Government and Politics - Political Parties

Who with good reason were expecting to be in charge of an unquestioned existing order? They were skilled at manipulating democratic procedures and spoke in a very rhetorical manner; they used these manipulation techniques to overcome their enemies. The key differences were reduced to those between the steady and root branch reformers: Neil Kinncok and Tony Benn. Labour was more of a federation rather than a combined party like the Conservatives, including intellectual socialist societies and trade unions each with their own self-governing methods. Regardless of a single party in 1918,a similar federalism still underlies the structure of the Labour party. The party’s written constitution committed it to a certain ideological aim and laid democratic procedure for elections, appointments and decision-making. They were more democratic than the Conservatives had a autocratic party organisation, the constitution precludes some of the flexible adaptation to changing circumstances that latter enjoys and when in government offers an alternative source of authority which on occasions caused Labour embarrassment.

c) To what extent has ‘new Labour broken with the party’s traditional ideas and values?

After the ‘Kinnock’ project the party shifted to the political centre and the acceptance of Thatcherite policies. He wanted to strengthen the authority of the leader over the party organisation; the media played a part in promoting the party election strategy. They did not gain trust in people especially over their management of the economy so they were defeated for a fourth time. After Tony Blair was elected It seemed that the party was a socialist party because he wanted to rewrite Clause four of the party’s constitution. The party accepted a lot of the Thatcher and Major government policies which he spoke in favour of, It has redefined the electoral market by appealing to all the people not least the middle class voters, There was criticism over the policies and theories were leading of the marginalisaition to the left and that the Blair leadership was authoritarian. Labour has become a catch all political party seeking votes from all parts of the social spectrum and ditching ideology. The redefining of the conference has made it more supportive of the leadership because of its management reinforcing the image of labour as being a strong and responsible party. What has happed in new labour is the reversal of traditional labour democracy. The trade union lost its relationship with the party because the project teams received addresses by Brown and Blair. The party discipline and self discipline were tightened, he had mad his party aware that they were New Labour and that ranks must not be broken. The OMOV system was rejected and the discredited electoral system revised. The changes are due to the social and cultural change to Britain and so if Labour were to win the next election then they had to change its policies so that it matched the people’s needs too. The party came to terms with the fact that the conservative policies that were opposed are popular and so too firmly established to be ignored. This includes the privatisation  measures, changing in industrial relations laws, cuts in marginal rates of direct taxation.