Parliamentary candidate selection in the Conservative Party: The meaning of reform for party members and membership parties
Abstract
Parliamentary candidate selection reform was fundamental to the Conservative Party’s organisational renewal, but local autonomy was always a potential obstacle. In the context of a falling membership, the leadership took action. Hence, this article addresses three questions. Firstly, it examines how power was utilised for the purpose of dismantling local autonomy in parliamentary candidate selection. Secondly, it discusses the implications of reform for party members. Thirdly, it assesses what the research findings mean for the notion of ‘membership party’ and the models that purport to explain party organisation. A qualitative research design was adopted that focused upon local activists and officials. The conclusion points towards a network approach to party organisation that projects local identity as the emerging organisational model. The research also provides an insight into how the Conservative Party leadership is managing its declining membership base.Citation
Parliamentary candidate selection in the Conservative Party: The meaning of reform for party members and membership parties 2014, 9 (4):401 British PoliticsPublisher
Palgrave MacmillanJournal
British PoliticsAdditional Links
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/bp.2014.10Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1746-918X1746-9198
Scopus Count
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The changing nature of activist engagement within the Conservative Party: A review of Susan Scarrow’s task-orientated approach to party membership(Palgrave Macmillan, 2013-04-29)Scarrow highlighted two questions concerning party members: The level of engagement required and the extent to which this occurred within formal party structures. She proposed a task – rather than a people-orientated interpretation. Her framework is applied here to the British Conservative Party. A qualitative research design was adopted, which focused on the views and behaviour of local activists. This permitted an understanding of how the party organisation actually functioned. The findings revealed notable deficiencies in activity levels, member skills, member attitudes towards performance improvement and local managerial capacity. This meant reduced fitness for purpose. Hence, a shrinking of activists’ responsibilities and a simplification of their role has occurred, thereby changing the nature of engagement, but equally modifying the nature of political voluntarism. Increasing emphasis is being placed upon developing networks of supporters, with the implication that there has been a movement towards the American model of party organisation, but with the continuation of membership parties in a looser form. As such, the findings also reveal how the party is managing its declining membership organisation. Overall, Scarrow’s task-orientated approach was found to be apposite for the purpose of measuring local activist engagement.
