The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1997: An Analysis of the Voting Motivations of Conservative Parliamentarians

Heppell, Timothy; Hill, Michael

doi:10.1057/palgrave.bp.4200079

Cited by 26 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…9-10). After two inconclusive ballots, Clarke and Hague contested the third -and Hague won, having campaigned, successfully, as the self-styled 'unity' (that is, 'compromise') candidate (Heppell and Hill, 2008). …”

Section: The Mps Decidementioning

confidence: 98%

From grey suits to grass roots: Choosing Conservative leaders

Denham

2009

Br Polit

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Since 1963, the British Conservative Party has repeatedly changed the way it selects its leader. In this article, I re-examine the history of Conservative leadership selection in British politics. I begin by analysing the informal system of leadership selection, known as the 'magic circle', whereby the Conservative leader 'emerged' from a shadowy process of consultation. I then consider the six elections between 1965 and 1997, when Conservative MPs -and they alone -chose the Party Leader. Finally, I explain and assess the impact of the 'Hague rules', according to which Party members have the final say, on Conservative leadership selection since 1998.

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Section: The Mps Decidementioning

confidence: 98%

From grey suits to grass roots: Choosing Conservative leaders

Denham

2009

Br Polit

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“…For the 1992–97 Parliament, they classify 192 Conservatives (58 per cent) as Eurosceptic and 98 (30 per cent) as Europhile (Heppell ). In 1997–2001, 140 MPs (85 per cent) are Eurosceptic and 13 (8 per cent) Europhile while in 2001–2005, Eurosceptics form 90 per cent of the party (Heppell and Hill ). Webb's cluster analysis similarly finds a solidly Eurosceptic party (Webb ).…”

Section: Party Change Since 1997mentioning

confidence: 99%

Where There is Discord, Can They Bring Harmony? Managing Intra-Party Dissent on European Integration in the Conservative Party

Lynch¹,

Whitaker²

2012

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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The Conservative Party became more united around a soft Eurosceptic position in opposition, but internal divisions are evident on the scale and pace of change to the UK's relationship with the EU. • Conservative Party leaders have employed a range of methods to manage intra-party dissent on European integration: intervention in candidate selection, patronage, discipline, policy compromises, permitting low-cost dissent, referendum pledges and reducing issue salience. • Dissent on European integration tends to be higher when the Conservatives are in office because governing parties cannot individually control the EU agenda, must take difficult decisions and may have to sacrifice their preferred positions to broker compromises. • Eurosceptic dissent has increased because Conservative policy has been diluted in coalition and the crisis in the Eurozone has raised the salience of the EU issue, but Eurosceptic rebels are not a cohesive group and this limits their influence. Divisions on European integration were prominent in the ConservativeParty in the 1990s, but abated in opposition. In this period, the party became more cohesive in terms of attitudes on Europe as it embraced soft Euroscepticism. However, differences over the desired scale and pace of changes to Britain's relationship with the European Union saw dissent increase as the party entered coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. This article examines the effectiveness of various approaches to management of dissent on Europe utilised by the party leadership: intervention in candidate selection; patronage and discipline; permitting limited dissent; policy compromise and deferred decisions; pledging referendums; and agenda setting and issue salience. It shows that intra-party divisions on European integration are particularly difficult to manage and suggests that dissent on the issue may often be higher in governing parties than those in opposition.

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“…The ultimate reason for Major's success, however, was that he won most support among the 'Party faithful', who constituted the majority of Conservative MPs (Cowley, 1999). For similar reasons, William Hague was preferred by the Party's MPs to the instinctively pro-European Kenneth Clarke in 1997 (Heppell and Hill, 2008), and Iain Duncan Smith preferred to the same opponent by its wider membership in 2001 (Alderman, 1998;Alderman and Carter, 1991;Alderman and Carter, 2002;Heppell and Hill, 2010;Stark, 1996: 127, 130, 132). In 2016, Theresa May was seen by most of the Party's MPs as the candidate most likely to restore party unity following the British electorate's decision in a referendum to leave the European Union, and Cameron's subsequent resignation.…”

Section: From Home To May: the Conservative Partymentioning

confidence: 99%

Tales of the unexpected: The selection of British party leaders since 1963

Denham

Dorey

2017

Br Polit

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Jeremy Corbyn's election as Leader of the Labour Party in 2015 stunned observers and practitioners of British politics alike. In this article, we first outline a theoretical framework that purports to explain why political parties operating in parliamentary systems choose the leaders they do. We then examine 32 leadership successions involving five major British parties since 1963, and note that many of these were unexpected, in that they were triggered by unforeseen circumstances, such as the sudden death or resignation of the incumbent.Examining each party in turn, we briefly explain why the winners won and identify at least eight cases (a quarter of our sample) where a candidate widely expected to prevail at the outset was ultimately defeated by a 'dark horse', 'second favourite' or even 'rank outsider'. Of these, Corbyn's election in 2015 was the most unexpected and, consistent with the findings of studies of party leadership conventions in other parliamentary systems, namely Canada and Spain, suggests that ideological and policy concerns are sometimes more important than considerations of party unity and electability, especially when a leadership contest is dominated by party activists.

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The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1997: An Analysis of the Voting Motivations of Conservative Parliamentarians

Cited by 26 publications

References 12 publications

From grey suits to grass roots: Choosing Conservative leaders

From grey suits to grass roots: Choosing Conservative leaders

Where There is Discord, Can They Bring Harmony? Managing Intra-Party Dissent on European Integration in the Conservative Party

Tales of the unexpected: The selection of British party leaders since 1963

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