Badji Mokhtar University –Annaba- Civilization / 2nd year (All groups)

English Department

The British Political Parties

England has the oldest parliament in the world. The English parliament met for the first time at the Palace
of Westminster in the year 1265, but it took more than four centuries before the concept of "political parties"
gave a new dimension to political life in Britain. Before the birth of political parties in the seventeenth
century, the English parliament consisted of aristocrats and wealthy men who formed alliances and
majorities based on specific factors or loyalties. It was not until after the English Civil War, and
parliamentary upheavals during the Republican years of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (1649-1660),
that the first English political parties began to take shape. During the years from 1678 to 1681, and the
constitutional crisis known as the Exclusion crisis, most members of the English parliament formed into two
"parties", named Whigs and Tories. Until the early 20th century, alone or in coalition with other groups,
these two political parties in turn formed successive British governments, based on the results of
parliamentary elections.

1. History of political parties in Britain

1.1 Early Tory / Whig Parties

When the heir to the throne, James Duke of York was discovered to be a Catholic a rift among
parliamentarians arose on the issue of support for the Catholic king. The people who wished to exclude
James from the throne came to be known as Whigs, and the people who gave support were known as Tories,
or the Tory party. Both names inherently have negative connotations: 'Whig' means a horse driver in
Scottish Gaelic, and 'Tory' means outlaw in the Irish Gaelic language. This schism during the Exclusion
Bill Crisis served as the starting point of the formation of political parties in England. Although the bill was
ultimately defeated in the House of Lords in 1681, the division of the two political tendencies remained. It
should be noted, however, that real party distinctions did not clarify until a later time. The terms of 'Whig'
and 'Tory' were used more as tendencies to support an opinion in policy: rigid blocks of political
coordination were yet to be constructed.

Initially, the Whigs were the party of the liberal and reforming aristocracy. In contrast to the Tories, the
Whig Party attracted people more favourable to constitutional reforms, and in 1832 led the most significant
modernization of the British Parliament, the Reform Act (1832), which rebalanced parliamentary
constituencies, and greatly expanded the electoral base to the middle classes. In the 1850's, the Whig Party
became the most important element of a union of Whigs and Radicals who took the name " Liberal Party".
This centrist party continued until 1988, when it merged with the new but smaller Social Democratic Party
to form today's Liberal Democrats.

The word Tory designated early supporters of strong royal power; Tories were monarchists and
traditionalists, especially at the time of the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. During the eighteenth
century, the Whigs dominated British politics, and the Tory party played a relatively small role in the
political life of the United Kingdom. This changed in the last three decades of the eighteenth century, when
the rise of reformism and radicalism in Europe, which was to lead notably to the French Revolution (1789-
1799) gave a new impetus to defenders of the status quo and conservatism. The Tories re-emerged as a
major force in British politics in 1770 - but this time as a modern party in favor of maintaining the best
traditions of Britain, but at the same time strongly supporting the new opportunities created by the industrial
revolution and imperial and commercial expansion. During the 19th century - as today - the Tory party,
which became the Conservative Party in 1834, was torn between its traditionalists and its reformers.
Benjamin Disraeli, the Conservative prime minister from 1874 to 1880, was one of the great reformers of
the 19th century.

1.2 The Labour Party

 Towards the end of the nineteenth century there arose a number of political parties representing the
working class. Previously, in the 1880s political representatives of the working class had run for parliament
as Liberal-Labour candidates. The need for an independent political party for the working class resulted in
the formation of The Independent Labour Party, which was lead by Keir Hardie. In 1898, the ILP joined
with another Labour party, the Social Democratic Federation. This resulted in a Labour party majority in the
region of West Ham, which convinced another left-wing group to join, the Fabian Society. In 1900, the
leaders of all socialist groups in Britain joined to form the Labour Representation Committee (LRC). In
1906 The LRC officially changed its name to the Labour Party. The first Labour MPs had been elected in
1900 as representatives of the Independent Labour Party. The Labour Party formed a minority government
in 1924, but it did not last. Labour first formed a majority government in 1929.In the years to come, the
Labour Party would eventually grow to dominate the political landscape and replace the Liberal Party as the
most powerful left party in Great Britain, contending with the Conservative Party.

2. Stability of the political landscape

The British electoral system, a system of "relative majority", has not changed for more than four
centuries, and is favourable to large parties and stable governments. It tends to prevent parties fragmenting
into smaller factions or clans, and encourages consensus positions around strong party leaders. Britain's
three major parties are all now more than a century old, and the system makes it very hard for new parties to
get a foot on the ladder. The rise of the Labour Party in the early 20th century was the result of major
changes in society. Since then, no new party has succeeded in establishing itself in England, and new parties
that are created remain marginal in terms of representation, or merge with larger ones.

3. The Political Parties in Britain today

3.1 The Conservative Party

During the period of Tory decline in Parliament the name 'Conservative' began to be used, as politician
Robert Peel rallied together the opponents of further reform in the 1830s. By 1832 the term 'Conservative
Party' had effectively replaced 'Tory' in common use by the press and politics. Peel issued the Tamworth
Manifesto in 1834, which outlined the goals of the Conservatives. Historically, the party has been the
mainland party most pre-occupied by British Unionism, as attested to by the party's full name, the
Conservative & Unionist Party. This resulted in the merger between the Conservatives and Joseph
Chamberlain's Liberal Unionist Party, composed of former Liberals who opposed Irish home rule. The
unionist tendency is still in evidence today, manifesting sometimes as a scepticism or opposition to
devolution, firm support for the continued existence of the United Kingdom in the face of movements
advocating independence from the UK, and a historic link with the cultural unionism of Northern Ireland.
This is the British party of the right, including a broad range of traditional conservatives and royalists, neo-
liberals and social conservatives. For the last forty years, the party has been deeply divided over issues of
sovereignty and the role of Britain in the European Union. A majority of party members are in favour of a
revision of the terms of Britain's membership of the European Union, and the holding of a referendum on a
possible withdrawal. But other Conservatives, including industrial and business leaders, are strongly pro-
European.
3.2 Liberal Democrats
A party of the centre, formed in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic
Party (SPD), the latter being made up of dissidents from the Labour party. The Lib Dems are thus a mixture
of social conservatives and social democrats. The party is the most pro-European of the major British
parties, and until 2015 shared power with the Conservative Party in the coalition government. The term
'Liberal Party' had been used by Prime Minister John Russell in 1868, but the identity of the party started
from a coalition of Whigs and Radicals promoting free trade and reform.
The Liberal Democrats are heavily a party on Constitutional and Political Reforms, including changing
the voting system for General Election, abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with a 300-member
elected Senate, introducing Fixed Five Year Parliaments, and introducing a National Register of Lobbyists.
They also support what they see as greater fairness and social mobility. In government the party promoted
legislation introducing a pupil premium - funding for schools directed at the poorest students to give them an
equal chance in life.

3.3 Labour Party

In 1994, Tony Blair became leader of the Labour party. He continued to move the Labour Party towards
the 'centre' by loosening links with the unions and embracing many of Margaret Thatcher's liberal economic
policies. This, coupled with the professionalising of the party machine's approach to the media, helped
Labour win a historic landslide in the 1997 General Election, after 18 years of Conservative government.
The Labour party covers virtually the whole spectrum of left wing politics in Britain. Until 2010, since the
time of Tony Blair, it had been dominated by the social-liberal centre-left (initially known as New Labour):
the collectivist "Old Labour" views were very much in a minority. From 2010 to 2015, under the leadership
of Ed Miliband, it remained essentially a centre-left party; but in September 2015, with the election to the
leadership of a left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party has moved into a new period in its history. The
party is supported and funded by the British trade unions, but it is not controlled or significantly influenced
by them, and this influence will be further reduced in 2015.

4. Conclusion

In the past, class was a major determinant of voting intention in British politics, with most working class
electors voting Labour and most middle class electors voting Conservative. These days, class is much less
important. In the British political system, there is a broad consensus between the major parties on: the rule
of law, the free market economy, the National Health Service (NHS) and UK membership of European
Union and NATO. The main differences between the political parties concern: how to tackle poverty and
inequality, the levels and forms of taxation, the extent of state intervention in the economy, the balance
between collective rights and individual rights and the UK's relationship to the European Union.

Political parties are an all-important feature of the British political system because the three main UK
political parties in the UK have existed for a century or more and have a strong and stable 'brand image'. It is
virtually impossible for someone to be elected to the House of Commons without being a member of an
established political party. All political parties strongly 'whip' their elected members which means that, on
the vast majority of issues, Members of Parliament of the same party vote as a 'block'.