Unit 1: Political Parties - All the information you require

Political Parties

• Definition
• Characteristics
• Roles and Functions
• Ideologies
• Programmes, Policies and Manifestos
• Changing Party Images, Consulting Wider Opinion, Involvement of Non Party members (for example in focus groups)

Definition

“An organised and relatively disciplined group of people who freely combine together to advance a set of political attitudes and beliefs with a view to translating them via victory at a general election into government decisions or parliamentary legislation.”

Forman, Mastering British Politics, 1985

A political party is therefore voluntary, organised, possesses beliefs and translates these into policies or legislation. It also assumes that political parties have a set of core beliefs which may change slowly over time.

Characteristics

1. They are organisations which possess a relative degree of permanence.

2. They contest elections and seek to place members in positions of influence in the legislature.

3. They attempt to occupy key executive positions in the political system and if not then to exercise influence on the executive. (e.g. the opposition)

4. Parties hold distinctive labels and organisational structures which distinguish them from other political parties.

Roles and Functions

According to Mackenzie (British Political Parties, 1955) political parties fulfil a number of essential functions within the British system of government. These functions are as follows.

• A Governing Function

• An Opposition Function

• An Electoral Function

• A Policy Function

• A Representation Function

• A Participation Function

• A Communication Function

• An Organisation Function

Each of these functions requires some elaboration and exploration.

The Governing Function

Since (and including) 1945, there have been 18 general elections. In each of these, political parties have competed for the electorate’s mandate (or permission) to govern. In the British system of government a single party usually secures a mandate to become the single party of government. Since 1945, either theConservative Party or the Labour Party has formed the government and given the general level of bedrock support for these two main parties these are the only realistic contenders for office. Most of the other UK political parties seek to influence the government of the day and to secure parliamentary representation in the House of Commons in the form of seats gained.

The minimum number of seats required in order to form a majority government is 323 – 50% +1 seat over all other parties combined out of 646 seats. This gives the largest party a majority over all other parties in the House of Commons, though in practice any governing party will usually require a workable majority of about 40 seats.

In the 18 General Elections since the war there have been sixteen majority governments returned. The exceptions came in February 1974 when Labour obtained 301 seats, the Conservatives 297 and other parties 37 and in May 2010 when the Conservatives with 307 seats fell short of the required number of seats and joined a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.

An Opposition Function

The party which obtains the second largest number of seats in the House of Commons following a general election is termed the opposition (The official title is Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.) The function of the opposition is to oppose the government of the day and present alternative policies with which to persuade the electorate that it is ready to become the government. The opposition has a shadow cabinet, a team of ‘ministers’ ready to assume office if they win a general election. Watch this Clip of Harriet Harman opposing the coalition’s first Queens Speech.

The Electoral Function

During a general election the parties compete for seats on a constituency by constituency basis. This means that each of the 649 seats in the House of Commons represents a geographical area within the United Kingdom, termed a constituency. The electorate within the constituency choose between the candidates who have put themselves forward as prospective MPs (Members of Parliament). Candidates are usually adopted by the main political parties and put forward to contest the seat on behalf of the party. It is not unusual for candidates to put themselves forward as independents or fringe candidates but they are most unlikely to succeed.  An exception to this rule from the 1997 General Election is when a former BBC journalist Martin Bell stood in the Tatton Constituency Division of Cheshire and beat the incumbent MP Neil Hamilton. In 2001 Dr Richard Taylor successfully contested Wyre Forest under the slogan ‘Save Kidderminster Hospital”

When making a choice between the candidates the electorate rely heavily on the party label in making assumptions about that particular candidates politics. The major parties tend to contest all the seats although the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats do not field candidates in Northern Ireland.

A Policy Function

Political parties are organisations of principle and practice. They hold, though not always rigidly, a set of core assumptions about human nature and society and attempt to design and advance policies which reflect those core assumptions. However it is the realisation that policies must be popular as well as ideologically pure that forces parties to translate their core assumptions into policies which will have broad appeal. Only in 1945 and 1979, 1983 and 1987 have parties been able to translate those core assumptions into policies which have proved electorally popular with the creation of the welfare state under Attlee and the privatisation programmes of the Thatcher administrations. When a party pursues its core assumptions with vigour this is normally likely only to appeal to a narrow section of the electorate, insufficient to win a majority in parliament. The prime examples of this are the Conservatives in 2001 and the Labour Party in 1983. According to McKenzie it is necessary for political parties in a democracy to moderate their policies in order to appeal to as wide a section of the electorate as possible.

A Representation Function

The British system of government is sometimes referred to as a representative democracy. This means that political parties fulfil the function of representing the views and opinions of the electorate. A general election is held to be the simplest way of ascertaining the views of the electorate although sometimes and more frequently under new Labour, referenda, an instrument of direct democracy, have been employed to obtain a mandate for a specific, usually constitutional, measure. M.P.s as representative both of party and constituents are one means by which parties are able to fulfil this key function.

A Participation Function

According to Mackenzie political parties are also vehicles of participation in the political process. It is difficult to imagine becoming involved in formal politics without first obtaining membership of a political party. Many people involve themselves in politics by joining pressure groups or engaging in other forms of extra parliamentary activity, but the primary route to influence is through joining a political party and advancing one’s career within a political party.

A Communication Function

Political parties serve the vital function of listening to (sometimes!) and communicating with the electorate. This allows for the electorate to make an informed choice between the parties and candidates at elections. The function of communication with the electorate is met by a number of strategies including:

• leafleting at a local or constituency level
• press, television and radio interviews with major party figures up to and including the P.M.
• the use of print and billboard advertising
• the televising of party conferences
• the publication of the manifesto
• photo opportunities
• focus groups
• party election broadcasts and party political broadcasts

Parties are increasingly aware of the need for effective communication and public relations. This has lead to the development that in presenting policies parties are more concerned with style, image and presentation rather than with the substance of the policies. The accusation that new Labour uses too much spin comes from this.

An Organisation Function

As vehicles of mass participation political parties have several layers of internal organisation, sometimes called the party machine. The relative importance of each of these usually reflects the internal distribution of power within the party. The key to successfully fighting a general election is that the party is very well organised internally. This in itself however is no guarantee of electoral success.

Ideologies

Ideologies are a set of coherent beliefs which may explain current social, political and economic arrangements, justify them or offer a prescription for change. Over the decades the main political parties have struggled between maintaining their ideological identities and adapting them to changing circumstances. All political parties recognise the importance of retaining their core beliefs and identities but must also square these with what has the potential to appeal to the electorate. In his 1st conference speech as Leader of the Labour Party Tony Blair said that “…we must change or die…”

• The Conservative Party

For significant periods of modern British history it has been the dominant governing party, but it has also suffered divisions, defeats and spells in opposition.

The Conservatives adapted to the agenda set by the Attlee governments whilst in opposition during the 1945-1951 Labour governments, and overhauled both organisation and policy. As a result, between the late 1940s and the early 1970s the Conservatives accepted the pillars of the post-war ‘consensus’: the Welfare State, the public ownership of certain industries, government intervention in economic affairs, and partnership in industry between trade unions and employers. Although Churchill remained rather unenthusiastic, these policies enabled the Conservatives to regain power in 1951 and then to remain in office continuously until 1964.

To general surprise, Heath won the 1970 election and became Prime Minister. Despite his personal achievement in taking Britain into the Common market, the failures of the Heath ministry of 1970-1974 have been the catharsis of modern Conservatism. The reversals of policy, the failure to control inflation or contain the trade unions through legislation on industrial relations, and two defeats at the hands of the coal-miners led first to the fall of Heath and second to the rise and development of Thatcherism. After losing the two elections of February and October 1974, Heath was forced to hold a ballot for the Party leadership in February 1975 in which he was defeated by Margaret Thatcher.

In opposition during 1975-1979 the new leader developed a radical agenda founded upon the ‘free market’, rolling back government intervention and leaving as much as possible to individual initiative. This was the core of Thatcherism.

Andrew Gamble of Sheffield University identifies six core components of Thatcherism. These are:

• Economic Liberalism
• Monetarism
• Anti Corporatism
• Individualism
• Populism
• Authoritarianism

Concern over economic decline and the power wielded by the trade unions created a receptive public mood, and Thatcher led the Conservatives to three successive victories in 1979, 1983 and 1987. She was the dominant political personality throughout the 1980s, especially after securing victory in the Falklands war of 1982. She is widely credited with restoring Britain’s status as an enterprise-based economy and as a significant influence on the international stage. However, at the end of the decade economic recession, her commitment to the deeply unpopular ‘poll tax’, and internal disputes over European policy led to Mrs Thatcher’s defeat in a leadership ballot in November 1990.

From Major to Howard

The successor to emerge from this contest was the relatively unknown figure of John Major, the candidate thought most able to unify a divided and traumatised party. Major abandoned the ‘poll tax’ and presented a more ‘caring’ image, and support for the Conservatives improved enough for him to hold on to a narrow majority in the general election of April 1992. However, this margin was steadily eroded during the following parliament, and by 1997 his administration was clinging on by its fingertips.

The Major government of 1992-1997 was a painful period for the Conservative Party, and opinion poll ratings slumped to record lows following the economic fiasco of ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992. The most serious problems were caused by a recession which hit Conservative support in southern England, a collapse of normal party unity over the increasingly contentious issue of Europe, and ‘sleaze’ – a string of personal scandals involving Conservative ministers and MPs. Press hostility and a modernised Labour opposition prevented the Conservatives from recovering when the economic position improved, and on 1 May 1997 they suffered their third and final sweeping defeat of the twentieth century. Only 165 MPs survived, and Major at once resigned the leadership; in his place, the Party selected its youngest leader in modern times, William Hague.

The Conservatives were unable to recover ground during the 1997-2001 Parliament. The party remained unpopular with the public, whilst the Labour government’s careful management of the economy meant that it survived any other difficulties without lasting damage. Hague followed a more ‘Euro-sceptic’ policy, ruling out joining the single European currency. This caused tensions in the party but also led to its greatest success in the period, doubling its seats to 36 in the European Parliament elections of June 1999. However, concentration on Europe was less effective in the June 2001 general election, and Conservative hopes of at least a partial recovery were dashed. 166 MPs were elected, only one more than in 1997, and on the morning after the poll Hague announced his resignation. A new selection procedure had been introduced, and after ballots of Conservative MPs the two leading candidates went forward to a vote of the party membership in September 2001. Iain Duncan Smith secured 155,933 votes to Kenneth Clarke’s 100,864, and so became the new leader of the Conservative Party.

During the following two years there was little sign of improvement in the Party’s fortunes, as the domestic, political and economic situation remained largely unchanged. The Conservatives supported the policy of Prime Minister Tony Blair in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq in the spring and summer of 2003. This was in tune with Conservative opinion whilst the Labour Party was deeply divided over the issue, but the war did not change the relative popularity of the two parties. A significant minority of Conservative MPs had been doubtful about Duncan Smith’s leadership from the outset, and the lack of improvement in the Party’s position caused this number to increase during the summer and autumn of 2003. The criticism and speculation culminated in a ballot of Conservative MPs on 29 October, in which Duncan Smith was defeated by 75 votes to 90. The desire of the party to avoid further disunity was shown when only one candidate was nominated for the vacant leadership, and so a contest was avoided. Michael Howard was declared Leader on 6 November; although older than both of his predecessors, he had the asset of considerable experience of government, having been a cabinet minister from 1990. After losing the 2005 General Election and remaining below 200 seats the Conservatives opted for the modernisation agenda of David Cameron who in 2010 returned the party to government, albeit as a coalition government with the LIberal Democrats.

• The Labour Party

The Labour Party has historically been held to be a socialist party. Though there are many definitions of socialism a basic characteristic of it is that it is concerned with the pursuit of equality. There are perhaps 3 basic dimensions: social equality, political equality and economic equality.

• Social Equality

This is the idea that all people are of equal worth regardless of social class, age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality or disability. In office Labour has legislated against forms of discrimination, in the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) and the Race Relations Act (1976). Prejudice (an attitude) is of course much harder to tackle than discrimination (a behaviour).

• Political Equality

The idea is that all persons should have equal access to political rights such as the vote and the right to stand as a candidate.

• Economic Equality

Economic equality is of course very difficult to achieve. In fact it is so difficult that it is not truly an aim of the Labour Party. Instead, equality of opportunity, as opposed to equality of outcome, is the stated aim of the Labour party. Given wide ranging social class divisions even equality of opportunity is very difficult to achieve.

The degree to which the Labour Party has been ‘committed’ to socialism has often been called into question. An examination of how socialist the Labour Party is needs to take into account its record in office as well as changes in its commitments and policies when in opposition. It is particularly difficult to conceive of today’s Labour Party as a socialist party, given the emphasis on ‘New Labour’ by Tony Blair and other leading figures in the party.

The Labour Party: a brief history

In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was formed to secure seats in parliament for representatives of the trade union movement and the industrial working class.

In 1906, at the General Election, 29 seats were obtained by the LRC and the parliamentary Labour party was officially formed.

In 1918 Sydney and Beatrice Webb drafted a constitution for the Labour Party. The key feature of the constitution was Clause 4, part four, which stated the aims of the party:

“To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and for the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service”.

This clause has historically been referred to as the ‘nationalisation clause’

In 1945 Labour obtained a landslide majority of 146 in Parliament. Set against the context of the war, and of the hardships of the depression ridden 1930s, the Attlee government pledged to build ‘A ‘New Jerusalem’. In 1942 the Beveridge Report had identified 5 Giant Ills, which had stalked the 1930s: Poverty, Ignorance, Disease, Squalor and Want. The Welfare state, designed to care for citizens ’from the cradle to the grave’ was introduced. The key planks of the post war consensus were laid in the first term of the Attlee government:

• The Implementation of the 1944 White Paper on Employment – Full Employment
• The Implementation of the 1944 Butler Education Act: Free Compulsory Education to the age of 15
• The Nationalisation of the ‘Commanding heights’ of the economy: Clause Four
• The Creation of the Welfare state – a system of pensions, disability and unemployment benefits, based on national insurance contributions
• The Creation of the NHS in 1948 – free health care at the point of delivery.

These reforms laid the planks of the post war consensus, observed by both Conservative and Labour Governments until the mid 1970s when the post war consensus collapsed and both parties moved away from the centre.

On taking office in 1997, Tony Blair said: “We were elected as new Labour and we will govern as new labour”. The concept of New Labour predates Blair’s leadership election in 1994. In fact, New Labour has its antecedents as far back as June 9th 1983. The election of Neil Kinnock in Oct 1983 marked the beginning of an extraordinary shift not only in the Labour Party’s ideological positioning, but also in its internal structure and organisation.

The political theorist Maurice Duverger (Political Parties 1959) argued that political parties experiencing defeat often engaged in a process of what he called “structural tinkering”. The theory is that, having lost an election, the party needs to change the internal balance of power, in order to ideologically reposition itself. The birth and development of New Labour is a case in point.

Under Neil Kinnock’s leadership, a series of internal reforms was initiated, designed to reduce the power of the left and the power of the trade unions. This reorganisation was also an attempt to relate to the electorate that Labour was changing, and that factors which made it unpopular, such as the dominance of the unions over the party, and the infiltration of the Party by members of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency, were being addressed.

In 1987, Labour ran a good campaign, but lost the election. A slightly improved performance appeared to vindicate the reforms thus far implemented. In the aftermath of the 1987 defeat, Labour launched a policy review, had already replaced the red flag (reminiscent of the Eastern European state socialism) with the red rose, emblematic of Western European social democracy. It was a visual cue to the electorate, symbolic of Labour’s distancing itself from hard left policies.

The policy review and the subsequent “Labour Listens” campaign, constituted further evidence of Labour attempting to persuade the electorate that it had changed. One negative perception of such initiatives was that Labour was unprincipled and would do and say anything to obtain office. Although Labour ran the Conservatives close in 1992, it lost its fourth general election in a row.

The death of John Smith in May 1994 gave the architects of New Labour, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, the opportunity to seize the party leadership and accelerate the transition from Old Labour to New Labour. Symbolic of Old Labour was Clause 4, Part 4 of the 1918 constitution, the so-called “Nationalisation Clause”. Tony Blair, in 1995, managed to persuade the party to ditch Clause 4 in favour of a new statement of values. John Prescott, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party called the new statement “traditional values in a modern setting”.

The New Clause Four

The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so, as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential, and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity is in the hands of the many and not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe and where we live together freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.

New Labour  embraced the private sector in a way that Old Labour could never have done, and many of its policies were more radical than even the Conservatives could have contemplated, including the privatisation of air traffic control, privatisation of the Tube network, cuts in single parent benefits and the introduction of tuition top-up fees.

Tony Blair called the accusation that New Labour was just the same as the Conservatives, a lie. He pointed to the windfall tax on the privatised utilities, which created 1.5m jobs for the New Deal, which virtually eradicated youth unemployment. He pointed also to the constitutional reforms which the Conservatives have opposed every step of the way and he also introduced the national minimum wage and signed up for the social chapter of the Maastricht Treaty, which gives millions of part-time workers rights and benefits they previously did not enjoy.

Every Labour government since the war has dazzled and then disappointed especially on economic policy. The outstanding achievement of New Labour was  to steer the economy clear of recession for 43 successive quarters and make Labour the electorate’s preference over the Tories for economic management, until the financial crisis of 2008 ripped that reputation and hard won confidence to shreds. Despite attempts to label the crisis as a global one (this worked for the Conservatives in 1991) the electorate never really warmed to Brown.

Old Labour Policies and Image:

• Nationalisation
• income tax rises for the well-off
• social spending
• no private engagement in the public sector
• party control over the manifesto
• strong links with unions
• reputation for economic mismanagement and inflation
• a reputation for extremism

New Labour Policies and Image

• A reputation for strong economic management

• public-private partnerships (PFI = private finance initiative in public services)
• national minimum wage and the New Deal
• tuition top-up fees
• cuts in disability and single-parent benefits
• constitutional reform
• moderate public image

A recent argument for Labour to return to its 1945 heritage and roots

PARTIES JUNE 2009

Please be aware that all guidance for parties questions is dated and therefore needs to be reworked so that it reflects the contemporary policies and ideas. Examples dating back 2-4 years are still valid but care needs to be exercised when using them.