As the party that has held power more times than any other, the Conservatives have played a crucial role in the shaping of British society. And yet the leaders who have stood at its helm – from Sir Robert Peel to Rishi Sunak, via Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher – have steered the party vessel with enormously varying degrees of success, particularly latterly, when the short but destructive tenures of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss did much to damage the party's reputation for competenc...

The Conservative Party has long laid claim to being the world’s most successful political party, not least because it is also one of the most adaptable, often appearing to do and say pretty much whatever it takes to win. But has it now shot itself in the foot by trying too hard to fight off Nigel Farage?Since the UK voted to leave the EU back in 2016, the Tories have arguably done more than simply re-shape themselves: rather, they seem to have transformed themselves from a mainstre...

The Conservatives are back, and back with a bang two election wins in a row and, providing they can hold things together, in a pretty good position to win another. But many questions about their recent past, present, and future still remain. Just why did the world�s oldest and most successful political party dump Margaret Thatcher only to commit electoral suicide under John Major? And what stopped the Tories getting their act together until David Cameron came along? Did Cameron change hi...

The British General Election of 2024 is the definitive account of a landmark election, featuring an unprecedented Conservative collapse, a Labour Commons landslide, and record fragmentation in voters' choices. Built on unparalleled access to all the key players, this account weaves together a compelling insider account of how the campaign was fought with rigorous analysis of how, when and where this sea change election was won and lost. The 22nd volume in a prestigious series dati...

Comparative in approach and organised around key themes, such as the media, political participation and elections, European Politics guides you through the political institutions, processes and issues that matter in Europe today. In this fifth edition, Tim Bale and new co-author Jens Meijen build on this well-established text to include extensive coverage of recent events and current political trends in Europe's fast-changing landscape.With debating boxes, country profiles...

In May 2010, Labour suffered one of its worst ever election defeats. A few months later it chose Ed Miliband as its new leader. His task? To win back power after just one term in opposition - a tall order given how many voters had come to blame Labour for the economic mess the country was in, and to see the party as a soft-touch when it came to immigration and welfare. Even those who were more sympathetic had their doubts. Was Ed Miliband really leadership material? Would he be able to ove...

The new edition of this successful book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview and account of the changing nature of party politics in Britain today. Webb and Bale draw on models of comparative politics in conducting a wealth of new empirical analysis to map and explain the ways in which the party system has evolved, and the parties have adapted to a changing political environment. Themes covered include the nature and extent of party competition, the internal life and organizati...

The British General Election of 2019 is the definitive account of one of the most consequential and controversial general elections in recent times, when Boris Johnson gambled everything calling an early election to 'Get Brexit Done', and emerged triumphant. Drawing upon cutting-edge research and wide-ranging elite interviews, the new author team provides a compelling and accessible narrative of this landmark election and its implications for British politics, built on unparallele...

In spite of the fact that Conservative, Christian democratic and Liberal parties continue to play a crucial role in the democratic politics and governance of every Western European country, they are rarely paid the attention they deserve. This cutting-edge comparative collection, combining qualitative case studies with large-N quantitative analysis, reveals a mainstream right squeezed by the need to adapt to both 'the silent revolution' that has seen the spread of postmaterialist, liberal ...

First published in 1999, this volume is based on interviews and research from previously unavailable party, state and private archives, this insightful volume reflects on the interaction between institutional structure and world-view that we call political culture. Using Labour’s post-war welfare policy, this informative study makes three key points:The need to break down distinctions between the ‘symbolic’ and the ‘substantial’ in politics.The p...

This accessible, rigorously researched and highly revealing book lifts the lid on political party membership. It represents the first in-depth study of six of the UK's biggest parties – Labour, the Conservatives, the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, UK Independence Party and the Greens – carried out simultaneously, thereby providing invaluable new insights into members' social characteristics, attitudes, activities and campaigning, reasons for joining and leaving, and views ...

Both parties and interest groups matter to democracy. Historically, examples of close relationships between the two abound. But perhaps the best known because it was supposedly the most intimate and politically important is the relationship between left-of-centre parties and trade unions. Whether rooted in a shared history, culture and ideology or more a 'marriage of convenience', it is widely believed that their relationship helped socialist, social democratic, and labour parties win powe...