Badge, lapel badge

This badge was produced as part of the mass campaign to save the Greater London Council (GLC) from abolition in 1986. The GLC was created by the Greater London Government Act of 1963 and came into being in 1965. At the 1981 GLC election the Labour Party emerged victorious with Ken Livingstone becoming leader of the council.

A vocal opponent of Margaret Thatcher, Livingstone clashed with the national Conservative government on many occasions and was frequently attacked in the tabloid press. Under his leadership the GLC became renowned for promoting multi-culturalism, opposition to nuclear weapons, gender equality, gay rights and anti-racism.

The government succeeded in abolishing the GLC in 1986 with Conservative Party Chairman Norman Tebbit describing it as being 'at odds with the government's view of the world'. The decision left London without any form of municipal government for the first time since 1889. The end of the GLC was marked by a firework display on the South Bank of the Thames on 31 March 1986.