Political parties examples Flashcards
What is an example of a government being able to deliver on a manifesto promise because they have a strong mandate?
In its 1997 manifesto, Labour promised to remove the rights of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the HOL. The landslide victory handed the party a strong mandate to carry out the reform, via the HOL Act 1999
What is an example highlighting party leaders are taking control of the manifesto?
In 1992, Major famously declared the party’s manifesto was ‘all me’.
Examples of nationalist or regional parties?
SNP, Mebyon Kernow, Yorkshire Party
Which party has seeked to develop a truly nationalist agenda?
UKIP- withdrawl from the EU
What % of the vote did UKIP win in the 2015 general election
12.50%
What are some examples of single issue parties?
Brexit Party, Women’s equality party, Independent Kiddiminster Hospital and Health Concern Party (Richard Taylor won the Wyre Forest Constituency in 2001 and 2005)
Discuss UKIP’s success in the 2015 election and their policy influence
It polled 3.9 million voters in 2015, but won only one seat in the HOC. They often attracted Eurosceptic ‘left behind’ voters. Their increase in popularity put pressure on Cameron to call a EU referendum, leaving UKIP to campaign leave.
Why did UKIP decline?
Achieved its goal of leaving the EU after the 2016 referendum. The Conservatives became a pro-Brexit party meaning most Brexit voters swapped to the Conservatives
What % of people backed parties other than the ‘big two’ in 2019
24.3%, although this meant support for the two main parties was still 75.7%
What % of seats did the two main parties win in 2019?
87%
Where does the Greens have one seat?
Brighton Pavillion
How much of the vote did the Lib Dems get in 2019 and how far were they behind the second party in terms of number of seats?
the lib Dems had 11.5% of the vote, but were still 191 seats behind Labour
When were the Conservatives in power in the 20th century?
1951-64 under Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Douglas Home and then 1979-97 under Thatcher and Major
What did Thatcher refer to people who weren’t prepared to sign up to her policies as?
Wets’
Who challenged Thatcher as party leader?
1989- Anthony Meyer, 1990- Michael Heseltine (led to her resignation)
What are the three strands within Conservatism?
Pre-Thatcherite (one-nation), Thatcherite and post-Thatcherite
What is a pre-Thatcherite group (one-nation)
Tory Reform Group
What is a Thatcherite faction?
Conservative Voice
Bruges Group
How is post Thatcherite split into 2 and what are some examples of groups in these 2 strands?
Split into red tory- ResPublica and liberal conservatism (Bright Blue)
Who was Cameron widely referred to as when he was elected?
The ‘heir to Blair’
How was the Conservative Party regarded when Cameron came into office?
The nasty party
What was Cameron’s strategy when he went into office?
He wanted to lead away from issues like the EU which deeply divided the parties and focus on issues where he could gain electoral advantage (environment). This was in an attempt to detoxify the Conservative Brand, reflected in the 2010 Manifesto ‘fix broken Britain’
How did Cameron describe his ideology?
Liberal Conservatism with a hint of Thatcherism
How can the 2010 Manifesto be described?
As having style over substance, with proposals such as a British Bill of rights and an aim to triangulate liberal social policies with an attempt to roll back the frontiers. However there was no clear aim on how to do this
Why did May struggle to get any of her policies through?
Agenda became focused on Brexit and by losing the majority, a power sharing deal with the DUP meant May was forced to drop many of her more controversial policies, particularly those believed to cost her the election
What was Conservatism ideology like under May and Johnson
Shift away from Thatcherism and selfish individualism, towards a shared society economically, but more social Conservatism than under Cameron
Example of May showing a move away from Thatcherism?
May pledged to end austerity and favoured state intervention to repair market failings, for example imposing a cap on enegy prices
How did the move away from Thatcherism gain pace under Johnson?
Levelling up was one of his key messages , with Johnson promising to direct resources to poorer regions in order to balance the economy
What under Johnson showed a more dogmatic approach, associated with Thatcherism
His want to get Brexit done
What example highlights May and Johnson’s move to social conservatism
pro-brexit, ending the free movement of people and adding to Eurosceptism
In the 1900s, what % of Labour affiliation came from Trade unions?
94%
By 1990, what % of Labour Party Funding and votes came from trade unionists?
80%
Who gained control of the Labour party after the winter of discontent?
the left of the party under leadership of Michael Foot
Who was Corbyn known as before being elected as Labour Party Leader?
a committed socialist and a serial backbench rebel during the New Labour era. He only made it onto the ballot paper because some MPs felt like there was a lack of ideological breadth on there
What % of the vote did Corbyn get in the leadership election?
59.5% which was quite impressive
What ideology was Corbyn and what shows this?
back to old labour: full employment, a secure homes guarentee, education open to all, secure the NHS, put the public back into economy and services
What kind of ideology has Keir Starmer shown?
A shift somewhat back to new labour but not simply as a blair clone
Which faction on the left of labour have criticised Starmer’s leadership?
Momentum
Which faction on the right of labour have criticised Corbyn’s leadership?
Labour First Group
How many votes did UKIP and the Green Party get between them in 2015?
5 million
Where did the Brexit party agree not to stand in 2019? How successful was this?
Not to stand in seats where the Conservtaives won in 2017, so that all the people wanting Brexit would vote Conservative and beat Labour - and hopefully achieve a majority. Proven to not have much impact and may have even given Labour an advantage. In 38 of the 189 Labour seats, the combined Brexit and Conservative vote was larger than the Labour vote, meaning if the Brexit party didn’t stand at all, Conservatives could have won 403 seats instead of 365
What % of the vote did the main 2 parties achieve in 2017?
82.40%
In the 2019 European Elections, what % of the vote did Labour and Conservative get together?
23.20%
In the 2019 European Elections, what % of the vote did the Brexit Party get?
31.60%
In 2016 Scottish elections, what % of the vote did SNP achieve?
46.50%
What happened in the local elections in 2019 to show growth of a multi party system?
The number of councils with no overall control by one party more than doubled to 70, with losses for the big 2 parties and gains for the Greens and Lib Dems
In 2016 Scottish elections, what % of the vote did Labour achieve?
22.60%
In 2016 Scottish elections, what % of the vote did the Conservatives achieve?
22
What % of Labour voters in Scotland voted for independence?
35%
How many Scottish seats did Labour lose in the 2015 election?
40 out of 41
How many seats did SNP win in 2015 election?
56 out of 59
What % of the vote went to the 2 main parties in 2015?
67.30%
How did the Brexit party do in the 2019 election?
They targeted seats where the Conservatives had no chance of beating Labour. In these 178 seats, the Brexit Party won no seats and came second in only 2, with the tories finishing second in the other 176
How did Lib Dem MPs declined between 2010 and 2015
From having 57 MPs in Parliament to just 8 in 2015
Example of a large donation to a party from a wealthy individual?
Some felt Bernie Ecclestone’s 1 million pound donation to the Labour Party in 1997 prompted the delay on the introduction of the ban of tobacco advertising in Formula 1
What’s an example of rich people being seen to give greater donations to the party in power?
Of the top 197 individual donors to political parties in 2015, 151 went to the Conservative party
How much short money did Labour receive in 2020-21?
6.5 million pounds, including an extra 850,000 pounds for the leader of the opposition
In 2019, what % of Labour’s funding came from membership fees?
29%, compared to individual donations which made up 31%
How much did the Conservatives receive in donations during the 2019 election cycle? How about Labour?
Conservatives got 19.4 million and Labour received 5.4 million
What scandal based around funding came out of the Covid-19 pandemic?
There was a major scandal that multi-million pound contracts for PPE were awarded to individuals whose only qualification was that they had previously made large donations to the Conservative party
What shows that political spending on social media has increased?
Political party spending on platforms is likely to have increased by over 50% in 2019 compared to 2017, with 6 million spent on Facebook and 3 million spent on google by the three main UK wide parties
What was UK party funding like in 2019?
UK political parties received the largest ever total for financial donations in a single year in 2019. At over 113 million, 2019 was 40m higher than the previous record in 2017
Who received the UK’s biggest single political donation in 2019?
Lord Sainsbury donated 8 million to the Lib Dems. This beat the previous record of 5m donated to the Conservatives in 2001 by John Getty. However, it did little to swing the election as the Lib Dems lost their leader and secured just 11 seats
How much did Unite give the Labour party in the last quarter of 2019?
4.9m
What are some examples of manifesto pledges which have not been carried out?
Labour did not reform the electoral system in 1997, the Conservatives scrapped parts of HS2 and Nick Clegg’s promise to not raise tuition fees, while the coaltion then lifted the cap on fees
