Modernising the Labour Party This page intentionally left blank Modernising the Labour Party Organisational Change since 1983 Thomas Quinn Lecturer in Government University of Essex © Thomas Quinn 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-3584-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-51827-2 ISBN 978-0-230-50491-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230504912 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Quinn, Thomas, 1972– Modernising the Labour Party : organisational change since 1983 / Thomas Quinn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Labour Party (Great Britain)–History. 2. Labour Party (Great Britain)–Reorganization. I. Title. JN1129.L32.Q85 2005 324.24107–dc22 2004051506 10987654321 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 For my father This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures ix List of Tables x Acknowledgements xi List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction xv The background to Labour’s modernisation xvi Structure of the book xviii 1 Aims and Methods 1 Rational choice theory and the study of institutions 2 The Downsian model and the study of the Labour Party 6 Sociological explanations of the Labour Party 12 Conclusion 18 2 Political Exchange and Party Organisation 20 Political exchange and party organisation 20 Intra-party incentive structures 23 Party organisations as governance structures 29 Preference heterogeneity among activists 31 Elite autonomy and the policy-votes trade-off 34 Campaign technologies 36 Institutional change in vote-seeking parties 38 Conclusion 43 3 The Pre-Modernised Labour Party 45 The development of political exchange in the Labour Party 45 Federalism and block voting in the Labour Party 47 The autonomy of the PLP and party-union tensions 56 Coalitions for change 64 Conclusion 70 4 Policy-making 71 Policy-making in the Labour Party before 1983 71 The PLP and policy-making after 1983 76 Trade unions and the party conference in the 1990s 79 Policy-making in the 1990s: the national policy forum 82 vii viii Contents Membership referendums 94 Conclusion 96 5 The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates 97 Labour’s local organisational structures 98 Reform of parliamentary candidate selection 100 One-member–one-vote 106 Other changes to candidate selection 111 Conclusion 118 6 Electing the Party Leader 121 Party leaders as agents 122 Labour’s electoral college, 1981–93 123 PLP nomination rights and gate-keeping powers 125 Selection in the electoral college 127 The electoral college after 1993 133 Leadership accountability and contest costs 136 Conclusion 142 Appendix 1 to Chapter 6: Electoral Colleges and Devolution 143 Appendix 2 to Chapter 6: Electing the NEC and the NCC 146 7 Resources and Political Communications 149 Part I Resources Funding 149 Members and activists 154 Conclusion 157 Part II Political Communications Party resources and political communications 158 Modernising Labour’s political communications 161 Communication technology and general election campaigns 166 Conclusion 170 8 Conclusion: Labour’s Modernisation 171 Explaining organisational change in the Labour Party 171 Unitarism and leadership dominance 178 The future of the party-union link 183 Conclusion 191 Appendix: From Federalism to Unitarism in the Labour Party 193 Notes 196 References 205 Index 216 List of Figures 1.1 Downsian Model of Party Competition 8 2.1 Curvilinear Disparity 28 2.2 Horizontal (Hierarchical) and Vertical (Factional) Cleavages 32 3.1 Distributional Consequences of Block Voting 52 3.2 Institutional Preferences of Labour Factions 69 4.1 Labour’s Policy-making Structure (mid-1980s) 77 4.2 Labour’s Policy-making Structure (since 1997) 87 4.3 Policy Determination: Party Conference and the NPF 91 4.4 NPF Minority Reports and the Party Conference 93 5.1 Constituency Labour Party Structure 98 5.2 Powers and Responsibilities of General Committees (pre-1989) 99 5.3 Distribution of Preferences of Voters, and Labour Members and Activists 108 5.4 Sponsored MPs as a Proportion of Sponsored PPCs 113 6.1 PLP Nomination Thresholds in Leadership Contests 125 7.1 Labour Party Individual Membership 1980–2003 (Thousands) 156 7.2 Trade-off between Activist Retention and Electoral Support 159 7.3 Communication Technologies 160 8.1 Labour’s Two Phases of Modernisation 178 ix List of Tables 3.1 Labour Party Membership, 1900–2000 (Selected Years) 48 3.2 Strategic Options for Labour Factions (mid-1980s) 65 4.1 Union Affiliation Levels 2002 82 4.2 National Policy Forum Membership 2003 84 4.3 Policy Commission Elections 86 5.1 Candidate Selection Changes, 1983–2003 119 6.1 Contests Conducted in the Electoral College 131 6.2 Procedures for Challenging a Labour Leader 136 6.3 Electing the NEC 147 8.1 Government-Union Relations (post-2001) 188 x Acknowledgements Samuel Johnson once said, ‘A man will turn over half a library to make one book.’ This book was no different, and the arguments presented in it owe much to the growing bodies of literature on the British Labour Party, the theory of party organisation and rational choice theory. However, my academic and personal debts go much further than the authors I have consulted. This book began life as a PhD thesis com- pleted at the London School of Economics, where its main ideas were tested in numerous seminars. I would like to thank all the students and staff who, despite not being Labour Party specialists, read my papers and subjected them to detailed and constructive criticisms. My exam- iners, Joanna Spear and Mark Wickham-Jones, also made useful sug- gestions for improvements. Mark has subsequently been a valued friend and a source of advice on all matters concerning the Labour Party. The members of the PSA’s Labour Movements Group have always shown a keen, if critical, interest in my papers at PSA confer- ences. I also owe special thanks to Richard Heffernan, who read earlier versions of Chapters 3–8 and made some excellent suggestions. Any remaining errors are my responsibility. My greatest academic debt is owed to Keith Dowding, who super- vised my thesis, advised on the writing of this book, and served as a general intellectual mentor. He introduced me to the black arts of rational choice theory, which I studied first as a sceptic and later as a convert. Working at the LSE was particularly useful, since it is one of the few institutions in the UK where rational choice theory has taken off. Many of my ideas about rational choice methods were shaped by the seminars and workshops I attended, as well as the undergraduate classes I taught. My ideas about Labour’s policy-making structure were clarified by discussions with head office party officials, and with Ann Black, who is currently a member of the party’s national executive. I would like to thank all concerned who generously gave of their time to talk with me. Some of the arguments in this book have already appeared in print. I am pleased to acknowledge that one section from Chapter 2 and three sections from Chapter 3 first appeared in a slightly different form in my article, ‘Block Voting in the Labour Party: A Political Exchange Model’, Party Politics, Volume 8, Number 2, March 2002 (© 2002 Sage xi xii Acknowledgements Publications, London). Much of the material in Chapter 6 first appeared (again in a different form) in my article, ‘Electing the Leader: The British Labour Party’s Electoral College’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Volume 6, Number 3, August 2004 (© 2004 Political Studies Association and Blackwell Publishing, London). Thanks are also due to Alison Howson and Guy Edwards of Palgrave Macmillan, who navigated me through the production process and showed great patience. Finally, my main debt of gratitude is owed to my father, Tom Quinn senior, without whose support over the years this book would not have been possible. He offered encouragement during the dark days when it seemed the thesis would never be completed, and the pride he took in my accomplishments always spurred me on to achieve more. As a token of my thanks, it is to my father that I dedicate this book. Thomas Quinn List of Abbreviations AEEU Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (previously AUEW, now Amicus) ALC