Dancing through the Winter of Discontent (1978–79)
“Now is the winter of our discontent.”
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, opens Shakespeare’s Richard III
At the end of 1978, the UK’s Labour government had just one year left in power before it was obliged to call a General Election. The party remained ahead in the polls, and Prime Minister James “Jim” Callaghan felt no need to call an early vote.
However, as temperatures plummeted the UK was hit by a series of strikes by workers protesting against pay that no longer covered the cost of living.
Known as the Winter of Discontent, this wave of strike action would topple the Labour government and enable Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives to gain power.
What did it sound like to live through the grim Winter of Discontent?
While the country froze, our spirits blazed to disco and new wave. Here are key events from that period, soundtracked by the hits you’d hear on Radio 1, in discos, pubs and clubs:
MacArthur Park — Donna Summer (Oct 1978)
The UK experienced a huge spike in inflation during the ’70s, reaching a peak of 24% in 1975.
In a bid to control inflation, Callaghan imposed limits on public sector pay rises, capping them at 5% in 1978. He asked the private sector to follow suit.
The Labour Party maintains close links with trade unions, the origin of the party. However, following years of stagnating wages and an ever-increasing cost of living, the TUC (Trade Unions Congress) voted against Callaghan’s 5% pay cap. Such limited pay growth was unsustainable, the TUC warned, and would lead to walkouts by their members.
With the threat of strikes looming, unions urged Callaghan to call an early General Election to lessen the damage to the country and to Labour. But the Prime Minister refused.
Meanwhile 57,000 workers at car company Ford rejected a 5% pay offer and went on strike. The Winter of Discontent was about to begin.
While that political storm was brewing, a world away Donna Summer was recording a disco version of a song that had been an unlikely hit for Irish actor Richard Harris a decade earlier.
Working with producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, Summer transformed MacArthur Park into a glorious eight-minute disco epic, complete with soaring vocals and the immortal line: “Someone left my cake out in the rain.”
MacArthur Park kickstarted Summer’s next stellar run of hits, reaching number five in the UK singles chart and securing her first Billboard number one in the US.
I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper — Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip (Nov 1978)
By November 1978, 1.5 million people in the UK were unemployed. The Conservatives drew attention to this in a hard-hitting ad campaign, stating: “Labour Isn’t Working.”
Nevertheless opinion polls still gave Labour a 5 percentage point lead over the Tories, and the government defeated a no-confidence vote in Parliament — thanks to the Ulster Unionists agreeing to abstain.
However, the strikes at Ford were beginning to bite, preventing the production of 115,000 vehicles and costing Ford an estimated £700m.
To end those strikes, Ford managers defied government policy and offered their workers a pay rise above the recommended 5%. Ford workers would eventually settle for a 17% rise.
The victory of the Ford workers left Callaghan’s pay cap in tatters. It also inspired people across UK to consider withholding their own labour in the hope of securing better pay.
Away from the picket line, two movies released late in 1977 continued to dominate the box office in 1978: the original Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever.
I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper fused them both together into a sci-fi disco floorfiller. It was first performed on ITV’s Kenny Everett Video Show by his in-house dancers Hot Gossip, a raunchier version of Top Of The Pops dance troupe Pan’s People.
Fronted by 18-year-old Sarah Brightman in a silver catsuit, the single shot up to number six in the UK chart. It also helped launch Brightman’s glittering career as a lead performer in West End and Broadway musicals including Cats and Phantom of the Opera.
Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord — Boney M (Dec 1978)
By December 1978, Britain had begun its slow grind to a halt.
Workers across the UK were backing up pay rise requests with the threat of industrial action, including oil tanker drivers who wanted a 40% rise.
The government considered enlisting the Army’s help, to maintain essential services such as food deliveries during the winter. But this would require it to declare a national State of Emergency, so the threat was never fulfilled.
Britain experienced its coldest winter in 16 years, and snowfall was frequent and heavy. Some roads became impassible because snow couldn’t be cleared, with local councils blaming staff shortages and union disputes.
The oil tanker drivers’ strike had limited the UK’s supply of oil, making it difficult to fill your car with petrol or heat your home.
It was a grim picture across the UK, with no guarantee of a happy new year.
There was brief respite during Christmas 1978, when temperatures temporarily rose above 10 degrees celsius.
This coincided with pop disco crossover act Boney M taking their cover of Mary’s Boy Child to number one. Often unfairly dismissed as a novelty act, Boney M were assembled by German producer Frank Farian to introduce disco beats to pop charts around the world.
They succeeded in a big way — Mary’s Boy Child was Boney M’s seventh consecutive UK hit. It mashed up Harry Belafonte’s 1956 Christmas classic with new song Oh My Lord, a plea many of us would make as we warily stepped out into an icy 1979.
I Was Made For Dancin’ — Leif Garrett (Jan 1979)
The UK’s weather woes did not affect its Prime Minister, however. Jim Callaghan began 1979 by flying to a summit in the Caribbean then taking a holiday in gloriously sunny Barbados.
On Callaghan’s return, a reporter asked him: “What is your general approach and view of the mounting chaos in the country at the moment?”
He dismissed any concerns.
“I think you’re taking a rather parochial view. I don’t think other people in the world would share the view that there’s mounting chaos.”
Jim Callaghan, Labour Prime Minister
This was seized upon as evidence that Callaghan was out of touch. The Sun newspaper ran photos of Callaghan’s beach holiday alongside the headline: “Crisis? What Crisis?”
By mid-January, lorry drivers were the latest workers to strike — once again risking the movement of food into and out of the UK.
Conservatives accused union members of being increasingly militant, with non-striking drivers allegedly being prevented from crossing picket lines and “flying pickets” joining industrial action at other workplaces.
The road haulage strike lasted six weeks and secured drivers a 20% pay rise. However, many lorry drivers would lose their jobs in the years that followed, and many haulage firms would go out of business.
Meanwhile in the world of music, escapism had more appeal than ever.
US teen idol Leif Garrett introduced himself to the UK with I Was Made For Dancin’. This disco-influenced track rose to number four in the singles chart, becoming his biggest and best known hit.
Oliver’s Army — Elvis Costello & the Attractions (10 Feb 1979)
At the end of January 1979, public sector workers held a united day of strike action, taking their pay claims directly to the government.
Teachers, railway workers and hospital staff were among those taking part, and some hospitals were reduced to offering an emergency service only.
At the time it was widely recognised that grave diggers in Liverpool were poorly paid and worked under poor conditions. But when the grave diggers also took part in industrial action, it led to a tabloid outcry. The Daily Mail protested: “They won’t even let us bury our dead.”
Public support for unions and the government was draining away. Opinion polls now gave the Conservatives a 7.5 percentage point lead over Labour, and their popular appeal was continuing to grow.
At this time Margaret Thatcher directly criticised “left wing militants” within the trade union movement. Labour had given them the power to “strangle the country”, she told the nation during a party political broadcast.
“Unlike the Prime Minister, we do not go around supporting strikes when we’re in opposition.”
Margaret Thatcher, Conservative leader
While political change was brewing in the UK, Elvis Costello and the Attractions released a protest song which would go on to become their biggest hit.
Oliver’s Army was a deceptively upbeat new wave track with hidden lyrical bite. Inspired by the Troubles in Northern Ireland, it developed into a song about working class boy soldiers everywhere.
Costello later said: “It wasn’t supposed to read like a coherent political argument. It was pop music.”
Lucky Number — Lene Lovich (17 Feb 1979)
As the Winter of Discontent dragged on, school caretakers and the drivers of gritting lorries launched their own industrial action in February 1979.
But it was a strike by refuse collectors that came to symbolise the complete breakdown of UK public services.
Local councils rapidly ran out of storage space as the binmen continued to strike, so rubbish was left in open public spaces instead. Piled high with uncollected bags of rubbish, London’s Leicester Square was nicknamed “Fester Square”.
As rodents scurried through the mountains of waste, an Evening Standard front page summed it up: “Rats on the town!”
If you took shelter in a Soho bar, within no time at all you’d hear Lucky Number by flamboyant new wave artist Lene Lovich.
Having written the lyrics to Cerrone’s 1977 synth masterpiece Supernature, Lovich was now a solo performer on indie label Stiff Records. Lucky Number was originally the b-side to her cover of I Think We’re Alone Now (which Tiffany would turn into a giant hit eight years later) before being flipped over as the lead track.
Its ridiculously catchy chorus consists of just four notes sung in quick succession. Lovich later explained: “I didn’t know anything about writing a song, so [the producer] just threw together a vocal line that sounded like a synthesiser.”
Fresh, quirky and unforgettable (no matter how hard you try) Lucky Number became a new wave smash hit, reaching number 3 in the UK.
Glorious summer?
Unfortunately the numbers were no longer lucky for Prime Minister Jim Callaghan. As a minority government, Labour relied upon their political allies to remain in power.
In March 1979, referendums were held on the idea of devolving power to Scotland and Wales. Wales voted against devolution while Scotland voted narrowly in favour — but short of the agreed 40% threshold. When the government decided not to press ahead with devolution, Scottish nationalists withdrew their support for Labour, making an imminent General Election unavoidable.
By the end of the month Thatcher put in a Motion of No Confidence in the government, and this time Labour lost the vote. The General Election would be held two months later.
The 1979 Conservative election campaign highlighted the misery, inconvenience and uncertainty of months of UK-wide industrial action.
On 4 May, Thatcher deposed Callaghan as Prime Minister, a position she would go on to hold for 11 years.
During that time she drastically limited the power of trade unions, in a bid to prevent another Winter of Discontent.
But 45 years on, we now face a second consecutive winter of strikes across the UK.
Despite some progress, a number of pay disputes remain unresolved — including rail workers, junior doctors, bus drivers and college lecturers.
As 2023 draws to a close, the Conservative government has just one year left in power before it is obliged to call a General Election.
Time is running out. And the temperature is falling.
- Hear the hits above plus many more on Spotify playlist Winter of Discontent 1978–79: Chart Hits
- Away from the charts, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have collected the best of the UK’s DIY scene during that period on this magnificent compilation album.
