The Working Class and the Poverty of Electoral Strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-198
Author(s):  
Bob Carter
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Executive Director ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn

The defeat of the Labour Party in the 2019 general election was widely seen as a rebuttal of the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn but it has also raised the question of the nature and direction of the party and whether fundamental social changes have undermined its long-term electability. A concentration on the changing structure and orientation of the working class of Britain, and the implications for political parties, is the focus of a book by former executive director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), Claire Ainsley, appointed in 2020 as the chief policy adviser to the new leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer. The book’s rationale is that a new working class, lacking political and workplace representation, is being forged, distinct from the working class that preceded it. However, Ainsley’s empiricist approach hinders a coherent analysis of class, which as a result is confused and confusing. Moreover, her analysis lacks any appreciation of the structure of power within which values and opinions are created. Her analysis clearly underpins the shift in policies espoused by Starmer - a move to the ‘centre’ of politics, decency, fairness, family, and patriotism - but gives no indication that it can address the anger and alienation of the working class and its disenchantment with its treatment by Labour.

scholarly journals Oh Jeremy Corbyn! Why did Labour Party membership soar after the 2015 general election?

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Whiteley ◽  
Monica Poletti ◽  
Paul Webb ◽  
Tim Bale
Keyword(s):  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Project Data ◽  
First Time ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn

This article investigates the remarkable surge in individual membership of the Labour Party after the general election of May 2015, particularly after Jeremy Corbyn was officially nominated as a candidate for the leadership in June of that year. Using both British Election Study and Party Members Project data, we explain the surge by focussing on the attitudinal, ideological and demographic characteristics of the members themselves. Findings suggest that, along with support for the leader and yearning for a new style of politics, feelings of relative deprivation played a significant part: many ‘left-behind’ voters (some well-educated, some less so) joined Labour for the first time when a candidate with a clearly radical profile appeared on the leadership ballot. Anti-capitalist and left-wing values mattered too, particularly for those former members who decided to return to the party.

Electing a Leader

2020 ◽  
pp. 89-112
Author(s):  
Rodney Brazier
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Leadership Elections ◽  
The Government ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn ◽  
Theresa May

A person normally becomes Prime Minister either after winning a General Election, or after the Government party has elected a new leader to succeed a Prime Minister. Leadership of one of the main political parties is therefore a prerequisite for entering Number 10 Downing Street. This chapter examines exactly how the main parties have elected their leaders since 1902, setting the processes in their historical contexts, and explaining why the systems have been changed down the years. The Conservative Party did not have a formal system until after a major crisis in 1963; Labour has always elected its leader; but the systems which have been used have been altered for political reasons. Recent leadership elections, e.g. of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Jeremy Corbyn, are examined. The chapter also explains the ways in which an opposition party can get rid of a leader who doesn’t want to quit.

PROGRESSIVE PIONEERS: MANCHESTER LIBERALISM, THE INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY, AND LOCAL POLITICS IN THE 1890s

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 989-1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES ROBERT MOORE
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Liberal Approach ◽  
Liberal Trade

The Manchester Progressive Municipal Programme of 1894 has been viewed as indicative of a new Liberal approach to labour and social questions, heralding the New Liberalism of the Edwardian era and marking a gradual transition to class-based politics. Rather than focus on the role of senior individuals, such as Manchester Guardian editor C. P. Scott, in fostering the change, this article explores the practical problems of grass-roots party co-operation and the problems that Progressive approaches brought to Liberals. Progressive ideas had already permeated much Liberal thinking before 1890 and the Progressive Programme was less of a departure than might be imagined. Progressive policies may have helped consolidate Liberal working-class support but they did little to encourage co-operation with the Independent Labour Party (ILP). Where senior Liberals attempted to forge alliances they were invariably rebuffed. When Liberal candidates stepped down in deference to the ILP, Irish and working-class Liberal trade unionists revolted and split the party. The 1895 general election demonstrated the dangers of being too closely associated with the ILP and the limitations of Progressivism as a political strategy.

The 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia Steadily Turbulent Change of Direction

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-234
Author(s):  
Vlastimil Havlík ◽  
Miroslav Nemčok ◽  
Peter Spáč ◽  
Jozef Zagrapan
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
General Election ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Change Of Direction ◽  
Dynamic Development ◽  
Slovak Politics

In recent years Slovakia witnessed a dynamic development with crucial consequences for its domestic politics. Vast civic mobilization, the emergence of new parties and decline of a long-term hegemon – all these features culminated in the 2020 general election. We first introduce the results and discuss them from a longitudinal perspective of Slovak politics. Most importantly, despite a considerably large portion of correctly casted ballots for parties which failed to pass the institutional thresholds, the outcomes do not suggest that the representativity or proportionality of the Slovak political system is about to suffer. Second, we focus on the rise and ideological appeals of populist political parties. Although similar in many ways, we show important differences in their ideological platforms.

Australia by-elections are risk to Turnbull

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
General Election ◽  
Court Ruling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government

Significance A fifth by-election will also be held to replace another Labor member who resigned earlier for family reasons. The by-elections will test the country's main political parties -- the Liberals (who govern in coalition with the Nationals) and opposition Labor -- ahead of next year’s general election. The elections and the Court ruling that caused them will also reignite the long-term debate over citizenship and eligibility for office. Impacts The government could lose its majority, but seat gains in June would provide a pre-2019 boost. Calls for a constitutional referendum to solve the citizenship and elections question may grow, but referenda seldom pass. Political parties will face greater pressure to ensure their candidates’ eligibility for office.

Attitudes, Issues, and Labour Party Decline in England, 1974-1979

1985 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAN McALLISTER ◽  
ANTHONY MUGHAN
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Support Groups ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Political History ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Natural Support ◽  
Party Decline

This article critically examines the argument that the Labour party's poor performance in the 1979 general election reflects a long-term decline that is largely the result of its own natural support groups, Labour identifiers and the working class, developing political attitudes that serve increasingly to estrange them from the party's traditional principles. This argument further holds that issues emerged in the 1979 campaign that, deriving from these same principles, compounded the tendency for Labour supporters to defect at the polls. We argue that these findings are conceptually and methodologically flawed and that the evidence does not, in fact, support this explanation of Labour party decline. We conclude, instead, that what the evidence does suggest is that Labour suffered from a widespread voter “backlash” as a result of having been in office during a particularly difficult period in British social, economic, and political history.

scholarly journals Labour’s Leaked Report: Who Is to Blame for Antisemitism in Britain’s Labour Party?

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Rich
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Disciplinary System ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn

In April 2020, shortly after Keir Starmer replaced Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party, an internal party report concerning the workings of Labour's internal disciplinary unit in relation to antisemitism was leaked to the media. This report was over 850 pages long and was intended to be submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is conducting an inquiry into allegations of antisemitism in the Party. However, Labour's lawyers refused to allow it to be used, almost certainly because the content was so damaging to the Party's own defence. It confirmed many of the claims made by Jewish Party members and community organisations during Corbyn's leadership of the party, namely that the disciplinary system was not fit for purpose and cases of alleged antisemitism were ignored or delayed and punishments were too weak. When it was leaked the report caused a scandal because it claimed that Corbyn's efforts to deal with antisemitism were sabotaged by his own Party staff, who were mostly drawn from factions opposed to his left wing project. Furthermore, the report claimed that this was part of a broader conspiracy against Corbyn that even extended to Labour Party staff trying to prevent a Labour victory in the 2017 General Election. The leaked report is selective and inaccurate in many respects and ignores the role played by Corbyn and his close advisers in denying the problem of antisemitism existed. Nor does it address the reasons why people with antisemitic views were attracted to Labour under his leadership. It is most likely that it was written to allow Corbyn and his supporters to continue to claim that their project did not fail on its own merits, but was betrayed by internal saboteur

scholarly journals Responsible capitalism: Labour’s industrial policy and the idea of a National Investment Bank during the long 1980s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Carr
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Investment Bank ◽  
History Of ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
National Investment ◽  
National Enterprise

This article discusses Labour’s pledge to introduce a National Investment Bank (NIB) – included in the General Election manifestoes of 1983, 1987, and 1992. It considers the long term intellectual history of this idea, the various machinations regarding the similarly corporatist National Enterprise Board of the 1970s, and how the NIB policy not only survived the fiasco of 1983 but remained a key part of Labour’s agenda until 1992. As the chapter argues, this policy serves as an exemplar of the way Neil Kinnock managed the Labour Party – providing just enough meat to his party’s left and right, and allowing both to read into the NIB what they wished it to be.

UK Labour Party may have little influence on Brexit

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Union Membership ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Customs Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
Strong Performance ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn ◽  
Clear Support

Significance Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been ambiguous on this issue, and the period since Labour’s unexpectedly strong performance in the general election on June 8 has seen the party publicly divided over its stand on the Brexit negotiations. Impacts Labour’s lack of clear support for a ‘soft’ Brexit may act to preclude single market and customs union membership as long-term options. Labour's ambiguous stand on Brexit puts the Conservative government under less pressure to clarify its own Brexit strategy. Adopting a clearer stand on Brexit would probably cost Labour votes owing to deep divisions on the issue within its electorate.

scholarly journals The Independent Labour Party and Foreign Politics 1918–1923

1962 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
Robert E. Dowse
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
Class Membership ◽  
National Network ◽  
Foreign Politics

The Independent Labour Party, which was founded in 1893 had, before the 1914–18 war, played a major part within the Labour Party to which it was an affiliated socialist society. It was the largest of the affiliated socialist societies with a pre-eminently working-class membership and leadership. Because the Labour Party did not form an individual members section until 1918, the I.L.P. was one of the means by which it was possible to become an individual member of the Labour Party. But the I.L.P. was also extremely important within the Labour Party in other ways. It was the I.L.P. which supplied the leadership – MacDonald, Hardie and Snowden – of both the Labour Party and the Parliamentary Labour Party. It was the I.L.P., with its national network of branches, which carried through a long-term propaganda programme to the British electorate. Finally, it was the I.L.P. which gave most thought to policy and deeply affected the policy of the Labour Party.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document