(5 of 5)
Putting the alliance into practice will be difficult. The two parties will have to decide which will field the candidates in the promising constituencies in the next election and figure out how to make their policies compatible. Next day, for example, the Liberals voted to bar nuclear weapons from British soil—a unilateralist position the S.D.P. strongly opposes. Asked if the alliance could work together in an election if it were divided on an issue as important as defense, Williams said: "We could not campaign on the [Liberal] policy, but I believe that a compromise will be agreed upon." Liberal Party Leader David Steel, in fact, promptly disavowed the vote against the nuclear weapons.
The Social Democrats were delighted with the week's developments. Marveled the S.D.P.'s Rodgers: "Nobody six months ago would have believed this possible. Now we have an alliance with every expectation—and certainly the intention—of forming the next government."
Thatcher's obdurate policies and the threat from Labor's radical left clearly benefit the Social Democratic—Liberal alliance. But there is still time for the economy to respond to the Iron Lady's will, still time for the shattered Labor Party to find its way back to the path of responsible moderation. As last week so clearly showed, the battle for Britain is just beginning. —By Marguerite Johnson. Reported by Bonnie Angela/London