Reinventing the block vote? Trade unions and the 2010 Labour party leadership election

Jobson, Richard; Wickham‐Jones, Mark

doi:10.1057/bp.2011.20

Cited by 24 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…They coordinated their nominations, restricted candidates' access to their members when campaigning and distributed ballot slips in the same packaging as partisan material. Arguably, such interventions allowed trade unions once again to shape the workings of the electoral college (for an account of Ed Miliband's election as Labour leader in 2010 along these lines, see Jobson and Wickham‐Jones, ; and Pemberton and Wickham‐Jones, ). Again, the failure of the electoral college to operate smoothly became the subject of discussion in the Collins Review that proposed the introduction of a single electorate to choose the leader based on members, individual affiliates who had opted in and registered supporters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

John Smith's settlement? The work of the 1992–93 Labour Party—Trade Union Links Review Group

Wickham‐Jones¹

2016

Industrial Relations Journal

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In this article, I examine the work of the 1992-1993 Labour party trade union links review group. I ask whether the measures it proposed amounted to a new, durable settlement which governed internal relationships within the party. I detail disagreements amongst trade unions over the format that parliamentary selections should take; I evaluate the demands for reform of the party-union link; I ask whether support for reform and for OMOV was falling in the early 1990s; I consider whether unions launched a 'no say no pay campaign' with regard to the Labour party; I assess how much restraint was demonstrated at this time by Labour's affiliated unions; and I consider what might have been at stake in these debates more generally. I conclude that there was considerable antagonism in partyunion relations during the early 1990s and that the work of the review group did not amount to an enduring settlement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

John Smith's settlement? The work of the 1992–93 Labour Party—Trade Union Links Review Group

Wickham‐Jones¹

2016

Industrial Relations Journal

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“…With the possible exception of Wilson in 1963 (Heppell, 2010a;Heppell, 2010b: 30-41) the 'expected' winner of all seven of these contests at the close of nominations (Healey had been the clear 'favourite' in 1980, but subsequently lost that status following Foot's belated decision to enter the race) invariably went on to win Carter, 1993, 1995;Drucker, 1976Drucker, , 1981Drucker, , 1984Heppell 2010b;Heppell and Crines, 2011;Stark, 1996: 118-120 (Dorey and Denham, 2011;Jobson and Wickham-Jones, 2011;Pemberton and Wickham-Jones, 2013;Quinn, 2012: 64-82). …”

Section: From Wilson To Corbyn: the Labour 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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“…In 1988, Kinnock was seen as the strongest candidate on all three of Stark's criteria ('acceptability', 'electability' and 'competence'), as was Smith in 1992 and Blair in 1994(Stark, 1996Drucker, 1984; Carter, 1993, 1995). In 2010, David Miliband was seen, according to the opinion polls, as the strongest candidate in terms of 'electability' and 'competence', but was clearly not 'acceptable' to the leaders of the 11 three largest trade unions (Dorey and Denham, 2011;Jobson and Wickham-Jones, 2011;Pemberton and Wickham-Jones, 2013). Of the two, Ed ultimately proved to be (marginally) more 'acceptable' to the Electoral College as a whole.…”

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confidence: 99%

‘The Longest Suicide Vote in History’: The Labour Party Leadership Election of 2015

Dorey

Denham

2016

Br Polit

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Abstract:The Labour leadership contest of 2015 resulted in the election of the veteran Leftwing backbencher, Jeremy Corbyn, who clearly defeated the early favourite, Andy Burnham. Yet Corbyn enjoyed very little support among Labour MPs, and his victory plunged the PLP into turmoil, particularly as he was widely viewed as incapable of leading the Party to victory in the 2020 general election. Given that much of the established academic literature on Party leadership contests emphasises the ability to foster unity, and thereby render a party electable, as two of the key criteria for electing a new leader, coupled with overall competence, important questions are raised about how and why the Labour Party chose someone to lead them who clearly does not meet these criteria. We will argue that while these are the natural priorities of MPs when electing a new leader, in Corbyn's case, much of the extraparliamentary Labour Party was more concerned about ideological conviction and purity of principles, regardless of how far these diverged from public opinion. This was especially true of those who signed-up to the Labour Party following the 2015 general election defeat. Indeed, many of these only did so after Corbyn had become a candidate. This clearly suggests a serious tension between maximising intra-party democracy and ensuring the electability of the parliamentary party itself. 2The Labour Party has long been viewed by most of its members as a democratic socialist party, but this clearly has two meanings. The first is that the Party seeks to create a democratic socialist society, in which wealth and power are widely shared, and equality is a primary objective. The second meaning is that Labour is a democratic party in terms of the participatory role played by its members. However, this second definition immediately raises a problem when applied to the election of Labour Party leaders, namely whether they should be elected solely by the MPs who they will lead and work with on a daily basis in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), or by the extra-parliamentary Party, whose members often play such a vital role in constituencies and the workplace, and who also make a major collective contribution to the Party's funding. The purpose of this article is thus to explain how Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Labour Party leader in September 2015, from where and whom his support emanated, and why he attracted this support. In so doing, we will highlight the divergence between the criteria usually adopted by Labour parliamentarians when electing a new leader, and the qualities sought by much of the extra-parliamentary membership. Whereas the established academic literature emphasises the importance of party unity, electability and policy competence as the three key criteria for leadership candidates, we argue that these are the attributes usually (and understandably) prioritised by MPs themselves.By contrast, as Corbyn's election highlights, extra-parliamentary members, and particularly a party's rank-and-file activists, are much mo...

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Reinventing the block vote? Trade unions and the 2010 Labour party leadership election

Cited by 24 publications

References 7 publications

John Smith's settlement? The work of the 1992–93 Labour Party—Trade Union Links Review Group

John Smith's settlement? The work of the 1992–93 Labour Party—Trade Union Links Review Group

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

‘The Longest Suicide Vote in History’: The Labour Party Leadership Election of 2015

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