A Late, Though Not Lost, Opportunity: Ethnic Minority Electors, Party Strategy and the Conservative Party

Ethnic Heterogeneity in the Social Bases of Voting at the 2010 British General Election

“…As we can see, minority support for Labour declined between 1997 and 2010 just as it did among the majority group although Labour still remained much the most popular choice among minorities. Thus minority support for Labour declined from the 80% level that it had shown throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s (Saggar, 1998: However, if we look at the odds ratios, which measure relative support for Labour taking account of the overall swing, we find no consistent pattern of change. In two cases (Pakistanis and Black Caribbeans) the odds ratios get closer to 1 in 2010, but in two other cases (Bangladeshis and Black Africans) they move away from 1, while the fifth case (Indians) is virtually unchanged.…”

“…Saggar and Heath were handicapped by the small size of their 1997 sample of ethnic minorities, but they tentatively inclined towards the view that minorities were internally stratified by class and that there was indeed a potential entry-point for the Conservatives (see also Saggar 1998Saggar , 2000.…”

The political incorporation of South Asian elites in Britain

“…However, as with its predecessor, the Forum has been handicapped by the prominence given to a fairly narrow band of Asian political hopefuls and financial sponsors. Ironically, familiar class-based political messages have been diluted as a result of this influence, with strategists choosing instead to concentrate on variations of cultural messages linking putative Asian values with those of Conservatism (Saggar, 1998). Labour's forays into Asian ethnic politics have also been associated with Asian brokerage, but in this case the style of the elite-community relationship has differed substantially from that pursued by the Tories.…”

Negative and positive racialisation: Re-examining ethnic minority political representation in the UK

“…One interpretation of this move might be to suggest that the party's minority membership is rather less inclined to respond to such ethnicspeci® c forms of targeting and rather more closely linked with any potential upturn in its general membership base. Norman signalled that a signi® cant increase in minorities making up selection shortlists was to be a tangible indicator of the broader cultural change in the party's identity that he advocated ± and continues to be linked with (see Saggar 1998d).…”