Situating the Blair Membership Boom Within its Social and Political Context

Abstract

One of the most remarkable features of the 'New Labour* phenomenon under Tony Blair has been the considerable growth in Party membership since his accession to the leadership in July 1994. In the two years up to 1997, membership rose by some 200,000 people (according to the Labour Party Membersh ip Adminis t ra t ion and Recrui tment booklet) and by the first days of that year exceeded 400,000 (The Scotsman 3 January 1997), the highest recorded figure since 1979 (Katz and Mair 1992, p.847). This increase has certainly run contrary to trends in political party membership and to academic opinion on the likely future direction of the political party as an institution. Webb, for example, observes that the percentage of registered electors who were members of the three major British political parties fell from 9.4% in 1964 to 2% in 1992. He thus concludes that 'possibly the most clear-cut indication of the growth of popular alienation from political parties is provided by the decline of party membership' (Webb 1995, p.306, emphasis in the original).