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Chapter 14
Political Parties & Groups
A wise Tory and a wise Whig, I believe,
will agree. Their principles are the same,
though their modes of thinking are
different.
Samuel Johnson (1709 – 84, English
poet, critic and lexicographer)
V ote
V ote
For M e!!
It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.
Tom Stoppard (1937 —, British playwright), Jumpers (1972)
Abstract
In this chapter, we examine the development and structure of the modern party
system and look at how political power is organised in Great Britain. The first
part of the chapter introduces the idea of ‘representative democracy’ and how it is
managed in Britain. After that, we analyze the major beliefs and policies of three
party groups dominating British politics today, and look at the ‘gap’ between
politicians’ rhetoric during the election campaign and the reality afterwards. In
the third part, we turn to a new issue: why British people vote the way they do.
We examine the connections between a voter’s personal and social characteristics
(gender, age, occupation, etc. ) and the choice between parties at elections. In the
next part of the chapter, we look at how the state is in some way controlled, and
policy to a large extent influenced, by different groups and interests. We conclude
the chapter with a brief description of how British people can make their voices
heard in the political system.
Focus questions
1. How many main political parties are there in the United Kingdom today?
What are they? Which party is currently in power, and which party in
opposition?
2. What are the major beliefs of the Conservative Party and of the Labour party?
3. What do you think are the main political values held by the British public?
4. What do you think are the functions of pressure groups?
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5. Apart from voting in the General and Local Elections, what are some other
means for ordinary people to participate in national or local politics?
Facts and figures
Development of parties
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In the early 19th century, the old party of the Whigs became known as
Liberals.
The Liberal Party was in power for long periods during the second half of the
nineteenth century and for several years during the first quarter of the
twentieth century.
In March 1988, a majority of the Liberals agreed on a merger with the Social
Democratic Party under the title Social and Liberal Democrats.
Soon after the change from Whig to Liberal the Tory Party became known as
Conservative.
Labour candidates for parliament made their first appearance at the general
election of 1892, when there were 27 standing as Labour or Liberal-Labour.
In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was set up in order to
establish a distinct Labour group in Parliament.
In 1906 the LRC became known as the Labour Party.
Financial support
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Government financial support to Opposition parties was introduced in 1975
and is commonly known as Short Money, after Edward Short, the leader of
the House at that time, who introduced the scheme.
Parties must disclose the source and amount of any other donations above
£5,000.
Elections
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The foundations of the electoral system were laid in the Middle Ages.
The franchise (right to vote) became universal for men by stages in the
nineteenth century; hence the rise of the Labour Party.
Woman suffrage (right to vote) came in two stages (1918 and 1928).
In 1970 the minimum voting age was reduced to eighteen.
Pressure groups
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The RDS (Railway Development Society), a UK rail pressure group has been
campaigning for more government money for rail safety and investment since
the Paddington crash.
SERA (Socialist Environment & Resources Association), a green pressure
group includes 100 Westminster MPs plus representatives in the Scottish
Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, the European Parliament and the London
Assembly.
SECTION B: EXPLOITATION ACTIVITIES
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1.  Work individually 
How many ways are there for a British person to influence political decisions?
Make a list of all forms of participation from local to national level. (Use
information from Chapters 13 and 14)
Local
 Write to, or see, a councillor or MP
 Join a local pressure group — this is very easy and usually simply
involves paying a membership subscription
 Write to a local newspaper or radio
 Join a local political party
 Go on a demonstration
 Be a candidate for election
National
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Lobby MPs in Parliament
Write to national newspapers, radio or TV
Join a national pressure group e.g. CND, go on a demonstration
Be a candidate for election as an MP
When you have completed this, your teacher will give you some additional
information on the blackboard about how politically active British people actually
are.
 Whilst students are working draw relevant sections of the graphs
below on the blackboard to illustrate levels of participation. Discuss
with the students the main types of involvement in politics, and why
some avenues for participation are more popular than others.
 In a survey conducted by MORI people were asked what they had done
politically in the previous two or three years. These are the results of
the survey.
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Ma y I a s k w h i c h o f th e th i n g s o n th i s li s t y o u
h a v e d o n e i n th e la s t tw o o r th re e y e a rs ?
1979
Vo te d in la s t
1984
e le ctio n
1989
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
He lp e d o n 1979
fu n d ra is in g 1984
d riv e s
1989
0%
P re s e n te d m y
1979
v ie w s to a
lo ca l
1984
co u n cillo r o r
1989
MP
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Writte n a 1979
le tte r to a n 1984
e d ito r
1989
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Ta k e n a n
1979
a ctiv e p a rt in
1984
a p o litica l
1989
ca m p a ig n
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
 It was mildly reassuring for the health of British democracy to find
that voting in general elections remained a fairly popular activity — in
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fact, the most popular political activity of all. More than two people in
three said they voted in the 1989 election (only around 71% of the
electorate of 43 million voted in the 1997 general election).
Less than one person in three — 31% — had done the second most
popular thing on the list, which was to help in fund-raising drives.
Hardly one person in five — 18% — recalled taking the trouble to urge
someone outside the family to vote.
We were down to almost one person in ten when we reached the items
which involved something like active participation. Thirteen per cent
of people told us that they had presented their views to a local
councilor or MP and the same percentage had either made a speech
before an organized group or been elected the officer of an
organisation or club.
No more than one person in twenty had done any of the last three
things on our list. Five per cent had written a letter to an editor, 3%
had taken an active part in a political campaign, and a bare 1% had
stood for office.
Apart from voting then, all forms of political activity rate as no more
than a minority pastime. Enthusiastic participation in politics is even
more so. Only 6% of our sample said they had done five or more things
on our list and 2% had done seven or more. The person who tells his
elected representative his views is three times more likely to write a
letter to an editor than average. Someone who gets elected the officer
to a club is three times more likely than average to help on fundraising drives and so on. The minority who do get active seem
determined to make up for the indifference of the majority who don’t.
But not only are the levels of participation low, they have been
dropping. Compared with ten years earlier, involvement has at best
risen only marginally but more often stood still and in most cases
fallen.
After all this it will again come as no surprise to discover the
popularity of the missing item on our list — doing nothing. Seventeen
per cent of people had undertaken no political action whatever, as
opposed to 14% in 1979.
It may be that one side-effect of the Thatcher decade has been to
reduce people’s belief in the value of political activity of any kind.
2.  Work in pairs 
Below are three statements of political beliefs. Read them through carefully and
see if you can decide which political party they would vote for in an election.
Be prepared to justify your judgments in a class discussion.
 A. Conservative; B. Liberal Democrat; C. Labour
SECTION C: EXTENSION TASKS
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1.  Work in pairs 
You will need to refer back to the chapters on education, work and welfare, in
addition to the information in this chapter about the beliefs and policies of the
main political parties and the extracts above in section B, question 2.
In the extracts in section B, question 2, the three individuals have said a great
deal about their political viewpoints. What do you think that each might think
about the following issues:
1. Private medicine and private education
2. Taxation
3. The organisation and control of industry
4. Nuclear weapons
5. Trade union reform
6. Helping the poor, the sick and the unemployed
7. The distribution of wealth
8. Equality
9. The role of the State
Volunteers will be asked to represent the views of each of the main political
parties in Britain and they will make a short speech advocating their policies on
some of these issues. Following their speeches, the class will be able to ask them
questions.
 You may wish to direct students to consider any of these issues which
are currently topical. For example, are there any reports of industrial
disputes in the news? When time is pressing, stronger emphasis can be
placed on the Conservative and the Labour only.
Essay topics
1. Compare the political beliefs, attitudes and values of the Conservative and
Labour Parties. Which ones do you think are more reasonable? Why?
2. Examine the impact of big pressure groups on government in contemporary
Britain.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
1. The nature of the party system
(Teacher)
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The main characteristics of the party system can easily be outlined. First, it has
been dominated for well over a century by two major parties ( though not always
the same two), with smaller parties playing only a minor role. This is partly
because of the relative unimportance of social cleavages other than the horizontal
cleavage of class, partly because the electoral system favours the larger parties
and discriminates against the small ones.
Secondly, the major parties are parties of mass membership, having branches
throughout the country and collecting monthly or annual subscriptions from their
members. The Conservative Party had over a million members in the 1980s, but
this had fallen to around 300,000 after their electoral defeat in 1997, while the
Labour Party achieved a peak of over 400,000 members in 1998. Many members
do nothing for the party apart from subscribing; many others take part in social
and fund-raising activities; and a minority are active in party organization or
electoral campaigning. Local studies suggest that about 1 percent of the electorate
are willing to do voluntary work during elections, which would produce an
average of about 500 workers per constituency if this were the general pattern.
The number who actually turn out is probably a little less than this in most areas,
but as there are no paid canvassers on British elections these party workers fulfill
an important function during the campaign.
Thirdly, the parties are highly centralized in spite of their mass memberships. In
the United States the real party managers operate at state and local level, the
national parties being loose alliances formed for electoral purposes. But in Britain
the local party branches have little real power except over the nomination of
candidates. local branches are encouraged to discuss questions of policy and they
send on resolutions for debate at the annual conference, but in practice their
influence on national party policy is for the most part rather slender.
Fourthly, both main parties and some of the smaller ones too, are extremely
active in publishing, producing a steady stream of policy proposals and pamphlets
for discussion. In this way also they are quite unlike their American counterparts,
which publish practically nothing.
Until 1918 the two main parties were the Conservative and Liberal Parties, but
the latter was displaced by the Labour Party shortly after that date. The rise of
Labour was probably inevitable, given the extension of the franchise in 1884 and
1918 to large numbers of working -class citizens who had not formed loyalties to
either of the other parties. Socialist parties have come to play a major role in all
industrial democracies in the twentieth century, with the sole exceptions of the
United States and Canada. However, why Labour displaced the Liberals rather
than the Conservatives is a question that deserves a word of explanation.
One factor is social. Between the 1880s and 1918 the Liberals lost much of their
basic constituency, the ambitious entrepreneurial class of the nineteenth century,
whose members felt themselves to be relative newcomers on the social scene and
who wanted reforms. They were gradually transformed into a prosperous
business class, with a sense of being part of the British establishment. They
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transferred their allegiance to the Conservative Party, partly for social reasons
and partly because the Conservatives seemed better prepared to defend business
interests against the threat posed by the trade unions. Another reason is that the
1914 war deprived the Liberals of one of those policy planks; having stood for
generations as the party of international peace and friendship, they had led
Britain into that disastrous conflict and could no longer sustain the role.
Other factors were tactical and personal. The Liberals encouraged the infant
labour movement, when their party’s interests would have been better served by
an attempt to throttle their rival at birth. During the war the party was badly
split by a conflict between its two leading figures, Asquith and Lloyd George. By
1918 the Liberal Party was doomed to decline. That it had become a small third
party by 1924, with only 40 MPs to Labour’s 151, demonstrates that the British
electoral system does not necessarily act as an obstacle to the re-alignment of the
party system. On the contrary, the system hastened the process of transition in
this period; under a system of proportional representation the Liberal Party
would have retained far more seats than it did in 1924 and would have remained
a force to be reckoned with right up to the present day. However, the Liberals did
not become converted to the principle of proportional representation until just
after they had lost the power to establish such a system-- which was not just a
tactical error but a major strategic blunder.
From 1924 until 1974 the party system was dominated by the Conservative and
Labour parties, which are very different in their organization, membership and
doctrines
2. British political parties in the 1980s and 90s
Political parties are the life blood of a democracy. If they are vigorous and
responsive to the changing features of the society, the political system as a whole
will be healthy; if they are organisationally weak or incapable of adapting to new
demands, they may damage confidence in the system as a whole. The eighties saw
a number of changes occurring in the organisation, strength and ideology of
British parties and the force of these changes have continued to be felt into the
21st century. The following five headings help to outline some distinctive changes
in the British parties.
Dealignment and electoral uncertainty
During the seventies the behaviour of the British electorate began to change
fundamentally. Not merely did the two major parties’ share of the vote drop
significantly but there was increased volatility as voters switched their electoral
preference. Survey evidence revealed a decline in the number of people who
identified with a party. In addition, even when they did identify with a party,
there was a decline in the degree of attachment felt by voters towards that party.
The standard explanation for this behaviour was that Britain was experiencing a
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dealignment — a loosening of the bonds between voters and the party system,
bonds formed on the basis of the major political cleavage in Britain: social class.
The eighties and nineties have seen the continuation of electoral uncertainty,
although there are now a number of competing explanations of what has actually
been happening in the electorate. According to one theory what has been
happening is that dealignment has continued and voters, instead of voting in a
semi-automatic manner on the basis of party identity as in the past, now make up
their minds on the basis of issues. Obviously if this explanation were true, the
role of party advertising and the media would be increasingly important.
A second explanation of the change which has occurred emphasises the extent to
which a combination of changing party appeals and social change have laid the
foundations for a new political alignment. Instead of the simple dichotomy
between the manual and non-manual groups, account should be taken of a
number of other divisions in the electorate. On this theory we have a new
alignment of forces in which the success of the Conservatives appeal to the
expanding and affluent sections of society has meant that Labour has had to
widen their appeal to become associated with the largely prosperous majority of
‘middle England’ They are no longer seen as only representing the interests of
people from the declining areas and impoverished sections of the country. New
Labour has sought to build an image which appeals to all parts of society.
Finally, there is an argument which suggests that, while it needs some
modification, the traditional theory of party identification still offers the best
account of voting behaviour. Underlying the British electorate’s voting behaviour
is still a basic partisan identity. Moreover, the partisan identity is still, according
to this theory, largely based on patterns of social and economic inequality. The
inequalities however are getting more complex and the middle sections of society
may perceive their interests are better served by different parties at different
times.
The structure of party competition
The most visible sign that British party politics was changing in the eighties was,
of course, the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981 and its subsequent
entry into an arrangement with the Liberal Party to form the Alliance. Although
the merger to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, which occurred after the
1987 election, meant the end of the SDP, it did for a period help to threaten the
two major parties’ electoral dominance. And it forced a rethinking of some of the
established conventions of party politics as well as leading to a good deal of
speculation about such issues as tactical voting and hung Parliaments.
The history of the Social Democratic Party has revealed a number of interesting
aspects of British party politics in the eighties. First, it is clear from the
enthusiasm which the new party generated initially that there is still a
substantial body of people anxious to become involved in active politics in Britain.
Secondly, it showed how quickly the intellectual terrain was moving.
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Although the SDP and Liberals, whether separately or together, have failed to
overtake either of the main two parties in their share of the popular vote in the
past few elections, they helped force the Labour Party to reconsider both its aims
and its organisation before it could become electable in 1997. It would now also
be unwise for the two major parties to believe that they can ever again behave
like the lazy duopolists of the fifties. Indeed, the achievements of the Green Party
in elections to the European Parliament underline how quickly a new party can
achieve prominence.
The Conservative Party — dominance and decline
One of the concrete results of the growth of a third force in British politics was the
continued success of the Conservative Party, remaining in power continuously for
18 years from 1979 to 1997. Indeed some people, as a result of the 1987 election,
were talking not so much of a two-party system or a two-and-a-half-party system
but of a one-party dominant system.
Explanations of Conservative success which focussed on Labour weakness or the
split opposition vote were not sufficient to explain the Conservatives’ remarkable
political achievement. Credit must be given to Mrs. Thatcher’s leadership ability
and the peculiar synthesis of free market and populist policies which she has
expressed. Although it would be a mistake to exaggerate her intuitive
understanding of what makes the British public tick (she had for example
severely underestimated the support for good public services, especially in the
health and educational sectors) she had captured perfectly certain basic desires
such as home ownership.
Under their new leader, John Major, the Conservatives won the election in 1992
with a reduced majority. However, over the next five years they continued to lose
the confidence of many voters as their ability in economic management, control of
crime and provision of adequate health and education services was brought into
question while taxes were rising and the party seemed to be divided over relations
with Europe. Once the reformed Labour Party presented widely acceptable
policies under the more authoritative and dynamic leadership of Tony Blair, they
could no longer hold on to the increasing number of voters who were willing to
change their allegiance according to the choices available.
Party management and the Labour Party revival
A fourth distinctive feature of British political parties in the eighties and nineties
has been a debate — sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit — about what
political parties should do in a modern society. Broadly speaking, many of the
debates have been the product of a greater demand from the rank and file to be
able to participate not just in the peripheral aspects of the party’s life but in the
core functions of leadership selection and policy-making. The crusade for internal
party democracy in the Labour Party for a time made leadership of the party
extremely difficult and created an image of the party which the electorate found
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unappealing. In the 1980s Labour had to cope with the Militant Tendency within
its ranks and to find ways of handling demands from ethnic minorities for
separate black sections and from local councilors anxious for support for
resistance to budget cuts. The problem was not simply the demand for internal
party democracy but the combination of that demand with a climate in which a
number of groups within the Labour constituency have developed specific issue
agendas. The Labour leadership was therefore caught between the imperatives of
national politics (responding to the new agenda) and the imperatives of party
politics. From 1992 John Smith and from 1994 Tony Blair, the first fully
democratically elected leader of the party, led a campaign to revise the party’s
constitution by scrapping Clause 4, concerning common ownership of the means
of production and ending trade union direct sponsorship of MPs. The
democratization of the party was then a factor in making it electable in 1997. A
leader who could modernise a party to make New Labour could perhaps help
make a new and better Britain.
New ways of winning elections
The final change in British party politics is perhaps the one with most long term
significance. Certainly it is one of the least noticed. The 1987 campaign confirmed
the absorption into British politics of a number of new ideas and strategies which
promised to alter not merely the character of election campaigns but also the
quality of political debate in Britain. Take first the role of the media. 1987 saw
the triumph of the television-led campaign. Politicians appeal to voters not
directly but indirectly via the television cameras. Politicians and the media are
interlocked in a performance in which the electorate is as irrelevant to the
movement as the audience watching a pas-de-deux at a ballet.
Behind the impact of the television cameras on the election directly there is, of
course, the broader question of opinion formation between campaigns. The
concentration of ownership in the newspaper industry and the generally
overwhelming Conservative sympathy of the press (though many newspapers
supported Tony Blair in 1997) means that it is to television that opposition
parties must look for a fair coverage of their case. Allegations of bias against the
BBC from the Conservative Party reflect an appreciation of the impact of
television on the presentation of issues. Yet the world in which the airwaves were
shared between two major operators has already passed and has given way to a
much more pluralistic and competitive television environment.
A second change of enormous but as yet still developing importance is the use of
advertising agents to plan strategy. The 1987 campaign was followed by a number
of candid inquests. These inquests highlighted the role attached to advertising
agencies and an increasing emphasis on selling politics. Nor was this development
confined to the campaign itself. Saatchi and Saatchi (the agency which handled
the Conservative campaign) did not merely devise the theme for the 1986
Conservative Party conference but also helped draft ministers’ speeches to that
conference in line with the message.
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One of the reasons given for Labour’s success in 1997 was that the party had at
last come to grips with the task of image making and its ‘spin doctors’ became
notorious for their smooth professional presentation of Tony Blair and New
Labour policies.
Traditional political activity at the grassroots level is also likely to be transformed
by the advent of cheap computers and electronic mail.
Cumulatively these developments have created a very different environment for
Britain’s political parties than that which existed in the sixties. If that
environment seems in some respects to trivialise and cheapen politics, in other
respects it points towards a more open and exciting style of party competition
than before. Whether all the parties can respond to those changes with equal
flexibility remains to be seen. But it would be a mistake to believe that they will
be easily reversed.
3. Pressure Groups in Action
Oxfam and Landmine Action campaigners staged a demonstration to draw attention to
the fact that arms companies continue, quite literally, to get away with murder.
On Friday 10 May Oxfam and Landmine Action campaigners protested outside the
factory of PW Defence. The Derby-based company is alleged to have offered to sell 500
landmines, for use in Algeria, to a BBC reporter posing as a potential customer.
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The trade in landmines has been outlawed in the UK since 1998.
A BBC report also claims that to get around the ‘paperwork’ problems that would arise
through a direct export from Britain to Algeria, the senior representative agreed to put the
reporter in touch with their sister company in South Africa.
The owners of PW Defence, Chemring Group have denied the allegations. They have stated
that they last sold the anti-personnel landmines in April 1997 and that these weapons are no
longer in production at the Derby factory. They also said that the salesperson offering the
mines to the reporter was simply “confused” about the company’s current product range.
Small arms, including landmines, kill up to 500,000 people each year.
The alleged sale of landmines by PW Defence demonstrates once again that UK arms export
laws are inept, un-enforced and that end use certificates — which ensure that military
equipment is not illegally diverted to an embargoed destination — are little more than an
administrative nicety.
At the time of writing, Oxfam understands that the Police and Customs and Excise are
investigating the activities of PW Defence.
Why did Oxfam get involved in such an unusual action?
“We want to draw media and public attention to the fact that arms companies continue to get
away, quite literally, with murder.
The Government claims the Export Control Bill currently going through Parliament will stop
the arms dealers doing their dirty business. But it is riddled with loopholes. Holes that would
easily allow an arms manufacturer to make landmines and export them as easily another
product in the knowledge that the Government hardly ever checks, guaranteeing that weapons
made in Britain (the world’s second biggest arms exporter) will not fall into the hands of the
killers.
The reality is that the system is so shambolic that virtually all arms sales overseas remain
unchecked. In 1997, the Government made a manifesto commitment to strengthen “end use
monitoring” of arms exports to ensure that they are not illegally exported or diverted to other
countries. Five years on and there is still no sign of this commitment being made good.”
A personal account of involvement in the Campaign
I joined Oxfam a few months back as a Birmingham based campaigner. Organising a mock
funeral certainly was not on the job spec. But that’s what I found myself doing recently.
When news came through that Derby based arms manufacturer PW Defence had offered to
make landmines for an undercover BBC reporter. Given such serious allegations, as an Oxfam
arms campaigner, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing, this company was local to me and I
couldn’t let them get away with something this shocking without any sort of public response.
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My colleague Eliot Whittington must take the blame. He thought it would be very symbolic to
arrange a mock funeral outside the factory gates! A simple task. Around 25,000 people a year
die or are maimed by landmines. Our funeral would be a way to remember those that have
died.
The manufacture, possession and the sale of landmines is banned in the UK under the 1998
Landmines Act and internationally through the Ottawa Convention. The salesman from PW
Defence was taped by the BBC Today programme offering to manufacture and sell
fragmentation grenades attached to trip wires. Oxfam’s friends at Landmine Action had been
reseraching the company for months. They had seen the company advertise landmines at an
MOD arms fair in London.
I started by ringing a list of Derby funeral
directors. To my surprise many were as
outraged as we were about the company’s
actions. One offered us a free hearse and a
coffin. I rang a local florists to arrange some
flowers, hired a couple of morning suits and top
hats, loud speakers, and arranged some
appropraiate music. We needed people to
participate in the procession and rang Oxfam
groups and other key contacts from across the
Midlands.
When everything was set, we visited the factory to find an old mill in a sleepy Derbyshire
village. There was no security, we could simply drive straight in. Most local people thought it
was still a firework factory. All the regional TV and radio stations wanted to cover it as did the
local papers. The phones started ringing and never stopped with news agencies, newspapers,
local radio, TV all wanting information. I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to change into
my morning suit.
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A journalist rang to tell us there were six heavies outside the factory gates. Would they try and
block the TV camera’s from getting near the factory? A call to the local police solved that
dilemma. BBC1 regional news wanted an interview. Eventually, we set off, wedged between
massive speakers balancing wreaths on our laps.
We arranged to rendevouz with our supporters and the media outside the village pub. When we
arrived, I was sorely dissapointed. Hardly a soul could be seen. Suddenly, a stream of
journalists, photographers and cameramen appeared in the pub doorway but where was the
hearse. The hearse arrived, and eventually, all our supporters and staff volunteers were
corralled into line.
The music started, I put on my most serious face and we slowly progressed down a leafly lane
towards the factory. It was about this time that I realised my trousers were too large. Would
they fall down before we reached the factory gates? A professional to the end I carried on,
cameramen and photographers often inches away.
Just as we arrived at the gates, the policeman interrupted everything to tell me the hearse could
not come near. Richard Lloyd the Director of Landmines Action walked up to the gates with a
swarm of journalists and cameramen to hand over a letter to the company. We then laid
wreaths outside the factory gates. As we departed, one of the journalists spotted policemen
entering the premises.