Political Parties (AQA A-Level Government & Politics)

Definitions of party functions, ideologies + Butskellite

Party functions = the key objectives of a political party which are to win elections and hold power

Ideologies = core beliefs and principles of parties, which traditionally controlled UK politics more than the US

Butskellite = named after Rab Butler and Hugh Gaitskell describing a post-war Tory-Labour consensus which lasted until the 70s

One-nation conservatism

>> Associated w/ PM Benjamin Disraeli

>> Promotes the idea that the government has a duty to unite the UK by being patriotic and reforming Society

>> 'The palace is not safe when the cottage isn't happy' shows this pragmatic paternalism

>> The fact that Disraeli passed the 1875 Public Health Act represents the commitment to protect the vulnerable without harming the rich

>> The idea of conservatives protecting the vulnerable w/ policies like public service funding was echoed in some ways by Cameron's 'Big Society' and Johnson's December 2019 victory speech on establishing a 'one-nation govt'

Butskellite consensus

>> Adopted to Attlee's 1945 landslide and the subsequent establishment of the welfare state

>> 1950s and 1960s saw the acceptance of social reforms

>> The Tories became centrist and pro-European with Edward Heath leading the UK into the EEC in 1973

Conservative traditional values

>> General insistence on supporting the nuclear family marriage and anti-immigration sentiments

>> No single politician fully encompasses this

>> John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign focused on self-discipline, Thatcher's Section 28 in 1988 banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools and home secretary May's promise of a 'hostile environment' for illegal aliens has elements of this

>> Can lead to controversial stances such as Enoch Powell's 1968 'Rivers of Blood' speech

Thatcherism

>> Ideology which dominated the Conservative Party during the 80s and 90s

>> Associated w/ Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher 1975-90 who wished to "roll back the frontiers of the STT"

>> Uncompromising defense of individual freedom personal responsibility anti-unionism and free markets

>> Involved privatisation encouraging home buying and lowering taxes

>> Tough approach characterized by Maggie confronting the National Union of Mineworkers (1985), assertive stance in the 1982 war and friendship with Republican icon Ronald Reagan

>> Supported staying in the European single market while criticising the EU bureaucracy, sowing seeds of Euroscepticism

Policies of the modern Conservative Party

More NHS funding and 50,000 more nurses (Butskellite consensus)

20,000 more police officers and tougher sentences (Traditional values)

Australian style point based immigration system and 'stopping the boats' (Traditional values)

Crackdown on benefit fraud (Thatcherism)

A promise not to raise income tax, VAT or National Insurance (Thatcherism)

Getting Brexit done (Thatcherism)

Triple lock on pensions (One Nation conservatism)

Keeping the voting age at 18 (Traditional values)

Implementing a £2500 energy price guarantee during the cost of living crisis (One Nation conservatism)

Divisions within the Conservative Party

>> Up until December 2019 the Tories where divided any prominent Eurosceptics and Europhiles arguing with one another

>> There has been fighting over social issues too as David Cameron received little support from his party when he legalized gay marriage in 2013

>> Johnsonianism, a fusion of pragmatism, populism and blue environmentalism has been criticised by some on the right of the party, w/ MPs like Lee Anderson claiming that people are "sick to death" of Net Zero and Desmond Swayne stating that the govt's authoritarian coronavirus measures have been horrifically 'disproportionate' to the threat of the disease

>> Liz Truss surrounded herself w/ more right-wing members of the party like Kwasi Kwarteng and Suella Braverman, isolating her from the rest of the party and thus bringing her down in 45 days

Economic socialism

>> This has been encapsulated by Jeremy Corbyn's campaign election slogan 'for the many not the few' and to a lesser extent, Keir Starmer's 'on your side'

>> Attlee's post-war government was able to implement socialist policies such as the creation of a welfare state and nationalizing parts of the primary sector, secondary sector and even Thomas Cook

>> Even more industries like aerospace and ship building where nationalized in 1977 but Thatcher's privatization reverse this

>> The Blair-Brown administration did not want to undo this but as the party shifted to the left under Corbyn, partial re-nationalisation (of parts of the economy like public utilities) was back in the manifesto

Trade unionism

>> Labour had historically strong ties with the unions as stood up for workers rights in exchange for funds

>> The influence shrunk under Maggie as Britain's deindustrialization and anti-union laws cut the trade unions' powers

>> The next Labour government kept the unions weakened but this changed in the late 2010s

>> Unite's general secretary Len McCluskey was close to Corbyn under Starmer union influence has been somewhat reduced

Global internationalism

>> This represented their commitment to pacifism disarmament and fascism-resistance

>> Promotes the uniting of workers across the world as nationalism was thought to be a simple way to uphold the capitalist status quo

>> First Labour PM Stanley Baldwin was a pacifist during World War One and former Labour leader George Lansbury defended Lenin in the 1920s after visiting Russia

>> The 'New Labour' defied to this by engaging and Iraq and Afghanistan - a policy often attributed to the close Blair-Bush relationship

>> Modern Labour are Europhiles, w/ Keir Starmer's 10 Pledges including the promise to give all EU nationals full voting rights, he's still quite balanced

New Labour and the Third Way

>> This was Tony Blair's revolutionary modernisation of Labour which got him into office three times but got called a 'betrayal' by more left-wing critics

>> To make Labour centrist and more electable, a decision was made to concentrate on triangulation, which involved keeping Thatcher's economic policies but making policy based on Labour's left-wing social values

>> There was still a focus on justice with NHS funding increases anti-child poverty campaigns and education reform ("Education education education")

(CS) The fate of Labour's Clause IV

The Labour Party embraced socialism in 1918 when it adopted Clause VI, outlining its ambitions to abolish capitalism, nationalize industry and redistribute wealth. However, years later, Blair held a vote in Methodist Central Hall on whether Labour's Clause 4 should be changed in 1995. He wanted to replace the Marxist ideas of 'taking ownership of the means of production' with a less radical principle of just 'serving the public interest'. The gamble paid off and the party's transition was set in stone, laying the path for their escape from 18 years in political wilderness.

Policies of the modern Labour Party

Negotiate a second Brexit referendum [although this was only the case up to the 2019 election] (Blairite)

Raise the minimum wage to £10 (Blairite)

Increase the health budget by 4% (Economic Socialism)

Bring forward the net zero target to the 2030s (Global Internationalism)

Renationalizing the 6 large energy firms the National Grid and the Royal Mail (Economic Socialism)

Abolish private schools' charitable status (Economic Socialism)

Remove trade union restrictions and repeal the Trade Union Act 2016 (Trade Unionism)

Build an immigration system based on human rights (Global Internationalism)

Increase the income tax for the top 5% of earners while clamping down on tax avoidance (Economic Socialism)

Introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act to put human rights at the heart of foreign policy (Global Internationalism)

Replace the HofL with an elected chamber of regions and nations (Blairite)

Labour in 2021

Having moderated his predecessor's left wing program Keir Starmer faces an uncertain future. Some say this is a repeat of 1983 where labor is simply unelectable while others say a Blair-like center left position w/ the party headed by Starmer could finally be successful. Conflict and division are still grave problems, w/ Starmer clashing over issues like a £15 minimum wage with members of the Trade Union Congress and the Labour conference. However, there is a chance that they can unite and defeat the Conservatives

Liberal Democrats up to the 1920s

>> The third party used to be more competitive rivaling the Conservatives in the 19th century

>> Liberal four-time prime minister William Gladstone advocated for free trade religious tolerance self-help ethical foreign policy cautious imperialism and Irish home rule

>> It attracted skilled workers Christian non-conformists and industrialists for Tories absorbed the middle class voting block and Labour the working class demographic

>> It became divided over the Irish home rule issue in the 1850s and problems during the war time coalition government

>> Despite the Lib Dems sharing power between 2010 and 2015, w/ Nick Klegg being deputy PM, the post 1920 period transformed it into a third party

Liberal Democrat transformation in the 1980s

>> In 1983 and 1987 the Liberal Democrats formed a pact with the SDP - a party composed mainly of centrist Labour politicians who were fed up with unpopular leftism as well as their pledges like unilateral nuclear disarmament

>> The alliance strengthened in 1988 when the two parties merged into one

>> They came to be a progressive centre party supporting other Europhiles, constitutional/ electoral reform, human rights and green environmental policies

>> Many of their votes are 'protest votes' against two main political parties

Policies of the modern Liberal Democrats

Stop the Brexit process (Pro-Europe)

Reform the electoral system by adopting STV, allowing 16 to 17-year-olds to vote and abolishing ID as a requirement to vote (Political Reform)

Ensure that the UK doesn't withdraw from the ECHR (Civil liberties protection)

Extend devolution by creating a federal government (Federalism)

Combat climate change by promising to cut greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045 (Environmentalism)

Increase corporate tax to 20% (Taxation & Wealth Distribution)

Improve the education system with maintenance grants to poor students at university (Education)

Reintroduce the 0.7% of GNI overseas aide commitment (Civil liberties protection)

Current state of the Liberal Democrats

The party has suffered since 2015 as the 2010 election won them 57 seats while the 2017 one's results was just 12. They increased vote share by December 2019 but experienced a net loss of one seat and had their leader Joe Swinson voted out in East Dunbartonshire. This is despite Change UK members switching to Liberal Democrats, Labour going more left and the Conservatives being strongly pro-Brexit. Some blamed failures on Liberal Democrats' abandonment of policies during their coalition years such as the abolition of tuition fees, whereas others said Swinson was just not a familiar face the public recognized

Recent key leaders of the Big 3

Theresa May July 2016 - July 2019; Boris Johnson July 2019 - September 2022; Liz Truss September-October 2022; Rishi Sunak October 2022 - now

Ed Miliband September 2010 - May 2015; Jeremy Corbyn September 2015 - April 2020; Keir Starmer April 2020 - now

Vince Cable July 2017 - July 2019; Jo Swinson July-December 2019; Ed Davey August 2020-now

Definitions of party structure + canvassing

Party structure is the organisation of political parties at both local and national level

Canvassing is direct contact with individuals which is commonly used during political campaigns

Structure of the Conservative Party

Local Level Structure is made up of local Conservative Associations sometimes with small ward branches

Local Level Policymaking Systems are dominated by LCA's, which play a key role in organ grass roots of the party planning local campaigning and selecting candidates

National Level Structure is more complex: their HQ is the Conservative Campaign Headquarters in Millbank Westminster; the board of the CP is involved in the day-to-day running of the party; decisions here are made by MPs local associations and others but just three of its 18 members are from the grassroots party

National Level Policymaking Systems changed in 1998 when the Conservative Party Forum was set up to increase grassroots participation although the forum's role is only advisory; manifestos are written by leaders and trusted aides with much of the 2019 manifesto being co-written by advisor Rachel Wolf who worked in the Cameron administration

Structure of the Labour Party

Local Level Structure is made up of each constituency's Constituency Labour Party as well as the Branch Labour Parties at the council ward level

Local Level Policymaking Systems rely on Constituency Labour Parties which take the lead in local and national election campaigns

National Level Structure has a centre in Victoria Street, London which is Labour's national base and where the National Executive Committee runs everything; the NEC enforces party discipline, even able to expel members; it has the final say in parliamentary candidate selection and is made up of 40 members including representatives councilors and Young Labour members; elections to the NEC are highly factionalized, w/ April 2020 by-elections for two CLP representatives being a win for Keir Starmer as moderates backed by Progress and Labour First triumphed over Corbynites

National Level Policymaking Systems have changed since 1990: before the annual conference was a key policy making body but since then, its role has diminished

Structure of the Liberal Democrat Party

Local Level Structure is made up of local branches but these are also separated along federal lines with separate national parties in England, Wales and Scotland

Local Level Policymaking Systems depend on local branches running constituency-level campaigns and submitting motions to the conference for debate

National Level Structure is based on the Federal Board which is headquartered at Great George Street London and governs the political party; there are 35 voting members which include The Party president leader the chairs of the parties elected party members and Young Liberal representatives

National Level Policymaking Systems rely on conferences where motions can be debated passed and turned into national party policy; the policies that affect Pacific region of the country such as Scotland or Wales set by their own regional conferences

General candidate selection process

1. Applicants need to get into the party's approved central list (for example all aspiring Conservative candidates must be approved by the Parliamentary Assessment Board first which tests motivation and leadership skills)

2. They then apply to get shortlisted as prospective parliamentary candidates by their local branches the new focus being to make these shortlists diverse as Labour have used all female ones in the past while Conservatives have given certain groups 'priority place' in A-lists

3. Local party members vote on who to select

Leadership elections in the Conservative Party

>> MPs vote in a series of ballots until just two candidates are left, employing the basic one member, one vote (OMOV) system

>> Eight MPs stood as candidates in the July 2022 contest, w/ only Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak left by late July

>> Liz Truss was chosen in September 2022 after winning by a 57%-43% margin

>> Late in the autumn, Rishi Sunak won the leadership contest unopposed after Boris Johnson decided not to run and Penny Mordaunt dropped out in late October

Leadership elections in the Labour Party

>> Candidates must secure 10% of MP/ MEP support first

>> Additionally they must be backed either by over three affiliates or 5% of constituency party members

>> In the 2020 race Emily Thornberry could not get the sufficient affiliate support unlike Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey who were through

>> Party members and supporters vote using the AV system but since Starmer won 56% of the vote, there was no need for a second round

Leadership elections in the Liberal Democrat party

>> Applicants need 10%+ of Lib Dem MP support or the backing from 200 members from over 20 local parties

>> The alternative vote is utilized here too in order to make the final choice

>> With nearly 64% of the vote Davy comfortably won the 2020 leadership contest

Significance of elections & how they changed over time

• Sometimes leaders can get elected on opposed: this happened to Theresa May in 2016 when Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the race; Gordon Brown's selection in 2007 was also unopposed, Vince Cable faced no opposition in 2017 and Rishi Sunak's appointment in October 2022 was not met with any challenges

• Balance has to be struck between listening to grassroots members and serving the party establishment because grassroots supporters advocate for more radical policies which could alienate ordinary voters (Foot in 1983) and a lack of parliamentary support can undermine a premiership's legitimacy (Liz Truss in 2022 who lost the fifth MP ballot by over 6%)

• Most parties have worked on increasing party membership, w/ some success: in 2022, Labour had 432,000 members, the Conservatives had 172,000 and the Liberal Democrats 74,000

• Historically, choosing party leaders involved a completely different process - the Labour leader was chosen via an electoral college vote involving TUs, party members and MPs before Ed Miliband whereas Conservative leaders were chosen through an informal consultation process before 1965 and by MPs prior to 1998

Definitions of party funding + party system

PF = the methods by which political parties raise money to finance their activities; most funding involves private donations rather than state funds

PS = the way in which political parties operate in a country, with the UK called a two-party system

The Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act

PPERA (2000)

>> All political parties must register with the Election Commission

>> Parties must declare all large donations over £7500

>> They can only spend up to £30,000 per constituency

>> It regulates campaign expenditure for national referendums with Leave.EU fined £70,000 for breaching electoral law in 2018

Political Parties and Elections Act

PPEA (2009)

>> The Electoral Commission was given more powers, w/ adding to existing donation regulations

>> Major donations or loans were now only allowed to come from UK residents

>> How parties should be funded was not specified as each way has its own problems

Pros and cons of party funding through individual donations

Labour have benefited from donors like Formula 1 executive Bernie Ecclestone in the past but now rely much more on TUs such as GMB and Unite, w/ the latter giving over £3 million in 2019. Meanwhile the Tories received £5.67 million worth of large donations in the first week of the most recent election including £200,000 from Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a Russian businessman. This is problematic with researchers such as openDemocracy finding that 20% of elitist Tory funders known as the 'Leader's Group' had received honours after £50,000+ donations. In fact, many have accused the main parties of 'cash for honours' - Mike Farmer being given a peerage in 2014 after £6.4 million of donations since 2010 does not look good for the Conservatives. However, the core issue with this reliance it may lead to corruption and special treatment for some at the top - for instance some have suspected that the £1 million gift from Ecclestone to Labour was the reason that a ban on tobacco advertising in Formula 1 racing was delayed.

Pros and cons of party funding through membership subscriptions

This is the fairest and most transparent way to fund political parties the revenue is simply not large enough to pay for billboards effective policy research and social media campaigning

Pros and cons of party funding through state funding

Parties with at least two sitting House of Commons members who have taken the oath of allegiance are available for public funds of £2 million per annum, thanks to the Policy Development Grants. They can also receive Short (Commons) or Cranborne (Lords) money, which is paid to position parties to help them with scrutiny work. Political parties also receive free airtime on TV during party election broadcasts and get free postage for one piece of campaign literature per election.

Key statistics on registered donations during the 2019 election

• The Conservatives received 275 donations worth £19 million which was by far the most out of all the other parties

• Labour the only union-backed party got £5 million from TUs

• The Brexit Party which got £4 million and the Liberal Democrats which got £1 million were the only other parties to get over one million pounds in total donations

Arguments for the state funding of parties

It could provide a greater sense of equality between the parties since the Tories had considerably outspent everyone in 2019; STT money is clean while wealth donors and interest groups are often corrupt; other attempts to regulate funding and crack down on bribery such as the 2007 Phillips Report on 'Strengthening Democracy' or the 2011 Committee on Standards in Public Life have done very little (though they did both recommend greater STT funding)

Arguments against the state funding of parties

Voters should not fund parties they disagree with and taxpayers' money has far better uses; as long as major donations are available to the public it should be legal for individuals to exercise their democratic right to donate to political parties; funding that is proportional to vote share simply strengthens large parties in a majoritarian FPTP system whether they already dominate

Difference between UK and the US in the party-media relationship

Unlike the US where political candidates can pay networks to air their adverts the UK has strict laws regarding bias and fairness. The BBC Charter states that it aims to 'provide impartial news and information' and indeed all other television companies are required by law to be neutral and balanced.

Ten UK newspapers based on political bias

Left-leaning: The Independent, The Observer, The Guardian, Sunday People, Daily Mirror

Right-leaning: The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mail

Extent to which the media have an impact on political party success

>> As the elderly are generally more conservative, right-leaning newspapers generate more sales but this means that their declarations of support will continue to wane in power

>> While it could be argued that newspapers can sway public opinion as one study found that on may have generated 525,000 votes for labour 1997 and helped John Major win an unlikely 1992 majority according to some studies, a lot of people choose media based on their existing political preferences, so the journalists simply reinforce them

>> Spending on newspapers in the UK has fallen from around £10 billion in 2005 to £3 billion in 2021, social media has reduced the papers' influence as circulation has fallen

>> Although there is censorship of right wing media online, platforms like Twitter are generally coded to be echo chambers

>> Political parties are increasingly focused on capturing the vote of politically unsure demographic groups using the minimum amount of resources through social media platforms such as YouTube or Facebook - in 2019, for instance the Conservatives put out a female specific ad about hiring '20,000 police officers.. to keep you safe' which was viewed 250,000 times as well as pro-Conservative NHS ads in marginal seats like Stroud or Abingdon

>> However, even in the case of social media data from Facebook's ad library report from 2018 to 2020 suggests that such campaigns are not always effective: the Liberal Democrats spent £1.3 million pounds (more than the Tories or Labour) on nearly 20,000 ads only to have 14 MPs as off 2023

Key factors that affect electoral outcomes

Relevance and attractiveness of the main policies (e.g. 'Get Brexit Done' resonated with many voters)

Leadership (e.g. underdog Jeremy Corbyn denied Theresa May a majority in 2017 as he was popular with the youth)

Backing from a committed energized group of activists (e.g. grassroots campaigning from groups like Momentum who utilized technology such as My Nearest Marginal website helped Labour defy expectations in 2017)

The state & strength of the opposition (e.g. in 2019 Boris Johnson benefited from being an experienced campaigner whereas Jo Swinson's run proved to be unsuccessful and Nigel Farage decided to not contest Tory-held seats)

Party unity (e.g. the PM united the Conservatives by removing the whip from 21 Tory Rebels while Labour was plagued by scandals over anti-Semitism)

Electoral system (e.g. despite winning 11% of all votes in 2019, the Lib Dems got crushed by FPTP and only captured 1.7% of all seats)

Definitions of minor parties + political agenda

Minor parties = smaller political parties that get very few MPs

Political agenda = Issues that are the subject of debates/ decision making by those with political power

Impact of British minor parties on politics

>> Regional parties have solid influence in the HofC, with the Scottish nationalists controlling around 7% of the seats, Plaid Cymru capturing 4 out of 40 Welsh sheets and the Democratic Unionist Party holding the balance of power in 2017 after desperate May needed to strike a confidence and supply deal to get a majority

>> 'Single issue' parties have been far from significant: the Greens have insured environmental issues are constantly talked about; UKIP went on to win 26% of the 2014 European election votes while its successor the Brexit Party increased to that vote share to 31%; the related post-Brexit Reform Party under Richard Tice has seen its ratings grow to 6% (above the Greens) w/ slogans like "only reform will stop the boats"

>> The wider impact of Eurosceptic parties is that they forced the Conservatives to adopt a strong stance on Brexit and address the UK's future relationship with the EU

Extent to which the UK is a multi party system

On the one hand, the 2019 election results may suggest that we have a political duopoly, as 87% of the seats and 76% of the vote share was captured by the two largest parties. However, on the other hand, not everything is this simple. Previous elections do not support this conclusion as the 2010 election saw Tories and Labour receive just 65% of vote share. Moreover, this two party domination is not mimicked in the European Parliament devolved assemblies or town halls. At least 10 parties one seat in the 2019 EU elections, there is lots of conflict between the many parties of Northern Ireland, Scotland has a 3-4 party system and many local councils are hung balanced or full of independents, with 1100 seats in 2019 being captured by independent candidates. Even the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament, the Lords, have a multi-party structure with no overall majority. Tactical voting and into party corporation can extend this to Westminster: November 2021 Guardian analysis suggested that if opposition parties in 2024 put out one unity candidate in 154 England battleground constituencies, the Conservatives would lose their majority, reduced to a mere 254 MPs.