Conservative Leadership
What makes a Prime Minister great?
On the day one occupant of Number 10 Downing Street leaves office, and another enters, Ben Worthy assesses how the British public rate previous Prime Ministers, and how the tricky mantle of ‘great’ tends to depend on fickle collective memories, partisan politics – and war.
Criticisms of the Westminster model of politics are not new: can the system survive the latest wave of anti-politics?
Criticisms of the highly centralised, elitist, top-down Westminster model are by no means new. Consecutive Prime Ministers – from Blair to May – vowed to take on vested powers and interests, challenge the status quo, and change the way politics is conducted. Yet, as Patrick Diamond, David Richards, and Alan Wager show, they have all failed to deliver their promises. While another wave of anti-politics is looming, they ask how the established parties will accommodate it.
A tale of two failures: poor choices and bad judgements on the road to Brexit
How did we get where we are on Brexit? Many major political events are shaped by institutions and long-term social changes, but the political choices of leaders matter too. Ben Worthy assesses how the short-term decisions of David Cameron and Theresa May have led to this avoidable Brexit mess.
England’s local elections 2018: Theresa May holds on, but the Conservatives remain on the precipice
The results for England’s local elections on 3 May indicate that the Conservatives and Labour parties remain neck and neck for national vote share. Ben Margulies argues that, though Theresa May has been more successful in local elections then elsewhere in her premiership, the Conservatives remain in a precarious position, with no easy path to regaining a majority.
From City Hall to Downing Street: what would Boris as Mayor tell us about Boris as PM?
As speculation mounts again about Theresa May’s longevity at Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s star has risen once again. But what would PM Boris be like? Ben Worthy and Mark Bennister read the runes from his time as London’s Mayor.
Snap election a win-win for Theresa May: she’ll crush Labour and make Brexit a little easier
How could Theresa May resist breaking her word? Tim Bale says a new cohort of Conservative MPs will boost her majority and enable her to return from Brussels with a softer Brexit. The Labour party, meanwhile, will be annihilated, and the Lib Dems can hope for at most 15% of the vote. Centrists may take […]
As both major parties struggle with internal divisions, it is crucial to engage with different facets of party cohesion
As both the Conservatives and Labour are confronted with ideological and organisational divisions that undermine their efficiency and jeopardise the foundations of the responsible party model, Caroline Close writes that understanding how (old and new) values, ideas and conception of democracy affect party members’ relationship to their party, within and beyond the legislative arena, is […]
This May be Tory feminism: The second woman PM is not Margaret Thatcher Mark II
As the second Conservative Prime Minister, it is hardly surprising that Theresa May is being compared to Margaret Thatcher. But Julie Gottlieb writes tracing the political ancestry on the basis of their common gender is misleading. In particular, she highlights May does not share Thatcher’s apparent rancour for feminism, and argues that we could be on the […]
The internal democracy dilemma: Balancing MP and member preferences in leadership selection
The resignations and leadership challenges in the wake of the Brexit vote have reignited debates around intra-party democracy. Tom Quinn offers an overview of the selection processes in the four main UK-wide parties and outlines both the challenge and importance of balancing MP and membership approval. Similar PostsHow democratic are the UK’s political parties and party […]
Theresa May has two clear options on Brexit – neither of them easy
David Cameron resign as British Prime Minister yesterday, with Theresa May taking over following her victory in the Conservative Party leadership contest. Gavin Barrett writes that the new Prime Minister will be faced with an exceptional challenge in handling the fallout from the EU referendum. He suggests that any attempt to rerun the vote would […]
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