The Conservative and Labour parties are growing more alike with time. The very obvious similarity of the two parties is that they both have a leader.
Traditionally the Conservative Party was, and arguably still is, a “top-down” party. This is where the party is run, almost completely in an autocratic style, with a strong leader and a good cabinet, hand chosen by this strong leader. A prime example of this would be the “Iron Lady” - Margaret Thatcher (4 May 1979 - 27 Nov 1990).
Now is the era where traditions seem to have been pushed aside. In today’s Conservative Party, the leader, ever since the 1997 landslide defeat at the hands of New Labour, has been considered weak, both by the media and by a considerable selection of the Party’s own MP’s.
In this era, the Labour party leader is again challenging the so-called “traditions” of its party views. Traditionally the Labour party control has been organised and spread throughout the party.
Under Tony Blair, the Labour party has been taken aback by the strength and conviction of one man, where traditionally the pressure of unions, the constituency and back bench MP’s would have stopped such a thing from happening. Where as this Labour government, overall, seems to be enjoying this almost “dictator” style of leadership under Tony Blair.
Where one can see that the two parties are similar in the simple fact that they both have a leader, one can also see that the two parties are very much different in the way in which the leader is in control of the party, and the way in which the leadership roles have evolved.
Another similarity, but also in essence a difference between the Labour and Conservative parties is the Annual Conference.
The similarity being that they both have one.
The difference is the importance of which. The Conservative Annual Conference is nothing much more than a big tea party, or annual family get-together. No real agenda or policy is set, and no decisions are really made in the running of the party.
However, the annual Labour party Conference is where all the action takes place. This is where the agenda is set for the political year, the relevant issues from the past year are discussed and evaluated and the major decisions are set.
Another similarity, but one where there seems to be little difference between the two, is the Conservative 1922 committee and the Labour PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party). This is a collection of MP’s who, although have a small amount of power themselves individually, try to pressure the leaders and cabinet into making certain political decisions and exert influence over lesser policy issues.
The Old strength of the Conservative leadership under Margaret Thatcher has been dubbed “Thatcherism” by the press and the associated media over the past years since her resignation. This can draw another similarity between the two parties, as the current Labour leader Tony Blair, has gained much similar acclaim in the press as such a strong minded and willed leader, like Thatcher, that his rule and policies have been dubbed as “Blairisms” or “Blairites” from the press.
The constituency labour parties and the Conservative associations are also similar to one another. They both deal with the “grass roots” of the party. From the local level of selecting candidates to the raising of awareness about certain issues within the party.
There must be more similarities and differences, but I can’t think of any! Sorry.
