Nicholas Bridgestock

Nicholas Bridgestock (October 30, 1926- March 25, 1992) was a former Labour Party policy advisor, public relations director and spokesman, serving under the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. He is noteworthy for causing the Bridgestock Controversy of 1978, which saw him expelled and isolated from the Labour Party for a secret pact he made with Labour left wingers and trade union leaders to attempt a socialist revolution in the United Kingdom, igniting Winter of Discontent as a deliberate attempt to do so.
Born in South Shields in 1926, Bridgestock attended grammar school and then read politics at Kings College, Cambridge graduating in 1947, he got married to Lucy Smith in 1949 and had two children. Particularly found of the idea of revolution and socialism, he was deeply inspired by Mao Zedong and his takeover in China in 1949 and 1950 Bridgestock joined the Labour Party. Having failed three local election candidacy's and one national in the 1955 General Election, Bridgestock worked hard to gain a role in the Party structure and succeeded in becoming an advisor by 1957 and in 1972 secretly associated himself with the Militant Tendency, who pushed him to advance through the party as a secret representative and plot a revolution. Although publicly, he distanced himself from the group and pretended to look more moderate.
Controversy
It was following the 2nd election of 1974 Harold Wilson's Labour party was returned to government defeating Edward Heath for the 2nd time, Bridgestock was promoted to a chief policy advisor and retained his position onwards into the government of James Callaghan. Advocating socialist policies, Bridgestock urged Harold Wilson to immediately repeal the Industrial Relations Act 1971 to restore trade union power, and then persuaded chancellor Dennis Healy to raise income tax in order to control inflation.
In 1978, Bridgestock met secretly with TUC leaders and urged them that the government would continue to issue them payrises despite rocketing inflation; this was done behind the back of Dennis Healy and James Callaghan, he urged them to continue to demand pay rises and that the government would easily buckle in to their demands and thus cause major unrest. the Militant Tendency believed that if the Unions could be enticed into major strikes and disorder through increased expectation, then the United Kingdom would fall into a Socialist revolution and ultimately remove the current system. In order to anger the Unions, he urged James Callaghan to implement a pay freeze to control inflation. Soon enough, a series of strikes followed and the Winter of Discontent began, effectively bringing down the government leading to the election of Margaret Thatcher and not the intended revolution he wished to create.
It was following the 1979 General Election that Bridgestock's secret pact with the Trade Unions was revealed to former Labour Cabinet ministers by an anonymous union official. Bridgestock was accused by the Labour Party of working against the interests of the government and his association with the Militant tendency was revealed. He was blamed as a key factor in causing the winter of discontent and expelled from the Labour Party as a consequence.
Death
Bridgestock spent the rest of his life working as a teacher and lecturer, studying particularly the History of the People's Republic of China and the USSR. He spoke little of the controversy which lost him his political career and aimed to distance himself from his former links within the party. He later supported Neil Kinnock's attempts to remove the Militant Tendency, believing them to have been a bad influence on himself. Nevertheless, he supported the tendency's effort in fighting the Poll tax in 1990.
After suffering a heart attack in his home in Orpington; Nicholas Bridgestock died on March 25, 1992.

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