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1

When did the Conservative Party first introduce a system for electing its leaders?

1965 (elected by Conservative MPs)

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2

What Act of Parliament provides the main legal basis for political parties?

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

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3

Define a political party.

A party can be described as ‘a group of people who have come together to campaign for shared political ends’.

Parties seek to achieve their ends through seeking to win election to public office at different levels.

Parties have a legal definition under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

They also perform a crucial role in the political system, allowing representative democracy to function, and providing a means by which members of the public might become involved in politics.

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4

Does the UK have a two-party system?

For approximately a century, either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party have formed a single party UK government or been the dominant group in a coalition. Before this point, the Liberals rather than Labour were one of the two main parties alongside the Conservatives.

The First-Past-the-Post electoral system reenforces this tendency, though it might be held in an artificial way. It could be argued that the two main parties effectively contain multiple strands within them that could, under a different system, form separate parties.

There have been a variety of smaller parties over time that have an influence at UK level, and have sometimes held the balance of political power (for instance, the Liberal Democrats from 2010-2015; the DUP 2017-2019).

Below UK level, differential party systems operate in various territories of the UK.

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5

Are political parties more focused on winning power, or on pursuing their principles?

The Conservatives by tradition have valued holding office over being attached to rigid ideas, and have a track record for political success.

Labour, by contrast, has tended to be regarded as more committed to principles such as social justice and the party has at times appeared to prioritise such objectives to an extent that has reduced its chances of electoral success.

But it is important not to make an artificial distinction between achieving power and pursuing principles. It is arguably difficult to advance particular values without holding office; and a party must have some conception of what it stands for if it is to govern in a coherent way. Labour has – for instance under Tony Blair – made electoral success a high priority. The Conservatives have in recent decades become more driven by specific principles, such as dislike of the EU.

Some of these arguments replicate for other parties in the UK. The Greens, for instance, exist to promote environmentalist ends. Yet they have also achieved a degree of electoral system in the process. The Liberal Democrats faced difficulty choices between maintaining principles and holding office in 2010 when they entered a coalition with the Conservatives. Eurosceptic parties – UKIP and the Brexit Party – arguably had an immense influence on UK departure from the EU without ever forming part of a government.

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6

How democratic is the UK party system?

Parties are a crucial component of the system of representative democracy in the UK. They make it possible for voters to choose between different programmes, sets of values, and leaderships at election time. In this sense they ensure that voters are able to send clear signals about who should form governments and what they should turn in this position.

Parties are a means by which people can participate in politics, as members, activists and possible becoming candidates at local or UK level. They have various mechanisms by which members can have an influence over the decision-taking of the party, for instance in the selection of electoral candidates and of the party leader.

It could be held that two-party dominance at UK level serves to restrict the choice on offer to voters, therefore inhibiting democracy.

There are limits in the extent to which party members can influence parties. There will always be other influences at play – for instance, party donors may have a significant impact that is not always visible. Parties must also take into account the views members of the voting public, which may not align with those of members.

The membership of parties is relatively small and not representative of wider society, and is tilted towards groups who are already in privileged positions. In this sense, parties reenforce inequality rather than enhancing democracy. (For a discussion of diversity among the elected representatives of parties, see Chapter 10.) Therefore, if mechanisms for enabling members to have more influence over parties are genuinely effective, they may not be desirable from a democratic perspective.