CHOOSING A LEADER
Choosing a Leader Party Leadership Contests in Britain from Macmillan to Blair Leonard P. Stark
First published in Great Britain 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-333-65336-4 DOI 10.1057/9780230375758 ISBN 978-0-230-37575-8 (ebook) First published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth A venue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-3 I 2- I 2824- I Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stark, Leonard P. Choosing a leader: party leadership contests in Britain from Macmillan to Blair / Leonard P. Stark. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-3 I 2- I 2824- I I. Political parties-great Britain. 2. Political leadership- -Great Britain. 3. Great Britain-Politics and govemment-1945- l. Title. lni121.s73 1996 324.241'009'045--<1c20 95-36940 CIP Leonard P. Stark 1996 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 W1P9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 9 8 7 6 05 04 03 02 01 54321 00 99 98 97 96
In loving memory of my grandparents Henry and Berdie Stark
Contents List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 2 Conservatives lo 3 Labour 36 4 Third Parties 67 5 Candidates 81 6 Campaigns 106 7 Outcomes 124 8 Impact 141 9 A 'Silly Season Story'? 163 10 Postscript: Put Up and Shut Up 167 Appendix: Leadership Selection Rules as of 31 December 1994 173 Notes and References 180 Bibliography 233 Index 236 viii IX X VB
List of Tables 1.1 Leadership Contests Since 1963 4 2.1 Conservative Party Leaders Since 1900 14 2.2 Summary of Alternatives Considered by 1964-5 Committee 22 3.1 Labour Party Leaders Since 1906 38 3.2 Voting at the Wembley Conference 56 4.1 Liberal Party Leaders Since 1900 69 4.2 Social Democratic Party Leaders 78 4.3 Liberal Democrat Party Leader 80 5.1 Political Experiences of Leadership Candidates 82 5.2 Candidate Experiences: Averages 85 5.3 A verage Candidate Experiences by Selection System 86 5.4 A verage Number of Candidates by Party, Party Status, and Selection System 97 5.5 Candidates: Motivation 99 5.6 Selection Systems and Decisions to Stand 104 6.1 Did Campaigns Matter? 118 6.2 Campaign Style and Outcome for 'Win' Candidates in Elections by MPs 123 7.1 Strategic Concerns Involved in Party Leadership Contests 126 7.2 Strongest Candidates on Three Criteria 132 7.3 Selection Systems and Likely Winners 133 8.1 Empirical Impact of Conservative and Labour Contests Since 1963 159 8.2 Empirical and General Impact of Leadership Contests Since 1963 161 8.3 Overall General Impact by Party and Selection System 162 viii
List of Figures 6.1 Length of Campaigns 121 6.2 Degree of Campaign Conspicuousness 122 7.1 Hierarchy of Party Strategic Goals 125 8.1 Impact of 1963 Labour Contest 143 8.2 Impact of 1963 Conservative Contest 144 8.3 Impact of 1965 Conservative Contest 146 8.4 Impact of 1975 Conservative Contest 147 8.5 Impact of 1976 Labour Contest 148 8.6 Impact of 1980 Labour Contest 150 8.7 Impact of 1983 Labour Contest 151 8.8 Impact of 1988 Labour Contest 153 8.9 Impact of 1989 Conservative Contest 155 8.10 Impact of 1990 Conservative Contest 157 8.11 Impact of 1992 Labour Contest 158 8.12 Impact of 1994 Labour Contest 160 ix
Acknowledgements I must first thank the party leaders, leadership candidates, politicians, academics, and journalists who agreed to be interviewed for this project: Kenneth Baker, Margaret Beckett, Alan Beith, Tony Benn, Humphry Berkeley, Robert Blake, James Douglas, Henry Drucker, Edward du Cann, John Edmonds, Marcia Falkender, Nigel Fisher, Michael Fraser, Philip Goodhart, William Goodhart, Bryan Gould, Joyce Gould, Jo Grimond, Keith Hampson, Roy Hattersley, Richard Holme, Emlyn Hooson, Geoffrey Howe, Roy Jenkins, Russell Johnston, Bill Jordan, Neil Kinnock, Norman Lamont, Robert Maclennan, Michael Mates, Anthony Meyer, Lewis Minkin, David Owen, John Peyton, Enoch Powell, Malcolm Pun nett, William Rodgers, Tom Sawyer, Peter Shore, Jeremy Thorpe, Peter Walker, Alan Watkins, William Whitelaw, Shirley Williams, Hugo Young, and George Younger. Many of these people had never previously spoken on the record about leadership selection rules. I am deeply grateful not only for their candour but also for their generosity in welcoming me into their homes and into the Houses of Parliament. The Rhodes Trust funded me for two wonderful years at Oxford University, during which I completed most of my research and writing. Both the Trust and Magdalen College, Oxford, also provided useful travel grants. This project would not have been possible without the access I was granted to numerous first-rate libraries: Oxford's Bodleian and New Bodleian Libraries, the Magdalen College Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Mid-Manhattan Library, the University of Delaware's Morris Library, and Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library. I am also indebted to the University of Delaware's Undergraduate Research Program, which gave me the skills and the confidence to undertake this project at Oxford. Robert Wybrow, Director of Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Limited, was a great help in providing the polling data used in Chapter 8. Robert Worcester of Market & Opinion Research International (MORl) kindly allowed me to consult his organisation's polls as well. David Butler, James Douglas, Michael Hart, Philip Norton, and Malcolm Punnett read earlier versions of these chapters and gave me many valuable suggestions. I alone, however, am responsible for any errors of judgment or fact that remain. x
Acknowledgements xi Every effort has been made to contact all the copyright-writers, but if any have been inadvertently omitted the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the earliest opportunity. Many people, including those I have already mentioned, helped me to clarify the ideas presented here. Although I cannot list them all, I particularly wish to thank Phil Irwin, Jesse Malkin, Heather Morrison, Ed Pallesen, Joseph Pika, Jeff Shesol, and Micul Thompson. My parents, Linda and Walter Stark, and my sister, Danielle Stark, have given me love, encouragement, and support throughout my life. In the time it took to write this book, Beth Stark has been my girlfriend, my fiancee, and now my wife. I am grateful to her in ways that words cannot describe. LEONARD P. STARK