Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T10:59:26.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparing the Dynamics of Party Leadership Survival in Britain and Australia: Brown, Rudd and Gillard

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2014

Mark Bennister  and
Tim Heppell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the interaction between the respective party structures of the Australian Labor Party and the British Labour Party as a means of assessing the strategic options facing aspiring challengers for the party leadership. Noting the relative neglect within the scholarly literature of forced exits that occur and attempted forced exits that do not occur, this article takes as its case study the successful forced exits of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, and the failure to remove Gordon Brown. In doing so the article challenges the prevailing assumption that the likely success of leadership evictions are solely determined by the leadership procedures that parties adopt. Noting the significance of circumstances and party cultures, the article advances two scenarios through which eviction attempts can be understood: first, forced exits triggered through the activation of formal procedures (Rudd and Gillard); second, attempts to force an exit by informal pressures beyond the formal procedures which are overcome by the incumbent (Brown).

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 134 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Mark Bennister is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Canterbury Christ Church University. Contact email: mark.bennister@canterbury.ac.uk. Tim Heppell is Associate Professor of British Politics at University of Leeds. Contact email: t.heppell@leeds.ac.uk.

References

Alderman, K. (1996), ‘The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1995’, Parliamentary Affairs, 49(2): 316–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alderman, K. (1998), ‘The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1997’, Parliamentary Affairs, 51(1): 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alderman, K. and Carter, N. (1991), ‘A Very Tory Coup: The Ousting of Mrs Thatcher’, Parliamentary Affairs, 44(2): 125–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alderman, K. and Carter, N. (1993), ‘The Labour Party Leadership and Deputy Leadership Elections of 1992’, Parliamentary Affairs, 46(1): 49–65.Google Scholar
Alderman, K. and Carter, N. (1995), ‘The Labour Party Leadership and Deputy Leadership Elections of 1994’, Parliamentary Affairs, 48(3): 438–455.Google Scholar
Alderman, K. and Smith, M. (1990), ‘Can British Prime Ministers be Given the Push by their Parties?’, Parliamentary Affairs, 43(3): 260–276.Google Scholar
Bennister, M. (2007), ‘Tony Blair and John Howard: Comparative Predominance and Institutional Stretch in Britain and Australia’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 9(3): 327–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennister, M. (2008), ‘Blair and Howard: Predominant Prime Ministers Compared’, Parliamentary Affairs, 61(2): 334–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennister, M. (2012), Prime Ministers in Power: Political Leadership in Britain and Australia (Basingstoke: Palgrave).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennister, M. (2013), ‘Hypocrisy, Plotting and Misogyny: Explaining the Brutal Nature of Australian Party Politics’, PSA blog, www.psa.ac.uk/political-insight/blog/hypocrisy-plotting-and-misogyny-explaining-brutal-nature-australian-party.Google Scholar
Bongiorno, F. (2013a), ‘The Churn Goes On’, Inside Story, 27 June, http://inside.org.au/the-churn-goes-on.Google Scholar
Bongiorno, F. (2013b), ‘A Peace that Passeth (Almost) all Understanding’, Inside Story, 10 October, http://inside.org.au/a-peace-that-passeth-almost-all-understanding.Google Scholar
Boucek, F. (2009), ‘Rethinking Factionalism: Typologies, Intra-Party Dynamics and Three Faces of Factionalism’, Party Politics, 15(4): 455–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, J. (2007), ‘Exit Right: The Unravelling of John Howard’, Quarterly Essay 28, (Melbourne: Black Inc.).Google Scholar
Brett, J. (2013), ‘What Rudd Could Learn from Gillard about Leadership’, Monthly, August: 92.Google Scholar
Bryant, N. (2013), ‘Australia’s Coup Culture’ BBC Online, 20 March, www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21863630?print=true.Google Scholar
Budge, I., Ezrow, L. and McDonald, M. (2010), ‘Ideology, Party Factionalism and Policy Change: An Integrated Dynamic Theory’, British Journal of Political Science, 40(4): 781–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bynander, F. and ‘t Hart, P. (2007), ‘The Politics of Party Leader Survival and Succession: Australia in Comparative Perspective’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 42(1): 47–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bynander, F. and ‘t Hart, P. (2008), ‘The Art of Handing Over: (Mis)Managing Party Leadership Successions’, Government and Opposition, 43(3): 385–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavalier, R. (2005), ‘Could Chifley win Labor Pre-selection Today?’, speech to the NSW Fabian Society Seminar, Gleebooks, 20 April, www.fabian.org.au/867.asp.Google Scholar
Cavalier, R. (2012), ‘Bad Governments Lose: Surely there is no Mystery There’, in M. Simms and J. Wanna (eds), 2010: The Caretaker Election (ANU e-Press): 33–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowley, P. and Bailey, M. (2000), ‘Peasants’ Uprising or Religious War: Re-examining the 1975 Conservative Leadership Contest’, British Journal of Political Science, 30(4): 599–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowley, P. and Garry, J. (1998), ‘The British Conservative Party and Europe: The Choosing of John Major’, British Journal of Political Science, 28(3): 473–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, W. and Blais, A. (2010), ‘Who Selects the Party Leader?’, Party Politics, 18(2): 127–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, W. and Blais, A. (2012), Politics at the Centre: The Selection and Removal of Party Leaders in the Anglo Parliamentary Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, G. (2011), Leader of the Gang: How Political Parties Choose Numero Uno (Brisbane: Griffith Review).Google Scholar
Davis, J.W. (1998), Leadership Selection in Six Western Democracies (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press).Google Scholar
Denham, A. and O’Hara, K. (2008), Democratising Conservative Leadership Selection: From Grey Suits to Grass Roots (Manchester: Manchester University Press).Google Scholar
Dorey, P. and Denham, A. (2006), ‘A Tale of Two Speeches: The 2005 Conservative Leadership Contest’, Political Quarterly, 77(1): 35–42.Google Scholar
Dorey, P. and Denham, A. (2011), ‘O, Brother, Where Art Thou? The Labour Party Leadership Election of 2010’, British Politics, 6(3): 286–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economou, N. (2010), ‘The Labor Party’, in D. Woodward, A. Parkin and J. Summers (eds), Government, Politics, Power and Policy in Australia, 9th edn (French’s Forest: Pearson): 226–244.Google Scholar
Evans, M. (2010), ‘The Rise and Fall of the Magic Kingdom: Understanding Kevin Rudd’s Domestic Statecraft’, in C. Aulich and M. Evans (eds), (2010), The Rudd Government: Australian Commonwealth Administration 2007–2010 (Sydney: UNSW Press): 261–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, M. (2009),‘Gordon Brown and the Role of Compounded Crisis in the Pathology of Leadership’, British Politics, 4(4): 498–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gauja, A. (2011), ‘The Invisible Mechanics of Leadership Change: The Factional Dynamics of Leadership Selection in Australia’, paper presented at the ECPR Joint Session of Workshops, St Gallen, 12–17 April.Google Scholar
Gauja, A. (2013), ‘Labor in Vain: Will the Rudd Party Reforms Work?’, The Conversation, 21 July, http://theconversation.com/labor-in-vain-will-the-rudd-party-reforms-work-16237.Google Scholar
Harrison, D. (2013), ‘Bill Shorten Elected Labor Leader’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 October, www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-elected-labor-leader-20131013-2vfzy.html.Google Scholar
‘t Hart, P. and Uhr, J. (2011), How Power Changes Hands: Transition and Succession in Government (Basingstoke: Palgrave).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartcher, P. (2010), ‘Kevin Rudd’s Leadership on the Line’, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 June, www.smh.com.au/national/kevin-rudds-leadership-on-the-line-20100623-yzax.html.Google Scholar
Hasan, M. and MacIntyre, J. (2011), Ed: The Milibands and the Making of a Labour Leader (London: Biteback).Google Scholar
Heath, A. and Swan, J. (2013), ‘Two Agonising Weeks before Kingmaker Turned on his Queen’, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 June 2013, www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/two-agonising-weeks-before-kingmaker-turned-on-his-queen-20130627-2p06h.html.Google Scholar
Heppell, T. (2008), Choosing the Tory Leader: Conservative Party Leadership Elections from Heath to Cameron (London: I.B. Tauris).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heppell, T. (2010), Choosing the Labour Leader: Labour Party Leadership Elections from Wilson to Brown (London: I.B. Tauris).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heppell, T. and Hill, M. (2008), ‘The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1997: An Analysis of the Voting Motivations of Conservative Parliamentarians’, British Politics, 3(1): 63–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heppell, T. and Hill, M. (2009), ‘Transcending Thatcherism? Ideology and the Conservative Party Leadership Mandate of David Cameron’, Political Quarterly, 80(3): 388–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heppell, T. and Hill, M. (2010), ‘The Voting Motivations of Conservative Parliamentarians in the Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2001’, Politics, 30(1): 36–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howes, P. (2010), Confessions of a Faceless Man: Inside Campaign 2010 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press).Google Scholar
Hughes, C. (2010) (ed.), What Went Wrong Gordon Brown? (London: Guardian Books).Google Scholar
Jackman, C. (2008), Inside Kevin07: The People, the Plan, the Prize (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press).Google Scholar
Johnson, C. (2013), ‘Labor’s Legacy: Six Years of What Exactly’, The Conversation, 7 September, http://theconversation.com/labors-legacy-six-years-of-what-exactly-17526.Google Scholar
Kefford, G. (2013), ‘The Presidentialisation of Australian Politics? Kevin Rudd’s Leadership of the Australian Labor Party’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 48(2): 135–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenig, O. (2009), ‘Democratization of Party Leadership Selection: Do Wider Selectorates Produce More Competitive Contests?’, Electoral Studies, 28(2): 240–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, M. (2009a), ‘Taking the Temperature of the British Political Elite 3: When Grubby is the Order of the Day’, Parliamentary Affairs, 62(3): 503–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, M. (2009b), ‘Taking the Temperature of the British Political Elite 4: Labour, Chronicle of a Defeat Foretold?’, Parliamentary Affairs, 62(4): 663–672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, J. (2010), The Making of Julia Gillard (Camberwell, Victoria: Viking).Google Scholar
Latham, M. (2005), The Latham Diaries (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press).Google Scholar
Leigh, A. (2000), ‘Factions and Fractions: A Case Study of Power Politics in the Australian Labor Party’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 35(3): 427–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAnulla, S. (2010), ‘Forced Exits: Accounting for the Removal of Contemporary Party Leaders’, Political Quarterly, 81(4): 593–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manwaring, R. (2013a), ‘Is this Rudd’s New Labour Moment?’, The Conversation, 9 July, https://theconversation.com/is-this-kevin-rudds-new-labor-party-15888.Google Scholar
Manwaring, R. (2013b), ‘Shorten Wins, but the ALP Plays it Safe with Democracy’, The Conversation, 13 October, http://theconversation.com/shorten-wins-but-the-alp-plays-it-safe-with-democracy-19041.Google Scholar
Marr, D. (2010), ‘Power Trip: The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd’, Quarterly Essay, QE38 (Melbourne: Black Inc.).Google Scholar
Megalogonis, G. (2010), ‘Leadership and the End of the Reform Era’, Quarterly Essay, 40 (Melbourne: Black Inc.).Google Scholar
Megalogonis, G. (2012), The Australian Moment: How we Were Made for these Times (Hawthorn: Penguin).Google Scholar
van Onselen, P. (2010), ‘The Rise and Fall of Kevin Rudd’, The Australian, 24 June.Google Scholar
Quiggin, J. (2013), ‘Rudd’s Party Reforms Highlight Westminster Woes’, The Conversation, 14 July, https://theconversation.com/rudds-party-reforms-highlight-westminster-woes-15992.Google Scholar
Quinn, T. (2004), ‘Electing the Leader: The British Labour Party’s Electoral College’, British Politics and International Relations, 6(3): 333–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, T. (2005), ‘Leasehold or Freehold? Leader-Eviction Rules in the British Conservative and Labour Parties’, Political Studies, 53(4): 793–815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, T. (2012), Electing and Ejecting Party Leaders in Britain (Basingstoke: Palgrave).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawnsley, A. (2010), The End of the Party: The Rise and Fall of New Labour (London: Penguin).Google Scholar
Rhodes, R.A.W. and Tiernan, A. (2013), ‘Organizational Capacity and Prime Ministerial Effectiveness: Observations from Australia’, paper presented to PSA Annual Conference, 26 March.Google Scholar
Sawer, M. (2013), ‘Misogyny and Misrepresentation: Women in Australian Parliaments’, Political Science, 65(1): 105–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, L. (1996), Choosing a Leader: Party Leadership Contest in Britain from Macmillan to Blair (London: Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strangio, P. (2013), ‘Look Not to the Messiah for Salvation’, The Age, 27 February.Google Scholar
Strangio, P., ‘t Hart, P. and Walter, J. (2013) (eds), Understanding Prime Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuart, N. (2010), Rudd’s Way: November 2001–June 2010 (Melbourne: Scribe).Google Scholar
Summers, A. (2012), ‘Her Rights at Work: The Political Persecution of Australia’s First Female Prime Minister’, Human Rights and Social Justice Lecture, University of Newcastle, 31 August, http://annesummers.com.au/2012/09/my-speech-her-rights-at-work-the-political-persecution-of-australias-first-female-prime-minister.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiernan, A. (2008), ‘The Rudd Transition: Continuity and Change in the Structures of Advice and Support to Australian Prime Ministers’, Senate Occasional Lecture, 30 May, Canberra.Google Scholar
Walter, J. (2011), ‘Managers or Messiahs? Prime Ministerial Leadership and the Transition to Government’, in P. ‘t Hart and J. Uhr (eds), How Power Changes Hands: Transition and Succession in Government (Basingstoke: Palgrave): 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, J. (2013), ‘Personal Style, Institutional Setting and Historical Opportunity: Prime Ministerial Performance in Context’, in P. Strangio, P. ‘t Hart and J. Walter (eds), Understanding Prime Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 33–56.Google Scholar
Wanna, J. (2008), ‘Political Chronicles: Commonwealth of Australia July to December 2007’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 54(2): 289–341.Google Scholar
Wanna, J. (2010), ‘Political Chronicles: Commonwealth of Australia, January to June 2010’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 56(4): 631–638.Google Scholar
Wanna, J. (2013), ‘Political Chronicles: Commonwealth of Australia, July to December 2012’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 59(2): 276–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warhurst, J. and Parkin, A. (2000), The Machine: Labor Confronts the Future (Sydney: Allen and Unwin).Google Scholar
Weller, P. (1994), ‘Party Rules and the Dismissal of Prime Ministers: Comparative Perspectives from Britain, Canada and Australia’, Parliamentary Affairs, 47(2): 133–143.Google Scholar
Weller, P. (2012), ‘Fight, Flee or Fulminate: Prime Ministerial Challengers, Strategic Choices and Rites of Succession’, Political Quarterly, 83(1): 152–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar