At the 1987 general election, Kinnock was placed front and centre of the Labour campaign, leading to claims that it was almost presidential.

Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party, seven points ahead in the polls, won the election despite a 1.2% swing to Labour.

The 63-year-old Benn had lost his seat in Labour's disastrous performance at the 1983 general election, only to return to parliament within a year after winning the Chesterfield by-election.

Benn's supporters had hoped that by launching the leadership challenge that others would step forward and increase the number of candidates involved.

[5] But there was not full support on the left of the party, with David Blunkett saying that the result of a challenge would certainly be defeat for any candidate, and would give Kinnock an air of "omnipotence" with victory.

[8] Following the announcement of the challenge, there was some dissent from parts of the left within the party with Clare Short describing it as a "waste of time".

In May, Kinnock postponed any decision for a year, which Benn called a "backwards step" and Dennis Skinner described as "probably the biggest socialist sell-out of the century".

[15] In an attempt to take the party back to socialism, Benn threatened that defeat would not be the end, and he would see that a challenge would come on a yearly basis, even it was not by himself.

"[3] The ballot took place on 2 October 1988, at the opening session of the Labour Party annual conference in Blackpool.

[8] Kinnock's supporters were surprised by the size of their victory over Benn and the left of the party, although they expected a further leadership challenge in the following year.