Gambling with the electorate

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Nicholas Allen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
The European Union ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Theresa May

This chapter charts the story of the Conservatives in government between 2015 and 2017. It examines why David Cameron called a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, why Theresa May succeeded him as prime minister, and why May decided to call a snap election in the spring of 2017. It locates these decisions against deep and bitter divisions within the Conservative party over the issue of EU membership, and further examines the broader record of the Conservatives in government. Above all, it seeks to explain how both prime ministers both came to gamble their fortunes on the electorate – and lose.

Brexit Diplomacy, Trump, and the uk’s “Special Relationship” with the United States

Diplomatica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Larres
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
And Control ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Theresa May

The much-praised “special relationship” between the US and the UK has had little, if any, relevance for President Donald Trump. After the Brexit referendum of June 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May and many of the “Brexiteers” in the Conservative Party hoped that a rejuvenation of relations with the U.S., perhaps by means of free trade treaty, would counter-balance any loss of political and economic influence due to the UK’s departure from the European Union. Some of Trump’s rhetoric seemed to indicate this. He repeatedly praised the country for its desire to get back “its sovereignty” and “control over its borders.” In reality Trump was so focused on the realization of his “America First” policy that it was unlikely that he would be inclined to grant any special favors or generous trade terms to the UK, “special relationship” or not.

scholarly journals Towards Exit from the EU: The Conservative Party’s Increasing Euroscepticism since the 1980s

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dorey
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Exogenous Factors ◽  
The Eu

Since the 1980s, Britain’s Conservative Party has become increasingly critical of the European Union, and of the country’s membership of it. So contentious and controversial has this issue become that it was a significant factor in the downfall of three consecutive Conservative Prime Ministers, all of whom found it increasingly difficult to manage their Party in Parliament, and thereby maintain any semblance of Party unity. Initially, during the 1980s and 1990s, the intra-Party divisions were between Europhiles (pro-Europeans) and Eurosceptics, but this demarcation was subsequently superseded by a division between soft Eurosceptics and hard Eurosceptics. The development and deepening of these intra-Party divisions are attributable to a plethora of endogenous and exogenous factors, the combined and cumulative effect of which ultimately led to the ‘Brexit’ vote in the June 2016 referendum.

scholarly journals The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2019: An Analysis of the Voting Motivations of Conservative Parliamentarians

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Jeffery ◽  
Timothy Heppell ◽  
Andrew Roe-Crines
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Social Liberalism ◽  
Political Economic

Abstract This article provides an empirical analysis of the voting behaviour of Conservative parliamentarians in the final parliamentary ballot of the Conservative Party leadership election of 2019. We construct a dataset for the parliamentary Conservative Party and then put forward hypotheses that will consider the possible Eurosceptic, party political, economic and/or ideological motivations for the voting behaviour of Conservative parliamentarians in the final parliamentary ballot. Our findings demonstrate that support for Johnson and Hunt was structured around age and voting behaviour in the European Union (EU) membership referendum, with support for Gove drawn from those who voted for May’s Withdrawal Agreement in the first meaningful vote. Other factors, such as the economic impact of Brexit on constituencies and social liberalism, were not found to be statistically significant.

scholarly journals ‘Who Is British Music?’ Placing Migrants in National Music History

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
FLORIAN SCHEDING
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Music History ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Debate ◽  
British Music ◽  
The World ◽  
National Music ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Theresa May

In 2013, trucks and vans were driving across London, bearing the message ‘In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest.’ These mobile billboards declared the number of arrests that had taken place ‘in your area’ in the previous week and provided a number to which people could text the message ‘HOME’ to initiate voluntary repatriation. In 2016, Theresa May, who had organised this scheme as home secretary, became prime minister, following the upheaval caused by the country's plebiscite to leave the European Union. One of the main strands of argument of the successful ‘Brexit’ campaign centred on the ‘deep public anxiety . . . about uncontrolled immigration’ and promised to reduce numbers of immigrants to the country. This desire to control the nation's borders continued to dominate the official soundscape of Britain's government. At the 2016 annual Tory conference, May endeavoured to draw clear lines on issues of belonging, territory, citizenship, and the fuzzy notion of British values, discursively excluding not only migrants, but also anyone with an international(ist) outlook from the national debate: ‘If you believe you are a citizen of the world’, she posited, ‘you are a citizen of nowhere.’

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 199-206
Author(s):  
Anusha Kedhar
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Article 50 ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Theresa May

On March 29, 2017, the day after I left the UK on one of my last research trips to conduct fieldwork, Prime Minister Theresa May (2016–2019) triggered Article 50, which started the official two-year process for the UK to withdraw from the European Union (EU), more commonly known as Brexit (a portmanteau of “Britain” and “exit”)....

scholarly journals SNP - LABOUR COALITION: A DREAM OR A REALITY?

2019 ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
D. A. Kozlova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Internal Interaction

This article is an attempt to analyse the collaboration between the Labour and the Scottish nationalists in the context of the formation of the modern British political agenda. The participants of the British political space, being concerned about the questions of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, inevitably face a number of challenges, and the problem of their internal interaction remains one of the most significant. Opposition parties are at an impasse: the Brexit negotiations seem as good as paralysed. The Prime Minister is being put in a very difficult position: a motion of no confidence in December, the failure of her proposals for the Brexit deal in January. The ruling conservative party itself is deeply divided. Every now and then there are some calls for a second United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. And in that event, to which extent is the opposotion coalition possible - the Labor Party and the Scottish nationalists? And if so, what are its future prospects?

scholarly journals Eurosceptycyzm w doktrynie partii konserwatywnej

Politeja ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1(46)) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Elżbieta SADOWSKA-WIECIECH
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Conservative View ◽  
The Government ◽  
British People ◽  
The Eu

Euroscepticism in the Conservative Party Membership in European Union has become one of the most crucial and controversial issues in British politics in recent years. Eurosceptics from United Kingdom Independent Party were exhorting to leave the EU and more and more British people had supported them. David Cameron who was leading the government since 2010 had to express a conservative view on the matter. He had announced his plan to renegotiate the terms of EU membership and hold a referendum on the  results, asking British people to vote for what he thought the only right choice – staying in European Union. But not all Tories shared that belief. This article examines the issue of Euroscepticism in Conservative Party analyzing its doctrinal as well as political origins and its influence on the government.

scholarly journals Prisoners of their own device: Brexit as a failed negotiating strategy

2021 ◽  
pp. 136914812110446
Author(s):  
Benjamin Martill
Keyword(s):  
Conservative Party ◽  
British Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Walk Away ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Negotiated Agreements ◽  
Negotiation Strategies ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Theresa May

Brexit has occasioned a rightward shift in British politics as successive leaders have grappled with the difficulties of negotiating with the European Union and the vicissitudes of politics in the governing Conservative party. Explanations for the hardening of Eurosceptic preferences focus on the demands of ‘taking back control’ and the polarisation of post-referendum politics as key drivers. But they have not explored the ways in which negotiation strategies shaped – rather than reflected – domestic political developments. Drawing on two-level games accounts of ‘synergistic’ bargaining, this article argues both David Cameron and Theresa May sought to leverage Eurosceptic sentiment in their respective negotiations to make it more credible the United Kingdom would walk away if its demands were rejected. While both leaders failed to convey their resolve, they inadvertently strengthened Eurosceptic constituencies back home, contributing to the paucity – and the rejection – of their negotiated agreements.

Did Theresa May Kill the War Powers Convention? Comparing Parliamentary Debates on UK Intervention in Syria in 2013 and 2018

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Strong
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
War Powers ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Military Action ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Similar Operation ◽  
Theresa May

ABSTRACT This article asks whether Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to bypass the House of Commons and order military action in Syria in 2018 killed the UK’s nascent War Powers Convention, established most visibly when MPs vetoed an essentially similar operation under Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013. It finds that the War Powers Convention survives, but in a weakened state, subject to new caveats that significantly narrow its scope. What happens next depends on the dynamic, unpredictable interaction between what future prime ministers believe, what strategic questions arise and what MPs will accept.

‘A long, narrow and uphill road’: The representation of Turkey–EEC/EU relations in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet (1959–2019)

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312199951
Author(s):  
Ayça Demet Atay
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Front Page ◽  
The European Union ◽  
News Discourse

Turkey’s membership process to the European Union has been a ‘long, narrow and uphill road’, as former Turkish Prime Minister, and later President, Turgut Özal once stated. This study analyses the representation of the European Union–Turkey negotiation process in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet from 1959 to 2019 with the aim of understanding the changing meaning of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union’ in Turkish news discourse. There is comprehensive literature on the representation of Turkey’s membership process in the European press. This article aims to contribute to the field by assessing the representation of the same process from a different angle. For this purpose, Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet newspapers’ front page coverage of selected 10 key dates in the European Union–Turkey relations is analysed through critical discourse analysis.

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