The longest suicide note in history

"The longest suicide note in history" is an epithet originally used by United Kingdom Labour MP Gerald Kaufman[1] to describe his party's 1983 general election manifesto, which emphasised socialist policies in a more profound manner than previous such documents—and which Kaufman felt would ensure that the Labour Party (then in opposition) would fail to win the election.

Labour leader Michael Foot decided as a statement on internal democracy that the manifesto would consist of all resolutions arrived at in its party conference.

[4] The defeat, Labour's worst result since the 1918 general election, led to a turning point in the history of the party: Foot retired as leader and it subsequently moved towards the centre under the leaderships of Neil Kinnock and John Smith.

"[7] Neoconservative writer David Frum compared The Path to Prosperity, proposed by congressman Paul Ryan, in a similar light, saying: "This is how a great political party was impelled to base a presidential campaign on the Ryan plan—a plan that has now replaced the 1983 manifesto of the British Labour Party as "the longest suicide note in history.

"[8] Labour's decision in 2015 to engrave promises for the upcoming election on a large stone monument nicknamed the "EdStone" (after leader Ed Miliband) was within hours dubbed the "heaviest suicide note in history".