politics

[beenee]

What are origins of Right and Left wing?

[Quizmonster]

The words 'left' and 'right' in politics come from the French Parliament, known as the Estates General. There, the nobility sat on the King's right-hand side and the rest on his left. The nobles, of course, wanted things to go on just as they always had...ie they were 'conservative'. The others wanted change...more fairness in wealth, ownership etc. Nowadays, the same idea applies to modern governments. In the UK, the Conservative Party is right-wing and the New Labour Party is left-wing; in the USA, the Republicans are right-wing and the Democrats are left-wing.

[RCP]

Quizmonster - New Labour rescinded their left wing policies in order to get elected!

[Quizmonster]

RCP, I believe they refer to themselves as "a party of the Centre Left", so the word, at least, is still in there! In any case, their change was hardly as - What shall we say? - "dramatic" as the one whereby the other major party recently became, overnight, "carers for the vulnerable" rather than the one for whom there was "no such thing as society"!