Paper of The 'soft Left'
Mullin left in 1984, with circulation at around 6,000 (at which level it roughly remained for the next 10 years). He was replaced by his equally Bennite protege Nigel Williamson (editor 1984-87), who surprised everyone by arguing for a 'realignment of the left' and took the paper into the 'soft left' camp, supporting Kinnock, a long-time Tribune contributor and onetime board member, as Labour leader against the Bennites. The next two editors, Phil Kelly (editor 1987-91), and Paul Anderson (editor 1991-93), took much the same line though both clashed with Kinnock, particularly over his decision to abandon Labour's non-nuclear defence policy.
Under Kelly, Tribune supported John Prescott's challenge to Roy Hattersley as Labour Deputy leader in 1988 and came close to going bust, a fate averted by an emergency appeal launched by a front page exclaiming "Don't let this be the last issue of Tribune". Under Anderson, the paper took a strongly pro-European stance, supported electoral reform and argued for military intervention against Serbian aggression in Croatia and Bosnia. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Tribune acted as a clearing house for arguments inside the Labour Party, with contributions from all major players.
Read more about this topic: Tribune (magazine)
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