Although Thatcher had won another landslide, Labour regained sufficient seats for Kinnock to remain Leader of the Opposition following the election.

[11] Following Labour's defeat at the 1979 general election, James Callaghan appointed Kinnock to the Shadow cabinet as education spokesman.

His ambition was noted by other MPs, and David Owen's opposition to the changes to the electoral college was thought to be motivated by the realisation that they would favour Kinnock's succession.

Kinnock remained as education spokesman following the resignation of Callaghan as Leader of the Labour Party and the election of Michael Foot as his successor in late 1980.

In 1981, while still serving as Labour's education spokesman, Kinnock was alleged to have effectively scuppered Tony Benn's attempt to replace Denis Healey as Labour's Deputy Leader by first supporting the candidacy of the more traditionalist Tribunite John Silkin and then urging Silkin supporters to abstain on the second, run-off, ballot.

Kinnock was determined to move the party's political standing to a more centrist position, in order to improve its chances of winning a future general election.

[13] Although Kinnock had come from the Tribune left wing of the party, he parted company with many of his former allies following his appointment to the Shadow Cabinet.

On a broader perspective, the traditional Labour voter was disappearing[citation needed] in the face of de-industrialisation that the Conservative government had accepted since 1979.

[citation needed] Kinnock focused on modernising the party, and upgrading its technical skills such as use of the media and keeping track of voters, while at the same time battling the Militants.

These actions meant that Kinnock had made plenty of enemies on the left wing of the party by the time he was elected as leader, though a substantial number of former Bennites gave him strong support.

Kinnock supported the aim of the strike – which he dubbed the "case for coal" – but, as an MP from a mining area, was bitterly critical of the tactics employed.

[18] The strike's defeat early in the year,[19] and the bad publicity associated with the entryism practised by the Trotskyist Militant group were the immediate context for the 1985 Labour Party conference.

Labour suffered from a persistent image of extremism, especially as Kinnock's campaign to root out Militant dragged on as figures on the hard left of the party tried to stop its progress.

As a result, Labour faced the 1987 general election in some danger of finishing third in the popular vote, with the Conservatives once again expected to secure a comfortable victory.

[26] Mandelson and his team had revolutionised Labour's communications – a transformation symbolised by a party election broadcast popularly known as "Kinnock: The Movie".

[27] This was directed by Hugh Hudson and featured Kinnock's 1985 conference speech, and shots of him and his wife Glenys walking on the Great Orme in Llandudno (so emphasising his appeal as a family man and associating him with images of Wales away from the coal mining communities where he grew up), and a speech to that year's Welsh Labour Party conference asking why he was the "first Kinnock in a thousand generations" to go to university.

This began with an exercise dubbed the policy review, the most high-profile aspect of which was a series of consultations with the public known as "Labour Listens" in the autumn of 1987.

A new Prime Minister and the fact that Kinnock was now the longest-serving current leader of a major party reduced the impact of calls for "Time for a Change".

It came as a shock to many when the Conservatives won a majority, but the 'triumphalism' perceived by some observers of a Labour Party rally in Sheffield (together with Kinnock's performance on the podium) may have helped put floating voters off.

[47][48] In an essay exploring why Kinnock never became Prime Minister, Steve Richards notes that the impact of the rally on the 1992 election "acquired a mythological status as fatal event" after Labour's defeat.

[57] Kinnock was appointed one of the UK's two members of the European Commission, which he served first as Transport Commissioner under President Jacques Santer, in early 1995; marking the end of his 25 years in the House of Commons.

In 1977, he had remained in the House of Commons, with Dennis Skinner, while other MPs walked to the Lords to hear the Queen's speech opening the new parliament.

Kinnock explained his change of attitude, despite the continuing presence of ninety hereditary peers and appointment by patronage, by asserting that the Lords was a good base for campaigning.

[62] On assuming his seat, he stated: "I accepted the kind invitation to enter the House of Lords as a working peer for practical political reasons."

When his peerage was first announced, he said: "It will give me the opportunity ... to contribute to the national debate on issues like higher education, research, Europe and foreign policy."

He later clarified that he supports devolution in principle, but found the proposed settlement at the time as failing to address the economic disparities in the UK, particularly following the closure of coal mines in Wales.

In 2018, Kinnock stated, "The truth is that we can either take the increasingly plain risks and costs of leaving the EU or have the stability, growth and revenues vital for crucial public services like the NHS and social care.

Previously living together in Peterston-super-Ely, a village near the western outskirts of Cardiff, in 2008 they relocated to Tufnell Park, London, to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren.

[74] He is also a follower of rugby union and supports London Welsh RFC at club level, regularly attending Wales games.

[75] He was portrayed by both Chris Barrie and Steve Coogan in the satirical TV programme Spitting Image, and by Euan Cuthbertson in the Scottish film In Search of La Che.