Oh Jeremy Corbyn! Why did Labour Party membership soar after the 2015 general election?

Whiteley, Paul; Poletti, Mónica; Webb, Paul; Bale, Tim

doi:10.1177/1369148118815408

Cited by 44 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…However, clearly the most common motivation among party joiners is to express support for party aims, values and policies (purposive, collective or expressive incentives), often combined with a belief in contributing to the democratic process (a form of altruism) (Bale et al, 2020: 79). The dominance of these incentives -support for party principles and policies -appears close to universal in party membership studies (Cross and Young, 2002;Mitchell et al, 2012;Poletti et al, 2019;Whiteley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Referendums Parties and Movementsmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Podemos, for example, experienced a brisk growth in recruitment following the party's formation in 2014 (Gomez and Ramiro, 2019). Meanwhile, some traditional parties, most notably the UK Labour party, saw a striking recovery in membership (Bale et al, 2020;Whiteley et al 2019;Seyd 2020). This, too, could be linked to a variant of left populism given its association with the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parties, movements and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum: Explaining the post-referendum party membership surges

Bennie

Mitchell²,

Johns

2020

Party Politics

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Some political parties have experienced a resurgence in membership. This article seeks to explain membership surges in the Scottish National Party and Scottish Greens following the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence and an unusually movement-like campaign. Using data from a 2016–17 survey of the parties’ memberships, we examine why large numbers joined these pro-independence parties following defeat in the referendum. We demonstrate that the new members had experienced a sense of belonging to a Yes movement during the campaign but were not intensely active; and reasons for joining the parties look more conventional than movement-based. We argue that the referendum created a unique platform for the parties to advertise their objectives on the constitution and other policy areas and thus attract new recruits, few of whom were seeking to maintain the participatory activities that flourished during the referendum. The minority that are active movement-oriented joiners look the least likely to be satisfied by party membership.

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Section: Referendums Parties and Movementsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parties, movements and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum: Explaining the post-referendum party membership surges

Bennie

Mitchell²,

Johns

2020

Party Politics

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“…Finally, although in the United States, the Democrats have made advances in the recent congressional elections, they have yet to define a clear alternative policy agenda and leadership. In the United Kingdom, Jeremy Corbyn and the Momentum movement have been able to mount a serious challenge to both right‐wing populism and conservative rule (Whiteley, Poletti, Webb, & Bale, 2018). However, by early 2019, this countermovement ran into difficulty because of an inability to develop coherent policies around Brexit (Bailey, 2018).…”

Section: Institutional Change Crisis and Populismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human resource management practices in the context of rising right‐wing populism

Cumming

Wood

Zahra

2020

Human Res Mgmt Journal

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We review the relationship between the causes and impact of rising right-wing populism and human resource management practice, drawing on the recent experiences of the United States and the United Kingdom. Specifically, we explore the links between right-wing populism and firms and their HRM practices. Although the links between declining standards of work, employment, and populism may be indirect and spatially uneven, each impacts the other in a manner that reinforces existing trends. We pay particular attention to migration and labour mobility, pay dispersion, and job and occupational security. At the level of the workplace, the populist turn undermines workforce diversity and makes transnational mobility more difficult. At the same time, structural pressures mitigating against a greater commitment to employees and their development and well-being contribute to a general climate of insecurity, which, in turn, reinforces populism.

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“…Starmer won 56.2% of the vote. However, many Labour members joined because of the election of Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 (Whiteley et al, 2018). Many of these members are likely to see Keir Starmer's politics as out of step with their own.…”

Section: Why Do People Leave Political Parties? Evidence and Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Leaving the red Tories’: Ideology, leaders, and why party members quit

Barnfield¹,

Bale

2020

Party Politics

Self Cite

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What little research exists on why party members quit has tended to find that exit is driven primarily by political and ideological concerns. This research note builds on this, framing this finding theoretically and arguing that such theory should allow for the role of negative triggers – events that cause people to quit. We focus on the example of changes of leadership. Using data from four Party Members Project surveys, we find that British party members seem to leave parties mainly for political and ideological reasons, and because of disillusionment or disagreement with their leaders. This disillusionment, in turn, is often based on perceived ideological differences. We illustrate this with tweets by Labour members cancelling (or considering cancelling) their membership in the immediate wake of the election of Keir Starmer as party leader in April 2020.

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Oh Jeremy Corbyn! Why did Labour Party membership soar after the 2015 general election?

Cited by 44 publications

References 37 publications

Parties, movements and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum: Explaining the post-referendum party membership surges

Parties, movements and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum: Explaining the post-referendum party membership surges

Human resource management practices in the context of rising right‐wing populism

‘Leaving the red Tories’: Ideology, leaders, and why party members quit

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