the greatest of satisfaction [Applause] you may want Wilson but I got you over here with the variable [Applause] take a look at that poster one movie artifact surely must come a point at which fundamental policies with which you disagree actually caused her to say enough is enough 17 years later the style of electioneering has changed out of all recognition kwan tell make television equipment and a visit to their factory was one of mrs. Thatcher's last election appearances before she went to Williamsburg the location dictates the pictures there are no hecklers and the risk of bad publicity has been cut to a minimum the television images modern prosperous and prime ministerial it concentrates our interest upon the leader rather than upon the cabinet and their shadow cabinet rank people and I think that our own form of democracy quite rightly favors the letter rather than the formal I mean our prime ministers are not presidents and whatnot to be treated as presidents in retrospect it was entirely appropriate that mrs. Thatcher should choose to end her weeks campaigning at the offices of quant L a firm which specializes in the manipulation of images on television because increasingly elections are dominated by television coverage not just how good a candidate looks on the screen but in the way television manipulates the whole day the way in which candidates have to structure all their appearances to fit in with television bulletins and to get the maximum exposure so it looks like being goodbye to the days of the big rallies and the hecklers and hail to the days of the television image makers

Channel: BBC Newsnight

Views: 47,749

Keywords: bbc, newsnight, news, interview, robert harris, 1983 election, election, general election, margaret thatcher, michael foot, labour, conservatives

Id: uU1_qtuLD1U

Length: 13min 13sec (793 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2017