 After Labour's narrow loss in the 1981 election, Douglas found a growing audience in the parliamentary party for his view that Labour's established approach to economic policy was deficient.His colleague Mike Moore claimed that there was a public perception that Labour policy sought "to reward the lazy and defend bludgers".Douglas's case for a radical approach was strengthened by the belief among many of his parliamentary colleagues that the economy's deep-seated problems could only be solved by extensive restructuring.