Almost half a century ago, on 28 February 1974, Britain went to the polls in a general election called by Tory prime minister Edward Heath. The election was called in the midst of a crisis eerily resembling the situation that confronts Rishi Sunak today.
Britain was ‘working from home’ on a three day working week announced by Heath in a bid to cope with the crisis, which included a full blown strike by the National Union of Mineworkers. Then, as now, the country was also suffering an energy crisis after a foreign war. Oil prices had rocketed following the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Only a tough response can convince the public that Sunak is steering a safe course through the storm
Heath assumed that the country would back his government against trade union militancy, and framed the election with the question ‘Who governs Britain?’ The answer on polling day was ‘not you matey!’
Unexpectedly, the Tories lost 28 seats and their majority.
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