Political Leadership in Parliament: The Role of Select Committee Chairs in the UK House of Commons

Kelso, Alexandra

doi:10.17645/pag.v4i2.573

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…A similar set of preconditions for legislative oversight agendas exist in the UK, where the system of parliamentary select committees has evolved as a series of distinct issue jurisdictions since its creation in 1979 (Giddings 1994), and has become increasingly influential as a venue for scrutiny and agenda-setting (see Kelso 2016). Much less is known in the UK about the factors behind the evolution of the system of legislative jurisdiction and the degree to which it engages in information-gathering and problem-detection compared to the US.…”

Section: Legislative Committees As Detectors Of Problem Signalsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Problem detection in legislative oversight: an analysis of legislative committee agendas in the UK and US

Bevan

Jennings

Pickup

2018

Journal of European Public Policy

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This paper outlines a dynamic problem-detection model of legislative oversight where legislative committees engage in information-gathering to identify emerging policy problems. It is argued that activities of legislative committees are responsive to indicators of problem status across a range of policy domains. This enables committees to react to problems before, or at least simultaneously to, citizens. Our analyses use a new dataset on the policy agenda of UK Parliamentary Select Committees in combination with directly comparable data on US Congressional hearings. Aggregate measures of problem status (e.g. GDP, crime rates) and public opinion on the 'most important problem' facing the country are used as independent variables. The comparison between a well-established and developing committee system offers insights into common dynamics across institutional contexts. The findings show that committee agendas in both the UK and US are responsive to problem status for the majority of issues.

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Section: Legislative Committees As Detectors Of Problem Signalsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Problem detection in legislative oversight: an analysis of legislative committee agendas in the UK and US

Bevan

Jennings

Pickup

2018

Journal of European Public Policy

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“…What is happening on committee corridor may then be at the very heart of how we might explore how gender is produced every day in parliaments. There is a substantial international literature on gender and committee participation such as assignments (Heath et al 2005 ; Pansardi and Vercesi 2017 ; Murray and Sénac 2018 ; Goodwin et al 2020 ), and behaviour, roles, and experiences of committee chairs and members in (state) legislatures (De Gregorio 1992 ; Kathlene 1994 ; Rosenthal 1998 ; Kelso 2016 ; Geddes 2019 ; Mckay et al 2019 ; Crewe and Sarra 2019 ). Women’s representation in UK select committee chairs improved when they were elected by the whole House (O’Brien 2012 ).…”

Section: Performing the Career Cycle—the Select Committeementioning

confidence: 99%

MPs: ‘Players’ and ‘Problems’

Miller

2021

Gender and Politics

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This chapter explores an array of parliamentary activities to understand how both men and women MPs as gendered actors are positioned in the everyday parliamentary workplace. The fieldwork was conducted during a period of institutionalisation of democratic practices within the UK House of Commons Select Committee system. Whilst these democratic processes, notably elections to chair positions have widely been praised for improving the standing of the select committee system by moving the power of appointment away from party whips, the dynamics of gender in these changes, such as in elections and performing leadership, makes for a timely investigation and highlights some intricate power relations. The chapter then explores how citizenship is performed in the informal spaces of the House of Commons: in practices of time management, the domestic committees of the House of Commons and journalist relationships. Finally, the chapter explores how gender is performed in place of the lack of a job description and in the context of a lack of a gender lens to online and offline accountabilities.

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“…Changes to select committee membership rules in 2010 have contributed to their higher public profile than ever before (Kelso, 2016; White, 2015). Challenge through scrutiny, with increasing levels of media coverage (Kubala, 2011), is a visible sign of the leadership initiative being taken by select committee chairs to expose ‘government activities to the oxygen of publicity’ (Kelso, 2009: 230).…”

Section: Context and Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Steeped in history, tradition and institutional processes, this political context imposes constraints on, and offers opportunities for, leadership. Notably, since 2010, following the Wright reforms, select committees have become more dynamic (Kelso, 2016), with greater opportunities for select committee chairs to exercise leadership. They have become increasingly important as a means to hold the government to account.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading through agonistic conflict: Contested sense-making in national political arenas

Hartley

Stansfield

2020

Leadership

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This article examines the social processes of political leadership in situations of contest and conflict, taking place within a key and long-established democratic institution, the UK Parliament. The empirical focus is on leadership in House of Commons select committees, which are concerned with holding the government to account. Headlines and media scrutiny, combined with internal challenge from the cross-party mix of politicians on the committees and a range of external stakeholders, create leadership challenges for committee chairs. The study is of two committee inquiries led by the same committee chair, which occurred concurrently and in real time, thereby providing a rare comparative study of leadership through the same leader at the same time but with different leadership challenges. Rather than shying away from conflict, as does much of the leadership literature, this research highlights how leaders who actively engage in challenge and conflict can build a degree of shared purpose among diverse groups of stakeholders. It examines and combines, in theory elaboration, two theories relevant to understanding these leadership processes: agonistic pluralism with its role in creating respectful conflictual consensus, and the theory of sense-making and sense-giving. The two cases (the two inquiries) had different trajectories and reveal how the chair recognised and dealt with conflict to achieve sense-making outcomes across divergent interests and across political parties. There are implications not only for understanding political leadership but also more widely for leadership where there are diverse and sometimes conflicting interests.

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Political Leadership in Parliament: The Role of Select Committee Chairs in the UK House of Commons

Cited by 8 publications

References 40 publications

Problem detection in legislative oversight: an analysis of legislative committee agendas in the UK and US

Problem detection in legislative oversight: an analysis of legislative committee agendas in the UK and US

MPs: ‘Players’ and ‘Problems’

Leading through agonistic conflict: Contested sense-making in national political arenas

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