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‘If Only More Candidates Came Forward’: Supply-Side Explanations of Candidate Selection in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Pippa Norris  and
Joni Lovenduski
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Extract

In a familiar observation, members of the British House of Commons are demographically unrepresentative of the British population in terms of gender, race, education and class. This article takes a fresh look at the reasons why this is the case, based on data from the British Candidate Study, 1992. This study analyses the background, experience and attitudes of MPs, candidates, applicants, party members and voters. By comparing strata we can see whether the outcome of the selection process reflects the supply of those willing to stand for Parliament or the demands of local party activists when adopting candidates for local constituencies.

Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , July 1993 , pp. 373 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

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2 John Adams, quoted in McLean, , ‘Forms of Representation’, p. 173.Google Scholar

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9 The authors are most grateful to the principal investigators for this data: Anthony Heath, Roger Jowell and John Curtice.

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11 Although the British Candidate Study included candidates from all the main parties – Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National, Plaid Cymru and Greens – within the limitations of space this article has focused only on the major parties. For further details of the selection procedures and outcomes in the other parties, see Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, Political Representation (forthcoming).Google Scholar

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17 Personal interview with Conservative applicant, No. 38.

18 Personal interview with Conservative MP, No. 21.

19 ‘I would go up once a month to the Executive. When I started with great enthusiasm I went up every week as well, and began knocking on doors. It was an utterly pointless exercise really. You see my task was to help create an association. It was an association they claimed was totally demoralized, neglected; the fact is that it's a tiny, tiny association run by some councillors who are there in a minority, who all hate each other because there are so few of them, and they're all getting on in years… it was raising virtually no money, it had a dreadful old office, it doesn't have any professional agent, so my first task was really to give the association some confidence in itself, but I thought, my God, what have I got myself into… I thought, right, they can sort it out themselves, and it's been like that all the time.’ Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 23.

20 Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 16.

21 Personal interview with a Labour MP, No. 13.

22 Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 38.

23 Personal interview with a woman Labour MP, No. 12.

24 See Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘British Conservative Parliamentary Recruitment: Patronage, Liberal-Rational, Radical and Feminist Models’ (paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association, Washington DC, 1991).Google Scholar

25 It is difficult to generalize about the process of getting on the union ‘A’ list since different unions use different procedures. Some like ASLEF include ‘rising political stars’ in any occupation whom they feel would make good Labour MPs, not just union members. Other unions, like the AEU, insist nominees are employed in their trade, and they use a very rigorous week-long assessment process testing verbal and written skills, knowledge of Labour party policy, public speaking ability and personal interviews. Labour party rules do not control or standardize this process, leaving it to the discretion of the unions concerned.

26 See, however, Lovenduski, and Norris, , ‘Party Rules and Women's Representation’Google Scholar in Crewe, Ivor et al. , eds, British Elections and Parties Yearbook, 1991Google Scholar; Norris, Pippa, ‘Comparing Legislative Recruitment’ in Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, eds, Gender and Party Politics (London: Sage, forthcoming 1992).Google Scholar

27 The following are legally excluded from membership of the House of Commons: aliens; persons under 21 years of age; lunatics; peers; undischarged bankrupts; traitors; convicts in prison for more than one year; persons convicted of corrupt or illegal electoral practices; clergy of the Established Church; office-holders, such as civil servants; members of the armed forces or the police. For more details, see Griffith, J. A. G. and Ryle, Michael, Parliament: Functions, Practice and Procedures (London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1989), pp. 47–9.Google Scholar

28 See Norris, Pippa, Vallance, Elizabeth and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘Do Candidates Make a Difference? Gender, Race, Ideology and Incumbency’, Parliamentary Affairs, 45 (1992), 497–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 In the Harris Exit Poll in the 1992 general election voters were asked to nominate the single most important reason for supporting the party just voted for. The following responses were given: the party's policies, 47 per cent; I usually vote for that party, 20 per cent; dislike of another party, 15 per cent; the party leader, 7 per cent; the local candidate, 5 per cent; none of these, 4 per cent; not stated, 1 percent (Harris/ITN, Exit Poll N.4,701, 9 04 1992).Google Scholar

30 For more details of the process and the roles of local and central party organizations, see Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘Who Selects? Central–Local Relations in the British Conservative and Labour Parties’ (paper presented at the XVth World Congress of the International Political Science Association, Buenos Aires, 1991)Google Scholar. See also Geddes, Andrew, Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, ‘Candidate Selection: Reform in Britain’, Contemporary Record, 4 (1991), 19–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘Pathways to Parliament’, Talking Politics, 1 (1989), 90–4.Google Scholar

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37 One Conservative candidate reported being dismissed by an unsympathetic employer for requesting leave of absence to fight the campaign: ‘They said to me they wanted me gone as soon as the election was called. So I had to face that election with absolutely nothing. It was terrible when you've got that at the back of your mind. You've got all the excitement of the campaign but I knew there was no job at the end of that.’

38 Personal interview with Labour candidate, No. 13.

39 Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 10.

40 Personal interview with a Conservative MP, No. 39.

41 Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 18.

42 Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament.Google Scholar

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44 Personal interview with Conservative MP, No. 1.

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47 In parenthesis, it is worth noting that at the grassroots level, the rise of the Labour polytocracy, combined with the age and gender profile of the Conservatives, means that ironically the workers' party is now the better educated.

48 See Vallance, Elizabeth, ‘Women Candidates in the 1983 General Election’, Parliamentary Affairs, 37 (1984), 301–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rasmussen, Jorgen, ‘The Electoral Costs of Being a Woman in the 1979 British General Election’, Comparative Politics, 15 (1983), 461–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Martlew, C., Forester, C. and Buchanan, G., ‘Activism and Office: Women and Local Government in Scotland’, Local Government Studies, 11 (03/04 1985), 47–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

49 Mitchell, Austin, Getting There (London: Thames Methuen, 1982), p. 30.Google Scholar

50 Interview with a Conservative woman MP, No. 39.

51 Interview with a Conservative woman MP, No. 19.

52 Bochel, and Denver, , ‘Candidate Selection in the Labour Party’.Google Scholar

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56 Personal interview with a woman Labour applicant, No. 34.

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59 Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 30.

60 See Office of Population and Census Surveys, Population Trends, 67 (London: HMSO, 1992).Google Scholar

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68 One interviewee (No. 30), aged over 45, was told in her initial interview by Central Office: ‘Hmmm, well I suppose you're just about in the age bracket – another few months and you'd be what we would consider past it.’ Another Conservative MP (No. 19) noted: ‘There was a cut off point at 50. I mean, it was a tacit cut-off point. We all knew about it though it wasn't written down.’

69 Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament, p. 78.Google Scholar

70 Interview with a Labour applicant, No. 20.

71 Hills, Jill, ‘Lifestyle Constraints’, p. 46.Google Scholar

72 Estimated from the British Candidate Study, Q30 for MPs: ‘Roughly how many hours do you think you usually devote to the following activities in the average month when the House is sitting?’

73 It should be noted that this data is unavailable at present for Conservative members.

74 See Pinto-Duschinsky, Michael, British Political Finance 1830–1980 (Washington, DC: American Economic Institute, 1981), pp. 129–30, 159Google Scholar; Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament, pp. 51–5.Google Scholar

75 Interview with Conservative woman candidate from the north, No. 22.

76 Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 3.

77 Personal interview with Conservative MP, No. 31.

78 Interview with Conservative MP, No. 7.

79 Personal interview with prospective Conservative candidate, No. 34.

80 Ranney, , Pathways to ParliamentGoogle Scholar

81 Personal interview with a Labour applicant, No. 32.

82 Personal interview with Labour applicant, No. 32.

83 Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 38.

84 See Verba, , Nie, and Kim, , Participation and Political Equality.Google Scholar

85 Czudnowski, M. M., ‘Political Recruitment’ in Greenstein, Fred and Polsby, Nelson, eds, Handbook of Political Science, Vol. II (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975).Google Scholar

86 Personal interview with Labour MP, No. 29.

87 Ross, J. F. S., Parliamentary Representation (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1944), p. 116.Google Scholar