MYTH: Labour lost the 1983 election because it was too left wingBut Labour didn’t lose in 1983 because it was too left wing; rather, Thatcher won because of the Falklands War. She dominated the 1983 election campaign – ‘The issue is Thatcher,’ declared the Economist; ‘Now is the hour. The Falklands War took place against the background of an economy that had begun to recover from a sharp, self-inflicted recession. It might be objected that Labour’s 1983 manifesto contained many left policies, and that Labour lost support between its publication and the ballot. The insistence that Labour lost the 1983 election because it was too left-wing ignores the facts and the context.