The comments made by James Callaghan, the former Prime Minister, in 1987.
Michael Foot, who succeeded me as Leader, inherited a bed of nails and was never given a fair chance. It was deeply disappointing that shortly after my resignation some prominent former members of the Labour Cabinet should have deserted to form the Social Democratic Party instead of remaining to fight the battle against the unrealistic and often malignant factions which plagued the Labour Party at that time. This made Michael’s task doubly difficult. His resignation after the 1983 election bought a new generation to the fore and the vigorous leadership of Neil Kinnock, Roy Hattersley and others met the Militant faction head on and defeated them, thus strengthening the Party’s prospects for victory at the next election.