Editing Michael Foot (section)

==Member of Parliament==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2010}}
[[File:Michael Foot addresses Tribune rally.jpg|thumb|Foot (standing) addressing ''Tribune'' supporters at the [[Labour Party Conference]], 1953]]
Foot fought the [[Plymouth Devonport (UK Parliament constituency)|Plymouth Devonport constituency]] in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. His election agent was Labour activist and lifelong friend Ron Lemin. He won the seat for Labour for the first time, holding it until his surprise defeat by [[Dame Joan Vickers]] at the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]]. Until 1957, he was the most prominent ally of [[Aneurin Bevan]], who had taken Cripps's place as leader of the Labour left. He successfully urged Bevan to follow through with his threat to resign from the Cabinet in protest of the introduction of [[prescription charges]] at the [[National Health Service]], leading to a split in the Labour Party between [[Bevanites]] and [[Gaitskellites]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/pistolsatdawntwo0000camp/13960/t6wx5mm07 |title=Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown |date=2010 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-1-84595-091-0 |location=London |pages=210 |oclc=489636152}}</ref> Foot and Bevan fell out after Bevan renounced [[unilateral nuclear disarmament]] at the 1957 Labour Party conference.

Before the Cold War began in the late 1940s, Foot favoured a '[[third way]]' foreign policy for Europe (he was joint author with [[Richard Crossman]] and [[Ian Mikardo]] of the pamphlet ''[[Keep Left (pamphlet)|Keep Left]]'' in 1947), but in the wake of the communist seizure of power in [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]] and [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]] he and ''Tribune'' took a strongly anti-communist position, eventually embracing [[NATO]].

Foot was, however, a critic of the [[Western culture|West]]'s handling of the [[Korean War]], an opponent of [[West German rearmament]] in the early 1950s and a founder member of the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] (CND) in 1957. Under his editorship, ''Tribune'' opposed both the British government's [[Suez Crisis|Suez]] campaign and the Soviet crushing of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian Revolution]] in 1956. During this period, he made regular television appearances on the current-affairs programmes ''In The News'' ([[BBC Television]]) and subsequently ''Free Speech'' ([[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]). "There was certainly nothing wrong with his television technique in those days," reflected [[Anthony Howard (journalist)|Anthony Howard]] shortly after Foot's death.<ref>{{cite news|first=Anthony|last=Howard|author-link=Anthony Howard (journalist)|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7373559/Michael-Foot-The-last-of-a-dying-breed.html|title=Michael Foot: The last of a dying breed|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=5 March 2010|access-date=15 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308100724/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7373559/Michael-Foot-The-last-of-a-dying-breed.html|archive-date=8 March 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Foot joined the ''Who Killed Kennedy Committee?'' set up by Bertrand Russell in 1964.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Perkins Jr. |editor1-first=Ray |title=Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice, and Truth in Letters to the Editor |date=2002 |publisher=Open Court |page=404}}</ref>

Foot returned to parliament at a [[1960 Ebbw Vale by-election|by-election in Ebbw Vale]], [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]], in 1960, the seat having been left vacant by Bevan's death. He had the Labour whip withdrawn in March 1961 after rebelling against the Labour leadership over [[Royal Air Force]] estimates. He only returned to the [[Parliamentary Labour Party|Parliamentary Labour Group]] in 1963, when Harold Wilson became [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] after the sudden death of [[Hugh Gaitskell]].

[[Harold Wilson]] — the subject of an enthusiastic campaign biography by Foot published by [[Robert Maxwell]]'s [[Pergamon Press]] in 1964 – offered Foot a place in his first government, but Foot turned it down, instead becoming the leader of Labour's left opposition from the back benches. He opposed the government's moves to restrict [[Modern immigration to the United Kingdom|immigration]], [[Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities|join the European Communities]] (or "[[European Communities|Common Market]]" as they were referred to) and reform the trade unions, was against the [[Vietnam War]] and [[Rhodesia]]'s [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|unilateral declaration of independence]], and denounced the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet suppression]] of "[[Prague Spring|socialism with a human face]]" in [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1968. He also famously allied with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Tory]] right-winger [[Enoch Powell]] to scupper the government's plan to abolish the voting rights of [[hereditary peer]]s and create a [[House of Lords]] comprising only [[life peer]]s – a "seraglio of eunuchs" as Foot put it.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1969/feb/03/parliament-no-2-bill PARLIAMENT (No. 2) BILL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809163027/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1969/feb/03/parliament-no-2-bill |date=9 August 2019 }}, HC Deb 3 February 1969 vol 777 cc43-171</ref>

Foot challenged [[James Callaghan]] for the post of [[Treasurer of the Labour Party]] in 1967, but failed.

===In government===
After 1970, Labour moved to the left and Wilson came to an accommodation with Foot. Foot served in the [[Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson]] in various roles between 1970 and 1974. In [[1972 Labour Party deputy leadership election|April 1972]], he stood for the [[Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Deputy Leadership]] of the party, along with [[Edward Short, Baron Glenamara|Edward Short]] and [[Anthony Crosland]]. The first ballot saw Foot narrowly come second to Short winning 110 votes to the latter's 111. Crosland polled 61 votes and was eliminated. It was reported in the next day's ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'' that Short was the favourite to pick up most of Crosland's votes.<ref name="GH21041972p1">{{cite news |last1=Warden |first1=John |title=Short leads by one vote in first ballot |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19720421&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=21 April 1972 |page=1}}</ref> The second ballot saw Short increase his total to 145 votes, while Foot's only rose to 116, giving Short victory by 29 votes.<ref name="GH26041972p1">{{cite news |last1=Warden |first1=John |title=Unity call as Short wins by 29 votes |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19720426&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date=23 March 2021 |newspaper=The Glasgow Herald |date=26 April 1972 |page=1}}</ref>

When, in 1974, Labour returned to office under Wilson, Foot became [[Secretary of State for Employment]]. According to Ben Pimlott, his appointment was intended to please the left of the party and the Trade Unions. In this role, he played the major part in the government's efforts to maintain the trade unions' support. He was also responsible for the [[Health and Safety at Work Act]], as well as the [[Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974|Trade Union and Labour Relations Act]] that repealed the [[Heath ministry]]'s [[Industrial Relations Act 1971|trade union reforms]], and the [[Employment Protection Act 1975|Employment Protection Act]], which introduced legal protections against being sacked for becoming pregnant and legislated for maternity pay. His time as Employment Secretary also saw [[Acas]] adopt its current name and modern form as a body with independence from government.<ref name=tribune>{{cite web |url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/07/the-life-and-legacy-of-michael-foot |title=The Life and Legacy of Michael Foot |last=Johnson |first=Richard |date=23 July 2021 |website=[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]] |access-date=31 July 2021}}</ref>

Foot was one of the mainstays of the "no" campaign in the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|1975 referendum]] on [[United Kingdom membership of the European Economic Area|British membership of the European Communities]]. When Wilson retired in 1976, Foot [[1976 Labour Party leadership election|contested the party leadership]] and led in the first ballot, but was ultimately defeated by [[James Callaghan]]. Later that year Foot [[1976 Labour Party deputy leadership election|was elected]] Deputy Leader, and during the [[Labour government, 1974–1979|Callaghan government]] Foot took a seat in [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] as [[Leader of the House of Commons]], which gave him the unenviable task of trying to maintain the survival of the Callaghan government as its majority evaporated. However, he was able to steer numerous government proposals through the Commons, often by very narrow majorities, including increases in pension and benefit rates, the creation of the [[Police Complaints Board]], the expansion of [[Comprehensive school (England and Wales)|comprehensive schools]], the establishment of a statutory responsibility to provide housing for the homeless, [[Child benefits in the United Kingdom#Child Benefit and the end of child tax allowance|universal Child Benefit]], the [[British Shipbuilders|nationalisation of shipbuilding]], abolishing pay beds in [[Hospital trust|NHS hospitals]], and housing security for agricultural workers, before the government fell in a [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|vote of no confidence]] by a single vote.<ref name=tribune /> Whilst Leader of the Commons, Foot simultaneously held the post of [[Lord President of the Council]].

In 1975, Foot, along with [[Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge|Jennie Lee]] and others, courted controversy when they supported [[Indira Gandhi]], the [[Prime Minister of India]], after she prompted the declaration of [[The Emergency (India)|a state of emergency]]. In December 1975, ''[[The Times]]'' ran an editorial titled 'Is Mr Foot a Fascist?' — their answer was that he was —<ref>{{cite news |title=Is Mr. Foot a Fascist? |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=2 December 1975}}</ref> after [[Norman Tebbit]] accused him of 'undiluted fascism' when Foot said that the [[Ferrybridge Six]] deserved dismissal for defying a [[closed shop]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Spectator Volume 237, Part 2 |year=1976 |publisher=F.C. Westley |location=London |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=e6ukTcCYC9S1hAewzrDfCQ }}</ref>