What’s the first political memory you have?

[ThisPlumShark]

Tony blair

Jim Callaghan losing a vote of no confidence which was what lead to the 1979 General Election. Although I can remember seeing newspaper headlines about Jeremy Thorpe earlier in the 70s but I don't think I knew all the details of the scandal, just that he was the Liberal leader and he was up shit creek!

Probably the Miner's Strike. I remember seeing a a load of blokes facing off police on horses on the telly. I didn't know too much about what went on, until I saw the Orgreave documentary more recently on Netflix.

My Dad telling us that Conservatives were not the party of ordinary people and that we should grow up to be Labour voters.

Unfortunately, Thatcher arrived on the scene as party leader quite soon after this and convinced him and millions of others that her policies were way to go if you were a not esp well off middle class person.

My bro and I stuck with Labour 😀

In 1989 I came home from school and asked where my dad was and her answer was "he's gone to Berlin to get you a piece of wall". I didn't really get it all, but I stil have the piece of wall.

The following year though, I recallthe dying days of Margaret Thatcher's premiership.
A few days before she was persuaded to step down she went to Paris to see Mitterand (I think) and anyway there was a scene with John Sargeant in a very warm looking hat (it was snowing) waiting for her to come out and whoever was in the studio had to point out to him that she was coming out just behind him. I remember that surprisingly vividly.

for years before that I remember my parents (both teachers) ranting about her on an almost daily basis

Being taught the difference between Thatcher and the Queen. One had blonde hair, the other brown.

Then being part of a school protest against free milk being cancelled, marching around the playground with a banner.

Then Scargill, Kinnock, the Miners' Strike. The Falklands War.

The miners strike and the power cuts in the early-mid 1970s.

The day after the 1992 election, which Labour were expected to win but didn’t. I remember my parents being really depressed.

I too remember the power cuts of the 1970s and the smell of the oil lamps we used. Other than that my first strong memory of a political figure was Denis Healey’s eyebrows. I was fascinated. Never seen anything like them.

Poll tax riots. I was ten and found it quite frightening.

The Omagh Bombing. My da explaining the Good Friday Agreement in depth and how it was supposed to stop these things and that's why it was a Bigger Deal than all the other bombs that had washed over me.

The miners strike, as a teenager it bored me rigid. As an adult I realised how devastating it was for their communities.

Riding on someone's shoulders at an anti Vietnam march. I was wearing purple cords and carrying a sign. I was allowed to choose some protest buttons from a yellow bucket because it matched my shirt... I don't remember the shirt. It was really hot and I can smell the molten tarmac and weed.

I would have been about 4.

The IRA bombings.

Along similar lines I used to think that ‘president’ was the word for a male leader (so Ronald Reagan) and that ‘prime minister’ was the word for a female leader (Margaret Thatcher). It was only when John Major became prime minister when I was around 10 I realised this wasn’t the case!

The house opposite ours having an enormous poster of Edward Heath in their front garden. (Must have been 1970 and it reappeared in 1974)

My first political memory is weirdly from when Idi Amin kicked the Asians out of Uganda and a lot of them came to Britain. Apparently this was 1972. I don't know whether a teacher told us about it, possibly because some children would be joining our school, but my memory is of sitting in class in Junior school and feeling proud that our country was able to welcome these poor people, and also feeling proud that we had a free school and health system available to us and them.

I also remember the power cuts of the early 70s as we were very lucky to have a gas fire in the lounge and a totally gas cooker.

Not my first memory politically, but I remember thinking "shit, I will now be over 30 before I vote successfully for a Labour govt"

My father (military/pro Thatcher) and my Grandmother arguing about the miner's strike. My mum used to have to send her youngest brother money sneakily whilst he was striking.

Three Day Week 1973-4

The 3 day weeks, the strikes, and the shortages of bread and sugar. The rubbish piled up in the streets. The power cuts. The walk outs and striking at British Leyland which affected most workers around where I then lived.

The Vietnamese boat people.
Power cuts.
Mike Yarwood doing Harold Wilson and Denis Healey.

Power cuts and the 3 day week in the early 70s. I have vague memories of seeing Edward Heath speaking on the television news and rather clearer ones of my siblings and I being sent home from school and candlelit evenings playing board games . I was about 6 or 7 I think.

BitOutOfPractice. Yes the three day week with the shops in darkness late afternoon. Agree with you as I too had a dad who always voted Labour. He said Churchill was just what we needed as a war time leader as he was a war monger. However, he said he was a shocking peace time leader. Attlee was the Labour leader who kept us fed, clothed and later his government gave us the NHS and pensions. Have always voted Labour.

Miner’s strike/Falklands conflict/Toxteth riots.