political parties Flashcards
Political party
Group of like minded individuals who field candidates at election
Salisbury doctrine
Convention that House of Lords does not block or try to wreck legislation that was promised in manifesto of governing party
Example of electoral mandate in practice (Salisbury doctrine)
1997 general election manifesto
Labour promise removal hereditary peers
HoL Act 1999
Roles of political parties
Representation Political engagement and participation Political recruitment Policy formulation Stable government
Representation (role of political parties)
Traditionally parties represent views of members, de-alignment undermined thus
Political engagement and participation (role of political party)
Party educate to encourage involvement
Quality of participation depends on how internally Democratic Party is
Political recruitment (role of political parties)
Draw suitable candidates
Opportunity to serve a form of political apprenticeship
Policy formulation (political parties)
Discuss, develop policy proposals
result in more considered+joined style of gov
Stable government (role of political party)
Parties present voters with clear choice+provide order
Gov secures a safe passage for legislation
Print media sources
Broadsheets
Tabloids magazines
Online media
Opinion polls
Blogs
Twitter
Campaigning
Radio media
News headlines
Commercial radio
Tv media
News broadcasts
Party political broadcasts
News channels
Political programming
Opinion polls
Increased since 1970s
Test policies,leadership and campaign
Affect how people vote
Changing role of media
Now overly partisan, mock+ridicule Politicians become ‘celebrities’ Become entertainment Pressure 24 hour news Uninformed debates social media
1979 ‘crisis, what crisis?’ Sun headline
How did this influence election result
YES; suggest Callaghan out of touch with voters
NO; opinion polls= he was ahead of thatcher whole campaign, labs strongest asset
1997; sun switches to supporting cons to labour
Influenced election result
YES; many voters switched allegiance
NO; press was reacting to mood of the time, reflected in polls
2010 ‘I agree with nick’ brown + Cameron during tv debate
Influenced election result
YES; raised Nick Clegg performance raised profile, hung parliament
NO; Lib Dem vote share only increase by 1%, lost seats
2010; expenses scandal
Influenced election result
YES; Undermine reputation of MPs
Many lost seats
NO; turnout 4% higher than in 2005
Lab set to lose anyway
2017 televised debate
Influence election result
YES;May didn’t participate, weak- Corbyn credibility increased
NO; may won more votes than Cameron, Corbyn lost
Role of media between elections
War reporting Sleaze Bliar Expenses EU Satire
War reporting (role of media)
Patriotic reporting toward Falklands war
Thatcher ‘iron lady’
Swing public opinion toward her
Sleaze (role of media)
1992 sex scandals con party
Named ‘nasty party’ + sleaze
Helped swing to Tony Blair
Expenses (role of media)
2009 daily telegraph
Wrongful claims
£1,645 duck house
Distrust in politicians
EU (role of media)
Anti eu reports issue more prominent
UKIP
Referendum pressure from media
Mainstream parties
Three
Cons from Tory group
Lab from trade unions+ socialist organisation
Lib Dem’s= liberal and SDP
Minority parties
Nationalist parties
SNP and mebyon kernow (cornwall)
Single issue parties
Green Party
UKIP
Impact of third parties
Protest votes (not enough people do it) Major parties re-evaluate policy Green Party raised environmental concerns- mainstream
Dominant party system
One party dominant for long period e.g Japan Liberal Democratic Party 1955 and 1993
Cons 79-97
Multi party system
Many parties compete for power, government consists of coalitions
E.g Italy 1945-1933
Single party
One party dominates, bans other parties
Nazi germany
DPRK
Two party system
Two fairly equally matched parties compete for power
2015 general election, what % of voters didn’t vote for the 2 main parties
13.5%
Conservative party
1830s
Monetarism
67 years in office
Monetarism
Controlling money supply as means of keeping inflation in check
Adversal politics
Disagreeing with opposition
What was David Cameron referred to
Heir to Blair
More centrist policies
Advantage of primaries
Party more attractive so gain members Political involvement Increase participation Legitimacy Diverse candidates
Disadvantages of primaries
People not voting with best intention
Labours £3 to join voting Corbyn
Members might not want it
Advantages for all women shortlist’s
Increase in women in parliament
Encourages diversity
Female issues higher on agenda
Disadvantages of all women shortlist’s
No merit
Sexist
More suitable make for the job
Need to solve root cause (childcare,confidence,cash+culture)
Conservative policy under Theresa May
End authority
Raise personal tax allowance
Means test winter fuel allowance
Pledge remove triple lock pensions
Roughly, what % of votes did unions still control in 1990
80%
Why was the Labour Party formed
Represent working class when franchise hadn’t been extended
1918 constitution
Clause IV showed labour party’s commitment to public ownership
One nation conservatism
Pragmatism Gradual improvement Paternalistic Mixed economy-significant state intervention if needed Support for welfare state
One nation Tory individuals
Kenneth Clarke
Nicholas Soames
Thatcherite individuals
John Redwood
Liam Fox
Post Thatcherite individuals
Boris Johnson (liberal conservative) Philip Blond (red Tory)
Labour factions (James Callaghan)
James Callaghan+ other’s right of party public sector pay demands had to be resisted
Labour factions (left)
Tony Benn+Michael Foot greater wealth distribution
Labour under Jeremy Corbyn
Ideological position and rebellious back bench rep make harder to secure party loyalty
Few labour factions
Momentum
Socialist workers party
Saving labour
Liberal Democrat’s
1998
Main party in gov early 20th century distant 3rd by 1960
Lib Dem’s under Nick Clegg
Protection of civil liberties
Constitutional reform
Orange book liberals
Draw on classical liberalism endorse by lower taxes
Social liberals
New progressive liberalism of Keynes
1990s conservative policy was mainly determined by who
party leader
what is john major say in 1922 (party policy)
‘it was all me’
who wrote the 2010 conservative manifesto
mainly cameron, Oliver letwin and steve hilton
labour party conference
genuine policy making events
97’ onwards had 2 year policy making cycle
national policy forum
appointed policy commissions to make proposals formalised in national executive committee
politcal party funding
membership subscription
public funding
donations
labour’s funding
until 1990s lots of funding from trade unions
conservative’s funding
mainly from wealthy business interests
donations for labour
Bernie Ecclestone
Lord Sainsbury
donations for con
Paul Ghetty
Stuart Wheeler
controversy over political funding
Bernie Ecclestone £1 mill lab 1997, delay on tobacco advertising ban formula 1
political parties, elections and referendums act 2000
£30,000 per constituency limit
spending limits for elections to devolved bodies
declare donations £5,000 to electoral commission
political parties and elections act 2009
tighter spending regulations on run-up
electoral commission can impose fines+investigate
restrict donations from non uk residents
reduce threshold for donation decleration
what did the 2007 phillips report, strengthening democracy; fair and sustainable funding for political parties suggest
pence per voter
pence per member
policy development grants
annual share of a £2 million pots to any party that has two or more MPs taking oath of allegiance
get subsidies, postage costs
cranborne money
funds paid to opposition parties in house of lords help cover adminstrative costs and can properly scrutinise the government
in 2014-15 how much did labour get in cranborne money
£572,717
short money
funds paid to opposition parties to cover administrative costs
available to all opposition parties that win at least two seats/ 1 seat with over 150,00 votes
2014-15 how much did labour get in short money
£6,684,794
reform of party funding
become more transparent
‘loans for peerage’ scandal= still loop holes
% of labour party funding which is membership
19%
Lord Ashcroft (conservative donor)
doesn’t pay uk tax on overseas earnings
should political parties be state funded (YES)
open to be funded by wealthy/interest groups
state funding=don’t spend ages courting for donations
party e,g lib dems would be on more equal footing
should political parties be state funded (NO)
tax payers fund parties don’t support
politicians isolated from real world if denied access from interest groups
parties have unequal resources regardless e,g membership
privatization
transferring ownership from state to private business
e.g british gas
how did thatcher change income taxes and benefits
freeze child benefits
cut housing benefits
universal benefits
get regardless of income levels
means tested benefits
only those on low income get it
what did thatcher do to basic and top rates of income tax
cut them
what did thatcher cut the top and bottom rate of income tax to in 79’
86% to 60%
33% to 30%
what did thatcher cut the top and bottom rates of income tax to in 88’
60% to 40%
27% to 25%
right to buy scheme
housing act 1980
tenants buy council house discounted price
by 1987 how many council houses had been sold
over a million
thatchers social policies
neo conservative
strong punishment
extension police power, search car+properties
arrests for bad language
what was section 28 of the local government act (1988)
local authorities ‘shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality’
main different between ‘wets’ and ‘dries’
wets one nation gradual paternal change
dries rapid change, less organic
why did labour split in the early 80s
Michael foot left wing leader, move opposed by SD members
what were the consequences of the labour split in early 80s
SDP formed 4 members
1983 labours ‘suicide manifesto’ lab 27% SDP 25%
how did the UKs post industrial society influence new labour
middle class growth decline power+influence of trade unions
how did pressure of globalization influence new labour
UK can’t have high tax and regulation as multinationals would move
how did blair change clause IV of the labour constitution
committed them to nationalisation
new clause 4 talk about market rigour of competition
‘thriving private sector+high quality public services’
what was tony blairs ‘third way’
between socialism and Thatcherism
social justice+economic efficiency
lab accept lower tax+privatisation
what did new labour promise ahead of ‘97 general election
stick to prev con spend plans, not raise income tax
up to 2008 public spending % of GDP lower than under the cons
how were new labour’s economic policies similar to the cons
corporation tax 33% to 28% priv outsourcing PFI foundation hospitals
outsourcing
public services outsourced to private companies competing for contracts
public finance initiatives (PFI)
priv sect bids for contracts to finance+build new hospitals, rent service back to tax payer
foundation hospitals
managers independence to set up contracts+borrow money
recession
economy shrinks for two consecutive quarters
how many recessions have there been since 1940?
5
why did Gordon Brown think there would be no return to the ‘boom and bust’
economic boom 1983 to early 2000s
inflation falling
living stands+real wages increasing
why were house prices increasing so rapidly preceding the crash
growth financed by public debt
low interest+inflation=cheap credit
mortagages cheaper
drove up demand
what was the problem with an increase in demand for house
supply couldn’t meet demand so started to increase
what does it mean to say the banks were ‘over leveraged’ prior to financial crash
obligation to pay others greater than their equity
don’t have reserves to fall back on
sub prime mortgages
sold to people with poor credit rating history of not paying debt
how did America help trigger a global recession with their sub prime mortgages crisis
were sold to international investors
turned it global
why did lbaour government spend so much money bailing out the banks
consequences of letting them collapse were too serious
what was the 2008 economic stimulus
VAT temporarily cut from 17.5 to 15
basic income tax rate cut £145
ensure extra money flowing in the economy
why did the deficit increase so sharply following crash
tax receipts reduced
money going out was increasing e.g on social welfare
bc unemployment was rising
why did the conservatives argue labour had ‘failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining’
lab didn’t put enough money aside whilst they could
how did conservatives change spending plans after 2007
proposed to match labs spending but scrapped this
called for public spending cuts
how did labour justify its pre crash economic policies
public spend necessary bc previous con gov hadn’t invested enough in infrastructure
why did cons and classical economists want to quickly cut deficit
big impact on nation debt and rates (uks ability to borrow money at low rates)
lose good credit rating
why did Keynesian economists and labour party favour economic stimulus, even if it increased deficit
take advan of low borrowing cost+borrow more to invest+stimulate growth
short term deficit but economy would recover quicker
cons spending plans 2010 general election
eliminate bulk of deficit by 2015-16
ratio of spending cuts to tax increase 4:1
lab spending plans 2010 general election
half deficit it by 2013-14
ratio of spending cuts to tax increases 2:1
lib dems spending plans 2010 general election
half deficit by 2013-14
ratio of spending cuts to tax increases 2.5:1
