Party Leadership Selection in the United Kingdom

Abstract

n the past few decades, British parties have undergone deep transformations, also concerning their leader selection rules. It could be interesting to directly tackle this area of intra-party changes, also given the increasing attention devoted to party leaders and to their mode of selection. This article will explore both the precise features of the changes in the rules governing the selection of party leaders (particularly focusing on the selectorate), and also the characteristics of most recent leadership races occurred in the most important parties in the United Kingdom. To begin with, the article will explore the expansions of the selectorate occurred between the mid-1960s and today, particularly analysing the implementation of OMOV (one-member one-vote) systems. Second, attention will be devoted to the precise features of the selection mechanisms, by applying the quadripartite scheme devised by Hazan and Rahat (the selectorate, the candidacy, the decentralization, and the voting system). Third, we will focus on the most recent leadership races that elected Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May as leader of, respectively, the Labour and the Conservative Party. All in all, the article shows that British parties have surely undergone deep transformations concerning the rules for the selection of their leaders and the precise features of recent leadership races, but also that a full empowerment of party members has not been reached yet.