Stepping In

LIKE THE GUY who paces anxiously around the dance floor waiting for his opportunity to walz in the center, the Alliance Party in Britain has been prowling the periphery of British politics for two years, hoping to come between the standard Labour and Conservative Party couple. This week the Alliance--a fusion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party--may finally have gotten up the nerve to cut in.

The new courage stems from Labour's biggest single election disaster in recent history and to the general confusion that has plagued Her Majesty's Opposition in the four years since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher led her Tories back into 10 Downing St. Since the Thatcher victory, Labour has experienced both intranecine warfare and wavering leadership from its standard-bearer, Michael Foot. And in a South London parliamentary election Monday, that disorder left its mark. Bermondsey, an urban working-class district held by Labour for the last 60 years, fell instead to the Alliance candidate by a whopping 38 percent in a special election, when Simon Hughes, a 31-year-old lawyer, thrashed Peter Thatchell, a brash Australian expatriate noted for radical stands.

While the full ramifications of the victory will remain hazy until Thatcher calls general elections in the summer or early fall, the infant Alliance has definitely taken a big step towards its goal of supplanting Labour as the chief opposition party. After the election returns were announced, a London Times poll found that the Alliance had moved ahead of Labour into second place behind the Conservatives in public opinion (39 to 34 to 26 percent). With the general election so close, Labour officials may well be running scared.

Only two years old, the Alliance lacks the political machinery of the two more established parties and has beaten the Conservatives in only three contests so far. But in its short life it has established itself as a moderate faction between the Conservative and Labour extremes, maintaining liberal positions on domestic and foreign affairs and walking the thin line between Labour's increased spending for jobs and the Conservatives' tax cutting. It could gain even more ground if Labour continues its drift toward the far left and if the increasingly unpopular Foot remains at his party's helm.

ANALYSTS SHOULD PAUSE, however, before heralding the rise of a new power. The Alliance's Bermondsey upset can too easily be pinned on that election's idiosyncracies, notably the abrasive personality and campaign of Labour candidate Thatchell. Securing the nomination through the support of radical leaders in the local council. Thatchell loudly backed radical socialism, gay rights, and extraparliamentary opposition to the government; his opponents responded with death threats and allegations about his sexual preferences. In the wake of all the vitriol, Labour leaders preferred, understandably, to attribute the defeat to the "Thatchell Factor" rather than to any lapse in public confidence.

The future of Labour, and therefore of the Alliance, depends much more heavily on what the 69-year-old Foot does next. In his years as Labour leader, Foot has had to contend with splits within the party, attempting to satisfy both the radical faction-- led by the flamboyant Anthony Benn--and the more moderate group headed by former Exchequer Chancellor Dennis Healey. The balancing act has not produced a coherent opposition to Thatcher, but, rather, seems to have wedded Foot to the most awkward and alienating position on every recent issue, from his vocal support of striking unions this summer to his wavering over the Falklands expedition. Added to the Bermondsey election debacle, these persistent problems have prompted some Labour Party leaders to urge Foot to hand the mantle to Healey, leaving the party time to rebuild before the general elections.

Foot has refused to leave and will probably have one more chance to redeem himself--with no Thatchell excuses possible--in another special election in Darlington on March 24. A Labour loss in that contest will indicate real dissatisfaction with Labour and with Foot, and consequently solidify the Alliance's position as the number one opposition party to Thatcher.

Even if Foot steps down--and there is no guarantee he will be convinced to--Healey could fail to pull the disjointed party together. In either case; Labour would find itself unable to provide the viable opposition to Thatcherism which--as hostile election results show--the British still want. Free of Labour's union dominance or the Conservatives' failing European supply-side economic policies, the two forces that allied in 1981--the Liberals and the Social Democrats--could offer a fresh alternative.