Trusting Truss: Conservative MPs’ Voting Preferences in the (First) British Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2022

Jeffery, David; Heppell, Timothy; Roe-Crines, Andrew S.; Butler, Chris

doi:10.1080/00344893.2023.2231469

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Opponents raised the prospect of changing the rules to permit more frequent votes than the 12 months allowed (Howarth, 2021). Ultimately, that was not required, with both resigning, although in Johnson's case, only after a ministerial revolt (Jeffery et al, 2023).…”

Section: Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This gives the system considerable flexibility. For instance, candidates' nomination requirements were initially two MPs but were increased to eight in 2019, 20 in July 2022 and 100 in October 2022 (Booth et al, 2023;Jeffery et al, 2022Jeffery et al, , 2023. Higher thresholds make it more likely that winners are broadly acceptable to MPs.…”

Section: Parliamentary Acceptabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2001, just 3.6% separated Kenneth In 2022, Sunak was considered disloyal and a high taxer by the right, while Mordaunt's views on transgender rights dismayed traditionalists. Truss was arguably the least divisive candidate of the final three and would eventually secure more parliamentary endorsements than Sunak (Bogdanor, 2022;Jeffery et al, 2023). Both Duncan Smith and Truss were firmly within the ideological mainstream of their parliamentary parties.…”

Section: Parliamentary Acceptabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…May won 200-117 during the parliamentary struggle over Brexit in 2018. In 2022, Johnson won 211-148 while beset by scandal (Jeffery et al, 2023;Quinn, 2021;Roe-Crines et al, 2020). The latter two ballots were held on the day the 1922 Committee's chairman publicly announced the 15% threshold had been reached.…”

Section: Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The British literature is rich in cross-party comparisons (Bale and Webb, 2014;Denham, 2013Denham, , 2018Denham et al, 2020;McAnulla, 2010;Quinn, 2005Quinn, , 2012Stark, 1996); single-party case studies (Alderman, 1999;Alderman and Smith, 1990;Bogdanor, 1994;Denham and O'Hara, 2008;Heppell, 2008Heppell, , 2010McSweeney, 1999;Niendorf, 2021;Quinn, 2004aQuinn, , 2018a; and single-contest studies (Alderman and Carter, 1991, 1993, 2002Denham and Dorey, 2007;Denham, 2011, 2016;Drucker, 1976Drucker, , 1981Drucker, , 1984Heppell, 2021;Jobson and Wickham-Jones, 2011;Pemberton and Wickham-Jones, 2013;Quinn, 2016. A quantitative literature collates MPs' preferences in individual contests to uncover factional patterns (Booth et al, 2023;Cowley and Bailey, 2000;Cowley and Garry, 1998;Crines et al, 2018;Jeffery et al, 2018Jeffery et al, , 2022Jeffery et al, , 2023Heppell et al, , 2022Heppell and Crines, 2011;Heppell and Hill, 2008, 2009Roe...…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parliamentarians versus party members? Leadership selection systems in the British Conservative and Labour parties

Quinn

2023

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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British parties have pioneered the use of ‘one-member, one-vote’ ballots to select their leaders. However, the elections of Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) and Liz Truss (Conservative) prompted calls to return leadership selection to parliamentarians. Critics claim that party members are non-centrist and liable to impose unsuitable leaders on MPs. This weakens the cohesion of parliamentary parties, undermining the functioning of Britain’s majoritarian democracy. This article assesses the major parties’ leader-selection systems. It goes beyond existing research by identifying and applying four evaluative criteria for selection institutions: legitimacy, parliamentary acceptability, leader-eviction and timeliness. It shows that most criticisms of one-member, one-vote are overstated because the latter is heavily mediated by ex-ante and/or ex-post parliamentary controls, for example, nomination thresholds and confidence votes. One-member, one-vote generally produces leaders acceptable to MPs; ‘unsuitable’ ones typically arise when the parliamentary controls fail. However, key institutional weaknesses are identified: legitimacy in the Conservatives’ system and leader-eviction in Labour’s.

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Section: Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Parliamentary Acceptabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Parliamentary Acceptabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parliamentarians versus party members? Leadership selection systems in the British Conservative and Labour parties

Quinn

2023

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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The Downfall of Boris Johnson: Analysing Patterns of Opinion among Conservative Parliamentarians in the Confidence Motion and Mass Resignations

Booth

2024

Representation

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Selecting Sunak: Conservative MPs’ Nomination Preferences in the (Second) British Conservative Party Leadership Election

Booth

Butler

Jeffery

et al. 2023

Parliamentary Affairs

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This article utilises an original dataset covering all members of the Parliamentary Conservative Party (PCP) to analyse the basis of support for Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt in the October 2022 British Conservative Party leadership election. The significance of our findings is that they form the basis for a new understanding of how conservatism in the UK is changing post-Brexit. Our political variables include constituency majority size, red wall status, constituency support for leave, an MP’s position in the June 2022 vote of confidence in Johnson’s leadership of the Conservative Party, ministerial status and rebellion rates on key legislation. Our ideological variables include EU referendum position and membership of the European Research Group and the Conservative Environment Network, along with whether MPs are classed as socially liberal, socially conservative or pro-levelling up. We find that candidates appealed to different, often rival, sections of the Conservative Party. In line with previous studies of this nature, social liberalism still represents a key dividing line within the party, and the European dimension of intra-party conflict has remained significant in light of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

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Trusting Truss: Conservative MPs’ Voting Preferences in the (First) British Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2022

Cited by 4 publications

References 18 publications

Parliamentarians versus party members? Leadership selection systems in the British Conservative and Labour parties

Parliamentarians versus party members? Leadership selection systems in the British Conservative and Labour parties

The Downfall of Boris Johnson: Analysing Patterns of Opinion among Conservative Parliamentarians in the Confidence Motion and Mass Resignations

Selecting Sunak: Conservative MPs’ Nomination Preferences in the (Second) British Conservative Party Leadership Election

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