Some reflections on a televised discussion between Eric Heffer and William Rodgers (1980)

This discussion, first broadcast on Thames Television in June 1980, and now available on YouTube, is remarkable. Relationships in the Labour Party were often described during this period as approaching 'civil war.' Yet, Eric Heffer, a prominent MP from the 'Bennite' left of the Party, and William Rodgers, who was to defect from the Labour Party the following year to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP), with Roy Jenkins, David Owen, and Shirley Williams. The discussion is extremely civil, with an absence of rancour and raised voices, logical, coherent argument, and complex sentence structures, with an absence of 'sound bites.' (At one point, Heffer goes out of his way to praise Shirley Williams). At the end of the discussion, the interviewer, or chair, assserts that he was rather superfluous.

Compare and contrast with the belligerent character of contemporary televised political discussions and the ridiculous phenomenon of 'superstar' political interviewers.