Labour Party

The Labour Party is presented through Emma Morley’s tentative consideration of joining it, rather than through any formal role she plays in the organization. Its presence in her life is personal and unresolved: she is drawn to the perceived steadiness of its leader, John Smith, while questioning whether her older political commitments still fit her understanding of the world.

Emma’s interest in joining

As she listens to the news, Emma considers looking into Labour Party membership. She likes John Smith, whom she regards as headmasterly and wise, and his name seems to her to suggest solid, man-of-the-people principles. The attraction is not framed as a settled political commitment; it is a possibility she reminds herself to investigate.

That possibility gains force from a contrast with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, whose aims Emma still sympathizes with even though her membership has lapsed. Its demand for multilateral disarmament has begun to seem naïve to her, like a demand for universal kindness. Labour therefore enters her thoughts at a moment when she is reassessing how political ideals relate to the complicated choices and conflicts reported in the news.

John Smith’s death and the party in the news

Later, the clock radio reports that John Smith has died and describes his memorial service at Westminster Abbey. The tributes are respectful and cross-party, and the report includes the phrase “the greatest Prime Minister we never had” alongside speculation about who will replace him. The party is thus shown through both its leader’s public standing and the succession that follows his death.

The news prompts Emma once again to consider joining Labour, now that her Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament membership has long since lapsed. The episode establishes an association between the party and her search for a more durable political allegiance, but it does not say that she acts on the thought or becomes a member.