How important are leaders to political parties?

Question 1

Arguments that leaders to political parties are important

Answer 1

• Tony Blair began in 1997 with an extremely positive image, and won two more elections, and was particularly known for his charisma.
• Nigel Farage’s UKIP party got 12% of the vote share in the 2015 general election due to his popularity. However, in the 2017 general election with Paul Nuttall getting less than 2% of the vote.
• David Cameron enjoyed a much more positive image than Ed Miliband. Miliband was slammed in the media consistently and public support for him was low (bacon sandwich photograph)
• During the 2017 general election, Jeremy Corbyn started as a underdog, reviled by much of the pres, opposed by many MP’s in his own party and unpopular among voters. Corbyn created a bandwagon effect among the young and created a resurgence.

Question 2

Arguments that party leaders aren’t important to political parties

Answer 2

• In the 1979 general election, James Callaghan led Margaret Thatcher by 20% in popularity polls but lost the election.
• Similarly, in 2010, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was the most popular of the party leaders, following impressive showings in televised leadership debates, but his party’s share of the vote fell by 1% and the party lost five of its parliamentary seats.
• In the 2015 general election, UKIP’s Nigel Farage had the lowest satisfaction level out of all the party leaders yet UKIP’s share of the vote shot up by 9.5%.