The longest suicide note in history
"The longest suicide note in history" is an epithet originally used by United Kingdom Labour MP Gerald Kaufman[1] to describe his party's 1983 general election manifesto, which emphasised socialist policies in a more profound manner than previous such documents—and which Kaufman felt would ensure that the Labour Party (then in opposition) would fail to win the election.
The New Hope for Britain was a 39-page booklet which called for unilateral nuclear disarmament; higher personal taxation for the rich; withdrawal from the European Economic Community; abolition of the House of Lords; and the re-nationalisation of recently privatised industries such as British Aerospace and the British Shipbuilders Corporation.[2] The manifesto was based on an earlier and much longer policy paper with a similar title, Labour's Plan: The New Hope for Britain.[3]
The epithet referred not only to the orientation of the policies, but also to their marketing. Labour leader Michael Foot decided as a statement on internal democracy that the manifesto would consist of all resolutions arrived at in its party conference.
