The longest suicide note in history

"The longest suicide note in history" is an epithet originally used by United Kingdom Labour MP Gerald Kaufman to describe his party's 1983 General Election manifesto, which emphasised the socialist values and policies of the party and its leader Michael Foot.

39-page booklet

The New Hope for Britain was a 39-page booklet which called for unilateral nuclear disarmament, higher personal taxation for the rich, withdrawal from the European Economic Community, abolition of the House of Lords and the re-nationalisation of recently privatised industries like British Telecom, British Aerospace, and the British Shipbuilders Corporation. The manifesto was based on an earlier and much longer policy paper with a similar title, Labour's Plan: the New Hope for Britain.

The epithet referred not only to the orientation of the policies, but also to their marketing. Labour leader Michael Foot decided as a statement on internal democracy that the manifesto would consist of all resolutions arrived at the Labour Party conference.

The document's more left-wing policies, along with the popularity gained by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Falklands War and the division of the opposition vote between the left-wing Labour Party and the centre-left Social Democratic Party – Liberal Alliance, contributed to a victory with a substantial majority in Parliament for the incumbent right-wing Conservative Party.

Turning point

The defeat led to a turning point in the history of the party, which thereafter gradually moved to the centre under the leadership of Neil Kinnock and, under the leadership of Tony Blair presented itself as New Labour and a Third Way, leading to a landslide victory in the May 1997 General Election.

"The heaviest suicide note in history"

Labour's decision in 2015 to engrave promises for the upcoming election on a large stone monument nicknamed the "EdStone" was within hours dubbed "The heaviest suicide note in history".