Main Political Parties in the UK - Case Study Example

Old Labour/ New Labour It is one of the United Kingdom's three main political parties and is currently the party of government in the United Kingdom. It has won by a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, and formed its first government since the 1979 general election. It retained its position with a further large victory in the 2001 general election, and a smaller victory (taking only 35.3% The Labour Party is a membership organisation consisting of Constituency Labour Parties, affiliated trade unions and socialist societies, including the Co-operative Party, with which it has an electoral agreement. Members who are elected to parliamentary positions take part in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP). The old labour party phylosophy was on the left-wing (socialism or social democracy). The left has historically opposed the concentration of wealth and power, especially in an institutionalized form, in the hands of those who have traditionally controlled them. As such, the left often works to create or support equality in the stateWith the spread of the industrial revolution, left-wing politics became concerned with the conditions and rights of large numbers of workers in factories and of lower classes in general. Partial or full socialism, the welfare state, or trade unionism have been specific ways in which some leftists have tried to advance the interests of the poor. In modern times the left also criticized what it perceives as the exploitative nature of globalization through the rise of sweatshops and the race to the bottom, and has sought to promote fair trade. As civil and human rights gained more attention during the twentieth century, the left allied itself with advocates of racial and gender equality, and cultural tolerance. It has also been opposed to some forms of aggressive nationalism, such as imperialism and offensive war, which have been seen as a vehicle to advance the interests of capitalism. Although specific means of achieving these ends are not agreed upon by different left-wing groups, almost all those on the left agree that some form of government or social intervention in economics is necessary to advance the interests of the poor and middle class. Advocacy of government or social intervention in the market puts those on the left at odds with advocates of the free market as well as corporations (who oppose democratic control of the markets but not necessarily all control) if they see their interests threatened. Many on the Left describe themselves as "progressive", a term that arose from their self-identification as the side of social progress. Left-wing positions on social issues, such as opposition to social hierarchy and authority over moral behaviour, strict adherence to tradition, and monoculturalism, may make them allies with right wing advocates of "individual freedom", though their solutions are very different. The above strands of left wing thought come in many forms, and individuals who support some of the objectives of one of the above stands will not necessarily support all of the others. At the level of practical political policy, there are endless variations in the means that left wing thinkers advocate to achieve their basic aims, and they sometimes argue with each other as much as with the right. The Labour Party has historically been the principal left wing political party of the United Kingdom since its formation in the early 20th century. However many, including socialists, now regard Labour's modern political philosophy as centrist (and a number of left-wing members who have resigned from the party would contend that it is more centre-right, particularly in areas such as security, civil liberties and economic liberalisation). Despite this, and its current leader, Tony Blair's emphasis on so-called Third Way approaches between liberal market economy and traditional Social democracy, Labour still styles itself as Democratic Socialist. The British Labour Party is a member of the Socialist International. "New Labour" is an alternative name for the Labour Party which originated in 1994. The name is primarily used by the party itself in its literature but is also sometimes used by political commentators and the wider media; it was also the basis of a Conservative Party poster campaign of 1997, headlined "New Labour, New Danger". The rise of the name coincided with a rightwards shift of the British political spectrum; for Labour, this was a continuation of the trend that had begun under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. "Old Labour" is sometimes used by commentators to describe the older, more left-wing members of the party, or those with strong Trade Union connections. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell are most commonly cited as the creators and architects of the New Labour ethos. They were among the most prominent advocates of the right-wing shift in European social democracy during the 1990s, known as the "Third Way". New Labour (as a series of values) is often characterised as a belief in 'no rights without responsibilities', i.e. that a citizen should recognise that s/he possesses responsibilities linked with any legal rights they hold. The concept of a 'stakeholder society' is quite prominent in New Labour thinking. As noted above, New Labour thought also embraces the notion of the "Third Way", although critics pointed to the lack of any concise statement of its meaning, and the term later fell from use. Labour's economic policy sought to balance the laissez-faire capitalism of the Thatcherite era with measures that would lessen or reverse their negative impact on society. One of the most popular policies introduced was Britain's first National Minimum Wage Act, a policy negotiated by Labour's affiliated trade unions in return for accepting the change to Clause IV of the party constitution. Tony Blair secured the revision of Clause IV of the party constitution, which had been adopted in 1918, and which committed the party to 'the common ownership of the means of production'. This was widely interpreted in the past as a policy of nationalisation: "To secure for all the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry of service." A special conference of the party approved the change in March 1995. The key phrase of the new clause IV is: "The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each one of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect." An earlier attempt to modify clause IV, by Hugh Gaitskell, had failed, after which most Labour leaders regarded it as a distraction. Tony Blair was, however, determined to signal his mastery of the party and his complete rejection of those policies, such as nationalisation, which were seen to damage Labour. The name change coincided with a dramatic revival of the party's fortunes. The "modernisation" of Labour party policy, and the unpopularity of the Conservative government, greatly increased Labour's appeal to "middle England". The party was concerned not to put off potential voters who had previously supported the Conservatives, and pledged to keep to the spending plans of the previous government, and not to increase the basic rate of income tax. In practice, the New Labour government were far closer to large corporations and rich businessmen than any other Labour government which preceded it. New Labour attracted donations from companies and rich individuals on a large scale, and often the largest benefactors have received peerages and ministerial positions. This could have influenced the range and type of policies pursued, as many of the Policy Taskforces instigated in 1997 and 1998 found a place for large numbers of industrialists, including Lord Simon, a former chairman of BP, Lord Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, and Alec Reed of Reed Employment. There have been various reports regarding the effect of such close links and policies such as Public-Private Partnership schemes, deregulation of utilities, privatisation and the tendency to outsource government services. The policy role of the Labour Party itself in the New Labour government could arguably be described as fairly minor. Tuition fees, no high rate of tax for the rich, authoritarian law and order policies are the hallmark of the new labour under Tony Blair. Well, authoritarian law and order policies would generally be considered either left or right, generally left, though. Also, new labour has completely abandoned the left, it's policies are still very "Thatcher-ite", it is neither centre nor cntre-left, it is clearly right winged. It holds many characteristics of the Right-wing populist movement found in North America in the 1990's and Tony Blair's allegiance to the "Third Way" of he and Bill Clinton was clearly an advocate of free market neoliberalism. Labour's foreign policy kept it close to the United States. Tony Blair managed to persuade Bill Clinton to take a more active role in Kosovo in 1999, and UK forces assisted in the international coalition which attacked the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. The UK was one of the allies of the United States that actually participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The decision to engage in the conflict was met with much public disapproval, and many called Tony Blair's credibility into question when doubts emerged as to whether intelligence concerning Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was at all reliable. War was not a part of socialist cores, as it was seen as a way of capitalists to increase their wealth. The name "New Labour" has been widely satirised. Critics associate the new name with an unprecedented use of 'spin doctoring' in the party's relationship with media. In left-wing circles, the name "New Labour" or Neo Labour is used pejoratively to refer to the perceived domination of the Labour Party by its right-wing. Indeed, some socialists argue that Labour has become so fond of neo-liberal policies it is Thatcherite rather than Democratic Socialist References 1. http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Newint/Slp.html 2. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Pilp.htm 3. http://www.socialistfuture.org.uk/msf/articles/reviews/Osler.htm 4. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=853750 5. http://www.socialequality.org.uk/what-3.htm 6. http://www.socialist.net/content/view/855/29/ 7. http://www.socialistparty.net/publications.htm 8. http://www.socialist.net/content/view/456/29/ 9. http://www.chartist.org.uk/articles/labourmove/smith.html 10. http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8208 11. www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/ stores/detail/-/books/0141185295/customer-reviews - 40k 12. www.fabian-society.org.uk/documents/ ViewADocument.asp?ID=29&CatID=52 - 79k 13. http://sca.lib.liv.ac.uk/collections/glasier/glasier1.htm 14. assets.cambridge.org/052157/ 160X/sample/052157160Xws.pdf 15. http://freespace.virgin.net/old.whig/social.htm 16. http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/542/Craig.htm 17. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n07/lanc01_.html 18. http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/article.php3?id_article=10 19. http://www.socialist-labour-party.org.uk/NECReporttoCongress2005.pdf 20. http://international.sp.nl/publications/enough/chapter10.stm Read More