BBC Parliament’s repeat today of the 1983 General Election results brings into sharp focus some of the arguments being put forward by some party members in response to our party’s current difficulties. If you want to know what happens when a party ignores the wider electorate, tune in to Sky channel 504.

Polly Toynbee is invariably referred to as one of the most influential commentators of the New Labour era, reviled and revered in equal measure.  This doyenne of the Left was formerly BBC social affairs editor and an associate editor of the Independent before rejoining the Guardian in 1998, where she had spent many years earlier in her career and where she still resides.  In this in depth interview with Polly - the first for many years - Chuka Umunna, editor of TMP (the online political magazine) and Compass management committee member, talks to Polly about life and her views.

It sounds like the title of a political book by J.K. Rowling. But it makes me wonder, how we turned from a party of immense euroscepticism, to one which Hagueites may try to paint as a 'Eurofanatic' party. The formation of the SDP began in 1971, when the rebellion against entering the EEC took place, and around 70 mp's rebelled against it. This leads me to a question of 'What if Healey had become leader in 1980?', because 6 mp's decided to vote for Foot, to make life in the SDP easier, had they not, Healey would have won. Would their still have been an SDP? Would people like Jenkins and Williams instead have turned to the Liberals? Would Owen have become a potential leader? But also, did euroscepticism save the party? Did it prevent the defections of people like Peter Shore? Basically, did it kill off Labour for a generation, or did it stop a bigger internal blow in '81-'83?