Contemporary British Politics Research Articles

‘… A 40-Year-Old Black Man Made the Point to Me’: Everyday Knowledge and the Performance of Leadership in Contemporary British Politics

In this article we demonstrate the application of rhetorical political analysis in the study of political communication and political ideas and ideologies. Taking the rhetorical use of anecdotes as a case study, we find that their use by mainstream party leaders in Britain has proliferated markedly since the mid-1990s. Drawing on examples from speeches by leaders of all three main parties, we show how these stories are employed as a form of argumentative proof that relies significantly on the elevation of ‘everyday’ experience and knowledge above expert or technical knowledge. We argue that this reflects a more general ‘valorisation of lay knowledge’ and, moreover, that it is indicative of a form of populist ideology.

Negotiating Multiculturalism: Religion and the Organisation of Hindu Identity in Contemporary Britain

This paper examines the intersections of religious with ethnic and racial discourses in contemporary British politics, and asks how this process has affected the projection of minority identities in Britain. In particular, it looks at the development of Hindu identity through the emergence of national-level Hindu organisations, examining them in the framework of an analysis of developing multiculturalism and the articulation of religion as a legitimate facet of the public space. The paper argues that religion has emerged in a number of ways in recent years, and tries to understand Hindu organisations in relation to these varied articulations. Drawing comparisons with the political representation of Hindus and others in colonial India, the paper goes on to argue that the dominant discursive formation through which religion is legitimated as a facet of contemporary politics invokes an ‘organisational landscape’ which mediates and contains the potential of religious identifications in modern Britain.

Stamp it out! Disciplining the image of Hinduism in a multicultural milieu

In November 2005 the UK Royal Mail's use of Hindu imagery in its Christmas stamp set was vigorously opposed by a range of organisations projected as representative of Hindus in the United Kingdom. The ‘Hindu stamp’ affair highlighted the speed with which appropriate institutional resources can now be mobilised to discipline the image of Hinduism as a religion in the name of a British Hindu community. It is one of a succession of such campaigns over the past few years, all directed towards regulating the representation of Hindu-ness in commercial, media and state institutions. In this paper I want to ask what function is served by this regulatory practice, and why has it become more prominent in recent years? What can the development of such practices tell us about the location of Hindu-ness as a minority ethnic identity, and the way in which this identity uses or contests broader regulatory practices related to the construction of ethnic identities in Britain? By examining the contexts and tracing the emergence of ‘Hindu campaigning’ in Britain, this paper argues that such mobilisations signal a significant stage in the rapid development of religion as a feature of contemporary British politics.

The presidential dynamics of leadership decline in contemporary British politics: the illustrative case of Tony Blair

The presidential analogy has provided many explanatory insights into the contemporary development of the British premiership. Nevertheless, the usage of this analytical device is almost invariably confined to the establishment and consolidation of leadership. This article demonstrates that the presidential dimension has comparable utility in accounting for the erosion and decline of leadership. In examining the Blair premiership in relation to three signature themes of the American presidency – public outreach, personalized leadership, and democratic disjunction – the analysis reveals a set of dynamics that not only provides a vehicle for political opposition but largely predetermines the nature and formulation of that critique.

‘Meddling with Politics’: The Political Role of Foreign Missions in the Early Nineteenth Century

The proper character of the relationship between missionaries and politics shaped one of the most contentious debates within the first century of the modern missionary movement. While the leadership of the missionary societies repeatedly insisted upon the separation between the work of the gospel and politics, missionaries in the field frequently found it difficult to remove themselves from political controversies. John Philip and James Read served with the London Missionary Society in the Cape Colony for most of the first half of the 19th century. Their persistent defence of the interests of the colonial Khoi made them controversial figures in the debates over the social, political and economic structures of the Cape Colony. Missionaries like Read and Philip, rarely described their activities as ‘political’, and certainly did not conceive of their work as in any way related to the patronage‐ridden political system of the early 19th century. Nonetheless, in their promotion of the ideas of religious and civil equality, and in their effective use of public opinion to shape government and public perception of colonial policy, their actions reflected many of the important changes taking place in contemporary British politics. Dissenting political activity focused on the issues of the defence of religious liberty, the struggle to secure their own civil equality, and the debate over the proper relationship between church and state. These issues also played a crucial role in colonial politics throughout the period. This essay will illustrate the important role of the foreign missionary movement in this process. Examining the work of Philip and Read enables us to identify the ways that issues of domestic politics helped to shape the political debates emerging in Britain's expanding empire.

Ian Dyck (1954-2007)

Ian Dyck died on 15 July 2007 from a chronic form of lymphocytic leukaemia. He was the author of what is arguably the best-ever book on William Cobbett. His tragic death at the age of fifty-two leaves uncompleted a most significant and much anticipated study of English popular culture. The son of Saskatchewan farmers, his memory is treasured by friends and colleagues in both Britain and Canada. Ian was an inspirational teacher, a quality acknowledged by Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (where he was an assistant professor) in a special award for teaching excellence in 1991. He was also a stalwart anglophile: whenever feasible, Ian once explained to me, he arranged the beginning of the week round a walk to his local newsagent, to collect the Observer as soon as it arrived around 5.00 p.m. each Monday. His appetite for the detail of contemporary British politics put many of his English friends to shame.

Englishness in Contemporary British Politics

Englishness in Contemporary British Politics

National–Regional–Local: The Electoral and Political Health of the Liberal Democrats in Britain

This article is designed as a stock-taking exercise of the health of the third party in contemporary British politics, the Liberal Democrats. At the 2005 general election, the party's electoral strategy appeared to be limited by asymmetric policy platforms and for the first time in its history the party lost ground to the Conservatives but gained from Labour. However, modelling of the 2005 vote demonstrates that the key dimension to Liberal Democrat support remained electoral credibility and there is considerable evidence that tactical voting patterns established during the party's growth from 1992 to 2001 began to unravel. The Liberal Democrats remain the third party in a system designed to sustain only two, and their relative position in British politics is routinely defined only in relation to their competitors. The prognosis for a long-term realignment of this position may depend on the party's ability to exploit opportunities for changing the rules of the game.

Neither left nor right?: the liberal democrats and the electorate

This fascinating book provides a comprehensive and considered account of the nature of Liberal Democrat electoral politics in contemporary Britain. It explores the specific challenges facing the Liberal Democrats in their struggle for identity, distinctiveness and, most importantly, votes, and examines the different layers of the party, in terms of organisational structure, strategy and representation. The book begins with an analysis of the history of the Liberal party from the days of Lloyd George through to the present day, before looking closely at the party's role in contemporary British politics. It looks at the organisation of the party, from the grassroots to the leadership, and considers the anatomy of the Liberal Democrat vote - who votes for the party and why. It goes on to analyse the party's continuing search for votes and also for seats, which has led the party to align itself closely to Labour in the early days of the first New Labour Government, and therafter to gradually to weaken that alignment. The book includes a number of case studies of how local strategies were adopted in heartland and marginal seats at the 1997 and 2001 elections. The first modern, up to date analysis of the Liberal Democrats to be written, Neither Left nor right? will be essential reading for students of British politics and British political parties.

Book Review: Anthony Forster, Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics: Opposition to Europe in the British Conservative and Labour Parties Since 1945 (London: Routledge, 2002, 157 pp., £20 pbk.)

Book Review: Anthony Forster, Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics: Opposition to Europe in the British Conservative and Labour Parties Since 1945 (London: Routledge, 2002, 157 pp., £20 pbk.)

Narratives of identity: Denying empathy in conservative discourses on race, class, and sexuality

Issues of identity are crucial in current political debate. This article analyses narratives of identity using three very different examples, namely colonial-settler Australia, lesbian romance genres, and the role of class in contemporary American and British politics. It explores both privileged and marginalized identity narratives and the tensions between them. For example, lesbian romance narratives are contrasted with religious right arguments against same-sex marriage. Some argue that the complex intersections, compatibilities, and differences between conflicting narratives of identity reveal a great deal about how specific concepts of identity are formed. The narratives examined do not produce explicit binary constructions of dominant and subordinate identity categories. Rather, being able to imagine (or not imagine) other narratives plays an important part in the process of constructing identities within these discourses. Narratives that foreclose empathy facilitate the denial that discrimination or subordination is taking place. Similarly, privileged narratives of identity facilitate subjects’ ability to think well of themselves and their treatment of others.

Ronald Preston, William Temple, and the Future of Christian Politics

This article discusses Ronald Preston's understanding of William Temple and the relationships between the two thinkers. It shows how both develop a theology of Christian realism which places great emphasis on the autonomy of the social sciences and the importance of economic expertise. Questions are raised about the appropriateness of this method, as well as their understanding of the state as an order of creation: these can easily lead to the reduction of the sphere of political morality and its substitution with a form of technical rationality. After a brief discussion of the cult of the expert and the manager in contemporary British politics, and the limitation of political action through the rhetoric of ‘there is no alternative', the article concludes by calling for a remoralisation of political life against an economic reductionism which threatens to remove ethics from politics altogether.

Gender in Contemporary British Politics

Gender in Contemporary British Politics

The British union of fascists as a Totalitarian Movement and political religion

This essay considers the concepts of totalitarianism and political religion in relation to the British Union of Fascists (BUF). It suggests that these concepts enable us to study vital aspects of fascist reality and experience, particularly the BUF's organic, evolutionary perspective on life and politics and its attempt to penetrate the realm of total experience and being. A restless Faustian belief in modern technology's potential to subdue the world of inanimate nature and create a world ‘reborn through science’ lay close to the heart of the BUF's palingenetic totalitarian project. However, the essay seeks to demonstrate that ingredients other than this obsession with rational scientific panaceas went into the BUF's rebirth project, in that its revolutionary strivings had their basis in a creative fusion of science and spiritual faith. This spiritual component could be observed in the pervasive presence of religious rhetoric and imagery in the BUF's commentary on contemporary British life and politics, as well as in the symbolism and rituals of the party. This essay concludes by suggesting that, although the BUF's fascism was a form of ‘political religion’, its interpretation of the ‘spiritual’ differed from that of traditional Christian thought.

A. Forster, Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics, Routledge, 2002, 157 pp., pb. 18.99

A. Forster, Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics, Routledge, 2002, 157 pp., pb. £18.99 Get access Eric Shaw Eric Shaw Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 56, Issue 2, 1 April 2003, Page 377, https://doi.org/10.1093/parlij/gsg062 Published: 01 April 2003

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:Robert Brenner, The Boom and the Bubble: The US in the World EconomyAnthony Forster, Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics: Opposition to Europe in the British Conservative and Labour Parties since 1945Martin Holmes (ed.), The Eurosceptic ReaderDick Leonard and Mark Leonard (eds.), The Pro–European ReaderBen Pimlott and Nirmala Rao, Governing LondonJean L. Cohen, Regulating Intimacy: A New Legal ParadigmMichael Newman, Ralph Miliband and the Politics of the New LeftKate Berridge, Vigor Mortis: The End of the Death TabooPeter Clarke, The Cripps Version: The Life of Sir Stafford CrippsTom Bentley and Daniel Stedman Jones (eds.), The Moral UniverseRichard Lindley, Panorama: Fifty Years of Pride and ParanoiaGøsta Esping–Andersen with Duncan Gallie, Anton Hemerijck and John Myles, Why We Need a New Welfare StateReinhard Heinisch, Populism, Proporz, Pariah: Austria Turns to the Right. Austrian Political Change, its Causes and Repercussions

The Impacts of Post-WWII Migration to Britain: Policy Constraints, Political Opportunism and the Alteration of Representational Politics

The article identifies and analyzes the most important consequences of non-white post-World War Two immigration for contemporary British politics. The central argument is that postwar immigration has gradually altered the course of British politics along three major dimensions. First, the demographic pattern of postwar immigration during its earliest phase or “first wave” severely and indefinitely constrained the ability of British policymakers to utilize foreign labor to rectify periodic manpower shortages and other structural impediments to economic growth. Second, the permanent settlement of a significant number of non-white immigrants facilitated the success of a political project that redefined the role of the British state in the economy and society. And finally, postwar immigration and its social aftermath altered the representational foundations of Britain's political party system by engendering greater ideological competition between political parties and creating policy distance between them with regard to issues that are especially pertinent to Britain's growing ethnic minority population.

The new labour women MPs in the 1997 British parliament: issues of recruitment and representation

Abstract The British General Election of 1997 witnessed the return of 120 women MPs to Parliament, of whom 101 are Labour women MPs. This article, structured in two parts, suggests, first, that the transformation in Women's legislative recruitment in 1997 is best understood as resulting from the Labour Party's policy of all-women shortlists. Drawing on empirical research, it also reveals insights into how this policy was implemented on the ground. The second part of the article offers an analysis of Women's political representation in contemporary British politics. The assumption that Women's numerical representation effects feminised change is explored through a consideration of the attitudes of women representatives. The research suggests that women MPs consider that Women's presence has the potential to transform the parliamentary political agenda and style.

The new labour women MPs in the 1997 British parliament: issues of recruitment and representation

The British General Election of 1997 witnessed the return of 120 women MPs to Parliament, of whom 101 are Labour women MPs. This article, structured in two parts, suggests, first, that the transformation in Women's legislative recruitment in 1997 is best understood as resulting from the Labour Party's policy of all-women shortlists. Drawing on empirical research, it also reveals insights into how this policy was implemented on the ground. The second part of the article offers an analysis of Women's political representation in contemporary British politics. The assumption that Women's numerical representation effects feminised change is explored through a consideration of the attitudes of women representatives. The research suggests that women MPs consider that Women's presence has the potential to transform the parliamentary political agenda and style.

Island Racism: Gender, Place, and White Power

The election of a British National Party councillor in London in September 1993 was greeted by shock and disbelief in the media, particularly because it happened during controversial preparations to celebrate the anniversary of Britain's role in Hitler's defeat in 1945. This essay sets out to examine some of the ways in which the BNP victory was reported in an attempt to understand how intricately gender and class are interwoven in discourses of racism in contemporary British politics. First, it draws attention to the dramatic images of white, working-class (or rather, non-working-class), violent, masculinity that dominated media representation of the event. In particular, the apparent invisibility of women in the photos and headlines seemed questionable, particularly when their anger and frustration about their own living conditions percolated through the lengthier written reports on the inside pages. Looking beyond superficial media coverage of the election, it was clear that gender was also a significant factor in the construction of a local, exclusively white, organic community fostered by political parties responsible for administering social housing and other public resources. While gender can articulate different forms of racism, the reverse can also be true. Ideas about what it means to be white, for example, defined against the racialized ‘other’, are also implicated in the social construction of gender. The violence perpetrated by those attracted to the xenophobic rhetoric of groups like the BNP is able to represent an aspect of masculinity that is both patriarchal and active in defending the ‘racial’ community. The third voice of beleaguered mothers summons up a version of white femininity that is passively concerned with the task of trying to reproduce the racial purity longed for by their menfolk. Finally, the specific characteristics and dynamics of the area in which the election took place also demands attention, not just because it happened in the heart of one of the most contested territories in London, but also because it was a reminder that the spatial aspects of social conflict are inseparable from the social, political and economic.