Yes he was, but like Roy Jenkins he didn't quite manage to connect with the man in the street. Denis Healey would have made a far better leader, and though I doubt Labour could have won the 1983 General Election with him they might well have won in 1987 or 1992.

@@stevebbuk micheal was the best a player last of the great orators long before the age of the tweet

@@davidwagstaff2066 Yes he was David but times had moved on and oratory gave way to the soundbite to some extent. He couldn't quite encapsulate Labour Party policy succinctly, and of course without a Prices and Incomes Policy negotiated he left the electorate fearful of the inflation we experienced in the 1970s.

@@stevebbuk Well also by the early 1980s, unilateralism and EEC withdrawal were vote losers. It didn't really matter how well they were articulated. Wonderful kind cultured man though, and 'Guilty Men' deserves a mention