Electing and ejecting party leaders in Britain

✍ Scribed by Quinn, Thomas

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2012
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 265
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats parties each allow their members to participate in the selection of the party leader, where previously this task was left to MPs. This book examines the consequences of the shift to all-member ballots through a series of case studies of recent leadership contests. It presents a wealth of evidence to show that, when party members choose leaders, they normally use the same selection criteria that MPs use: acceptability, electability and competence. Democratisation of leadership selection has not led to the election of radical leaders, but has proved compatible with the parties' major goals of internal unity and a broad electoral appeal. The book also assesses the ways in which parties remove leaders who have outstayed their welcome. It shows that, although all the major parties have sought to make it harder to eject leaders, Labour leaders are offered the most protection by their party's eviction rules.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 11
List of Tables......Page 12
List of Boxes......Page 14
Acknowledgements......Page 15
List of Abbreviations......Page 17
The rise of all-member ballots in UK party leadership elections......Page 18
Methodology......Page 21
Structure of the book......Page 22
1 Electing and Ejecting Party Leaders......Page 25
MPs, party members and ideology......Page 26
Leadership selection criteria......Page 29
Ejecting party leaders......Page 32
Leader-eviction methods......Page 37
Conclusion......Page 47
2 Selection and Ejection by the Parliamentary Party......Page 48
Leader selection and ejection by MPs......Page 49
The Conservative Party leadership election of 1997......Page 56
Ejecting leaders......Page 61
Conclusion......Page 72
3 The Labour Party: The Electoral College......Page 74
The electoral college......Page 75
Leadership contests in the electoral college, 1983–2007......Page 80
The Labour Party leadership election of 2010......Page 81
Selection criteria in 2010......Page 89
Seeking to eject Labour leaders I: Tony Blair......Page 99
Seeking to eject Labour leaders II: Gordon Brown......Page 103
Conclusion: The distribution of power in the electoral college......Page 111
Reforming the Conservatives' selection system......Page 114
The Conservative Party leadership election of 2001......Page 120
The Conservative Party leadership election of 2005......Page 124
Selection criteria and the 2005 contest......Page 128
Assessing the role of party members in Conservative leadership selection......Page 136
The eviction of Duncan Smith......Page 138
Conclusion......Page 146
5 The Liberal Democrats: One Member-One Vote......Page 148
Historical antecedents......Page 149
Liberal Democrat leadership selection rules and leadership elections 1988–99......Page 150
The fall of Charles Kennedy......Page 154
The Liberal Democrat leadership election of 2006......Page 161
The Liberal Democrat leadership election of 2007......Page 167
Conclusion: MPs, party members and power in the Liberal Democrats......Page 172
Selection criteria, 1963–2010......Page 175
The competitiveness of leadership elections......Page 181
Age and experience......Page 187
Ejecting party leaders: An assessment......Page 194
Conclusion......Page 203
Appendix A: Labour Party Leadership Election Results 1955–2010......Page 206
Appendix B: Conservative Party Leadership Election Results 1965–2005......Page 209
Appendix C: Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party and Liberal Democrat Leadership Election Results 1967–2007......Page 212
Appendix D: Green Party of England and Wales......Page 214
Appendix E: United Kingdom Independence Party......Page 216
Appendix F: British National Party......Page 218
Appendix G: Scottish National Party......Page 220
Appendix H: Plaid Cymru......Page 222
Appendix I: Labour Party Leaders in Scotland and Wales......Page 223
Appendix J: Conservative Party Leaders in Scotland and Wales......Page 225
Appendix K: Liberal Democrat Leaders in Scotland and Wales......Page 226
Appendix L: Donations to Candidates in Party Leadership Contests 2001–10......Page 228
Appendix M: Proposed Labour Leadership Election Timetable 2009......Page 231
Notes......Page 233
Index......Page 254