APRIL 22, 1979, and the general election campaign is about to get into full swing. And Denis Healey, Jim Callaghan’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, is proving to be a real hit as a dancer.
At the end of a gruelling Sunday on the hustings in Glasgow, Mr Healey ventured to the Labour Club in Castlemilk, where he briefly became the darling of the dancefloor during the last waltz. As this newspaper reported: “No fewer than six Castlemilk ladies cut in during the dance and another score were disappointed queuing up on the sidelines.”
Mr Healey declared: “I can truthfully say this has been the liveliest night of the campaign for me so far.” He also promoted the cause of his party’s local candidate, John Maxton, nephew of James Maxton, saying: “It’s time we had another Maxton in the House of Commons.”
The Conservatives had just been buoyed by opinion polls putting them ahead of Labour. Callaghan had thus far fought a low-key campaign, whereas Margaret Thatcher had been doing lots of TV interviews across the country, but a Gallup poll put him ahead - 44 per cent to 31 per cent - on the question of which of them would make the better Prime Minister.
Labour was about to launch a £250,000 advertising campaign to persuade voters that it was best placed on key issues. The electorate, however, was not persuaded. The Tories won resoundingly, and would remain in power until 1997.
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