- LEADERS
- In the 2017 leadership election, there were five candidates, after two rounds of MP ballots, Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom emerged as the top two candidates.
- However, before the vote could go to party members, Theresa May was declared the winner after Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the race.
- Some argued that, without member support, May lacked mandate to lead the party.
- After Tony Blair resigned in 2007, Gordon Brown automatically became the next party leader after he was nominated by 308 MPs – making it impossible for rival John McDonnell to reach the 45 nominations he required to run.
- In 2010, Ed Miliband beat his brother David to the leadership even though the majority of MPs and Constituency members preferred him to Ed – Ed had more trade union support and some argued this was unfair.
- The electoral college system has been criticised as 1/3 votes given to 270 MPs, and 1/3 vote to 160,000 party members and 1/3 to 2 million in affiliated groups, meaning 1 MP vote worth hundreds of member votes and thousands of affiliated votes.
- Also possible for someone to vote more than once – an MP could vote as a constituency party member and a trade union member.
- Corbyn was elected under this new system in September 2015, winning a landslide victory with 59.5% of the vote.
- During the initial MP nomination process, Corbyn secured his final few MP nominations minutes before the final deadline.
- Many of his nominees said they would not vote for him but wanted his more left-wing views to feature in the election debate.
- In 2016, 172 Labour MPs supported a motion of no confidence in the Labour leader, with only 40 MPs voting to support Corbyn.
- On 24 September 2016, the party announced that Corbyn had won the election with 61.8% of the vote, defeating rival Owen.
- The NEC had decided to automatically add Corbyn to the ballot, also they decided to exclude anyone who had joined Labour or an affiliated organization after Jan 2016, unless they paid £25 – Critics argued this was an attempt to disenfranchise poorer members.
- PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES
- All-women shortlists have proven controversial — not least because they serve to discriminate against suitably able and qualified male candidates.
- At the 2005 general election, the independent candidate Peter Law was elected to represent the constituency of Blaenau Gwent, having been prevented from seeking selection as the official Labour Party candidate by the party’s imposition of an all-women shortlist.
- Despite making a pledge in the Coalition Agreement to fund open primaries for 200 all-postal primaries, the party soon fell quiet on the issue of further open primaries.
- It has been speculated that the rebellious behaviour of Dr Sarah Wollaston, coupled with the cost of running the open primary process, has scared the leadership off the idea of letting the public decide.
- POLICY
- Until the late 1990s, Conservative Party policy was largely determined by its leader –
- John Major famously on the 1992 general election manifesto: ‘It was all me.’
- The establishment of a national party Policy Forum in 1998 appeared to allow for grassroots participation in the process but the initiative was short-lived.
- The party’s 2010 general election manifesto was said to have been written entirely by David Cameron, Oliver Letwin and Steve Hilton (director of strategy), while Jo Johnson MP was said to have been behind the drafting of the 2015 manifesto.
- Traditionally, they have been more direct in acknowledging that the party leadership takes responsibility for policy, with conferences more for rallying members and projecting the right image to the media.
- Historically, the Labour Party conferences held a significant policy-forming role.
- However, in recent years, influence has shifted towards the leadership after Tony Blair established the National Policy Forum, which consists of a number of policy committees that each draw up policy proposals for the National Executive Committee.
- Many critics have argued that the party’s national conference has become a symbolic rubber stamp of approval, rather than a means for vigorous debate over policy.
- At the 2013 conference, delegates voted unanimously to renationalise the railways and reverse the coalition’s privatisation of Royal Mail.
- However, despite strong support for both policies, the party leadership announced that renationalisation would not make it into the party’s next election manifesto.
- Corbyn has taken some limited steps to make the party more democratic.
- He has asked members to submit their own questions ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions, and he asked members for their views ahead of the 2015 debate on whether to authorise military action in Syria.
- Rail renationalisation has also now become party policy.
- However, one problem with this is that there is a huge gulf between the views of many of the party’s left-wing members, and the Parliamentary Labour Party.