Party Politics after Brexit Flashcards
Following the 2010 election, who did Cameron form a coalition government with?
Liberal Democrats
When Gordon Brown resigned as Labour Party leader, who replaced him?
Ed Miliband
What was the ‘Third-Way’?
More left wing economic agenda
How did immigration influence the ‘Third-Way’s’ popularity?
With Labour’s unpopular record on immigration, Ed Miliband couldn’t find sustainable position between anti-immigration and support for free migration in the EU
How did the economy influence the ‘Third-Way’ popularity?
Voters’ believe that 2007 financial crisis and austerity that followed was Labour’s fault
How did the Miliband influence the ‘Third-Way’ popularity?
He was unpopular with voters and MPs
How did the media influence the ‘Third-Way’ popularity?
Hostile media environment circulated negative press about Labour and Ed Miliband, furthering fuelling the discontent for the Labour Party
How did the SNP influence the ‘Third-Way’ popularity?
Opinion polls pointed consistently to a hung parliament in 2015. Tories campaigned relentlessly on prospect of Labour relying on SNP to govern. People did not like the SNP or its leader at the time, very harmful to Labour’s likeability.
Who won the 2015 general election?
Cameron’s Conservatives
How was Jeremy Corbyn able to win the 2015 leadership election?
While leader, Miliband reformed party rules for leadership elections
What were the difficulties of Corbyn’s leadership?
- Mocked by the media
- Unpopular with MPs and voters
What caused infighting in the Labour Party from 2015?
Corbyn’s leadership
What were Corbyn’s views on the EU?
He is a lifelong Eurosceptic, but he was under pressure from his party to campaign for remain.
What is meant by ‘member of the hard left faction’?
Why was Corbyn an outsider?
Few political friends
Serial rebel
Notorious poor performer in the House of Commons
Never held frontbencher position or any serious responsibility in politics
In terms of electoral context, how did Corbyn win?
- Appetite in the selectorate for a change in direction and optimism following Miliband’s leadership
- Welcoming a clear break from New Labour
- Miliband’s reform meant that Corbyn didn’t need to win support of MPs and unions. He could appeal to members and non-members.
In terms of leadership, how did Corbyn win?
Miliband was seen as a weak leader and bad for the economy. Corbyn, in contrast, impressed supporters with his authenticity.
Some were attracted to Corbyn’s ideology, others to the man himself.
Highly effective campaign based on his distinctive character and left-wing politics
Ran as a movement against established ways of doing politics
Corbyn despises media and established ‘rules’ of politics – turned to his advantage
His campaign made very effective social media campaign attracted supporters and money, and allowed Corbyn to exploit new rules
Other candidates looked dull by comparison and struggled to explain what was wrong with Corbyn’s proposals other than them ‘not being electable’
In terms of ideology, how did Corbyn win?
Supporter of Tony Benn & AES, fierce critic of Thatcherism & New Labour
Part of the ‘hard left’ – believed Labour needed to be more socialist and that it could win if it stood on a truly socialist platform that would energise voters
Blamed SDP in 1981 for undermining Labour’s appeal and splitting the ‘left vote’ in 1983 –> The SDP actually took votes from the Tories in 1983!
In 2015, Corbyn’s ideology was very distinct from compassionate conservatism, liberalism, Third Way & Ed Miliband’s ‘One Nation Labour’
What is New Labour?
What is Ed Miliband’s ‘One Nation Labour’?
What was Corbyn’s economic policies?
- Commitment to nationalisation (energy, Openreach, National Grid, Water, rail)
- Council house building and ‘right to buy’ for private tenants
- Increased taxes for corporations and ‘top 5%’
- Abolition of tuition fees
- Higher welfare spending and scrap Universal Credit
- Increased minimum wage and a 4 day working week
- National Care Service, National Education Service and more money for NHS
- 10% company shares transferred to workers
What similarities do Corbynism and ‘Third-Way’ / Liberal Conservatism share?
Social issues, though some of Corbyn’s backers in trade unions supported more conservative stance on immigration
What was Corbyn’s foreign and security policy?
- Critical of NATO & US
- Sympathetic towards Russia, Iran, IRA, Hamas, Hezbollah
- Opposed to ‘Western intervention’ – Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Falklands
- Eurosceptic for the same reason as ‘hard left’ in 1980s i.e., Europe was a capitalist club
- Opposed to nuclear deterrent
- Sceptical of many security and terrorism laws (e.g., ‘shoot to kill’)
What is the size and scope of state in the economy under Corbynism?
Extensive nationalisation and resume commitment to full employment
What is Corbynism’s view on the welfare state?
Commitment to extensive welfare state and payments
What is Corbynism’s view on foreign affairs?
Sceptical of NATO, US & EU
What is Corbynism’s view on law and order?
Focus on living standards and welfare.
Extensive police funding.
What is Corbynism’s view on individuals and communities?
Emphasis on society and communities
What is Corbynism’s view on equality?
Equality of outcome
What is Corbynism’s view on redistribution of wealth or power?
Agressive redistribution of wealth through tax welfare
What is Corbynism’s view on ownership of means of production
Extensive nationalisation
How did Corbyn win the 2015 and 2016 leadership elections in terms of party politics?
Ideology: Corbyn’s ideology appealed to Labour selectorate and voters
Leadership: Corbyn contrasted positively with other leadership candidates and fought skilful, insurgent campaign that mobilised thousands
Electoral Context: Labour reeling from unexpected defeat & election rules allowed Corbyn to bypass MPs (where he was very unpopular)
What difficulties did Boris Johnson initially encounter when negotiating with the EU?
May left with a hung Parliament
Party loyalty fell apart , pro and anti-Brexit MPs in Labour and Tory parties, and no majority in favour of anything could be found
What similarities does Corbyn and Johnson share?
- Despised by some in Conservative Parliamentary Party
- Notoriously poor performer in House of Commons
- Limited experience on frontline and performance in such roles was controversial
Why did Johnson win in terms of his leadership?
- Ran a disciplined campaign
- He knew he would win the membership ballot
- Pointed to his success against the left in London and his national popularity
Why did Johnson win in terms of ideology?
- Johnson is an opportunistic politician. Cameron accused Johnson of supporting Brexit to further his career ambitions.
- His ideological flexibility was an advantage in the 2019 general election, as it made it easy to adopt ‘un-conservative’ policies and nullify Labour’s advantage on key issues (e.g. NHS)
- Leadership rivals carried ideological baggage (Thatcherites, Cameroons)
- Johnson could deflect all questions about ideology and focus on Brexit
- He allowed to appeal to large swathes of Tory MPs and membership
What policies did Johnson 2019 manifesto include?
- More police
- Tougher sentences for criminals
- Australian style points based immigration system’ - reduction of numbers
- More money and staff for the NHS
- More (private) housing
- Pro-US, ‘Anglosphere’ foreign policy
- Tax cuts for everyone in work and small businesses
- Cancellation of cuts in tax cuts
- More childcare
- Infrastructure spending on railways
Why did Johnson win in terms of the electoral context?
Conservative Party – despite being in office – was in crisis in 2019
May’s disastrous 2017 campaign squandered the majority won in 2015
Country was facing prospect of ‘hard left’ Labour government led by Corbyn – Tory MPs’ worst nightmare
After embracing Brexit & promising to deliver in 2017, Tories were failing to do so and voters were getting frustrated
2019 European elections were a disaster as Brexit Party capitalised – Tories came 5th and lost all but 4 MEPs
Tory MPs & members were looking for someone who could deliver Brexit – without compromises in withdrawal agreement – & defeat Corbyn’s Labour
Labour Party feared Johnson – knew his ideological flexibility would make it easy for him to ‘steal their lines’ & oppose austerity (Pogrund & Maguire 2020)
Johnson’s record defeating Labour and left-wing candidates in Labour’s heartland of London meant he could not be taken lightly
Corbyn’s team knew they could match May – but Corbyn couldn’t hope to match Johnson in campaigning skill or popularity among voters
What are Johnson’s Conservatives party politics
- Ideology: His ideology (at the time) appealed to Tory MPs and members
- Leadership: Charismatic & disciplined campaign, popular in the country and record of victories in referendum and London
- Electoral context: Conservatives looking for ‘a winner’ and someone who could deliver a Brexit they supported
