HE was leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.

Welshman Neil Kinnock was also an MP from 1970 to 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn.

Labour were defeated four consecutive times up to the 1992 general election when he resigned.

He later became a European Union Commissioner and head of the British Council, and is now a life peer despite being a long-term critic of the House of Lords.

Mr Kinnock is pictured here holding a very old-fashioned looking mobile phone in Brighton in 1987.

It is a far cry from the smartphones of today.

He is also pictured dancing in a group on stage at the same event, while a lady plays the guitar, and again holding a baby.

Again on the same day, the press cameras are out as Mr Kinnock stands at a table with others.

David Blunkett was the Labour politician who represented the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency for 28 years until May 2015 when he stepped down at the general election.

He has been blind since birth, and comes from a poor family in one of Sheffield’s most deprived districts.

Despite this, he became Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary in Tony Blair’s Cabinet following the Labour victory in 1997.

He is pictured here in March of 1991 speaking with a gavel in his hand, and again in October of 1991 looking shocked with his hands covering his face.

He is also pictured with Gill Hayes on Brighton seafront in the 1980s holding bunches of balloons.

To see more of our fantastic pictures from yesteryear go to theargus.co.uk/photoarchive.