The History of British Political Parties

Last updated

The History of British Political Parties
Politico's Guide to The History of British Political Parties.jpg
Book cover
AuthorDavid Boothroyd
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SubjectBritish political parties
GenreReference
PublisherPolitico's Publishing Ltd
Publication date
2001
Pages320
ISBN 1-902301-59-5
OCLC 45327831
Preceded by United Kingdom Election Results (1994) 

The History of British Political Parties, also referred to as Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties, is a reference book about political parties in the United Kingdom. Written by David Boothroyd, it was published in 2001 by Politico's Publishing Ltd and distributed in the United States by International Specialized Book Services (ISBS). [1] At the time of the book's publication, Boothroyd worked as a researcher with Parliamentary Monitoring Services. [1] The book contains entries on over 250 UK political parties that have participated in parliamentary elections. It is structured alphabetically by entry, with the size of each entry relative to the history and influence of the individual political party. Boothroyd includes information about the history and election statistics of each party, as well as a brief narrative. He focuses on the Conservative, Liberal, and Labour parties; the parties with the most significant histories in British politics.

Contents

Boothroyd's work received positive reviews in book journals. The book was recommended by The School Librarian and Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, although the latter criticised it for not including bibliographical aids. The authors of the bibliographical work Information Sources of Political Science described it as a "handy guide", and it was used as a reference in Third Force Politics: Liberal Democrats at the Grassroots.

Contents

The History of British Political Parties is a comprehensive work which lists and describes over 250 political parties in the United Kingdom that have participated in parliamentary elections since 1832. [1] [2] Entries are organised alphabetically, and most descriptions of the political parties span a few paragraphs or pages. [3] Space is allotted to each entry based on the individual party's history and influence; 34 pages are devoted to the Conservative Party, whereas only two paragraphs are given to the Captain Beany's New Millennium Bean Party. [2]

Each entry contains objective information on the party including its history, address, the number of registered members, election statistics, [1] [2] and their email address and website if these exist. [4] The author provides a detailed, narrative description of each party. [2] Boothroyd writes, "Only three parties out of the 250 ... have ever formed a government in the United Kingdom." [3] He devotes the most discussion in the book to the Conservative, Liberal and Labour parties. [3] [4] The book includes cross-references to enable the reader to easily locate political parties that have had changes over time. [4]

Reception

In a review of the book for The School Librarian , Valerie Caless wrote, "Overall, this is a thorough historical guide to the political parties, and will serve as a very useful reference book for students of both history and politics at all levels. A glossary or 'concepts' guide would have been a bonus for the new or less patient student." [2] N.W. Polsby of the University of California, Berkeley reviewed the book for Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, and wrote, "The total absence of bibliographical aids is a weakness of this book. Its strengths are its plainly factual and accessible writing. This is a book to be consulted, not read straight through. Recommended at all levels." [3] A review in Reference & Research Book News said, "The book is intended as an affordable reference book for the general reader interested in British politics". [1] The History of British Political Parties was also reviewed in Parliamentary Affairs . [5]

In the 2003 book The Times House of Commons Guide: 1929, 1931, 1935, Boothroyd is mentioned as the author of The History of British Political Parties and referred to as "an elections specialist". [6] In the 2005 bibliographical work Information Sources of Political Science, authors Stephen W. Green, Douglas Ernest, and Frederick L. Holler described Boothroyd's book as "a handy guide to approximately 250 British political parties," and wrote, "Even some of the more humorous and tongue-in-cheek political parties are included in this handbook, such as the Official Monster Raving Loony Party". [4]

The book is used as a reference in the works Third Force Politics: Liberal Democrats at the Grassroots (2006) by Paul Whiteley, Patrick Seyd and Antony Billinghurst, published by Oxford University Press; [7] The Logic of Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation (2006) by Sona Nadenichek Golder, published by Ohio State University Press; [8] and in Posters, Propaganda, and Persuasion in Election Campaigns Around the World and Through History (2008) by Steven A. Seidman. [9] Nicholas Whyte of the website Northern Ireland Access Research Knowledge (ARK) wrote, "For general information about political parties in Northern Ireland since 1922, the whole of Ireland 1801–1922, England, Scotland, and Wales, I urge you to get hold of Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties by David Boothroyd available from Politico's." [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Labour Party of Scotland was a minor Scottish nationalist political party that was active in the early 1970s. Formed as a left-wing breakaway from Dundee's branch of the Scottish National Party (SNP), it is perhaps best known for standing in the Dundee East by-election of 1973, where its interference split the nationalist vote and probably cost the SNP a parliamentary seat as a result. The party contested elections to Dundee City Council two months later but was ultimately unsuccessful. It folded soon after, and by early 1974 most of its membership had returned to the SNP, whose campaigns on North Sea oil were proving popular with Scotland's urban electorate. It never had any official political representation.

English National Party has been the name of various political parties of England, which have commonly called for a separate parliament for England.

The Highlands and Islands Alliance or Càirdeas was a minor Scottish electoral alliance that was active in the late 1990s. Founded in the autumn of 1998 by non-partisan politicians local to the Highlands and Islands, it only contested the inaugural Scottish Parliament election of 1999, where it collected a negligible 1.3% of the regional vote and despite a reasonably publicised campaign, failed to elect any of its candidates. Led by anti-nuclear activist Lorraine Mann, the Alliance was established to better represent marginalised communities in rural Scotland, who they felt had been ignored by government in favour of those in the more densely populated Central Belt. Its policies were near exclusively centred on localism and rural issues, only contesting Scotland's regional additional member system so that electors could vote on nationwide matters through their constituency ballot. After the election, the group remained politically inactive until it was quietly disestablished in August 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1974 onwards

Leicester South is a constituency, recreated in 1974, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2011 by Jonathan Ashworth of the Labour Co-op Party. A previous version of the seat existed between 1918 and 1950. Except for a 2004 by-election when it was won by the Liberal Democrats, Leicester South has been held by the Labour Party since 1987.

The United Country Party was a minor political party in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s. The Party was among those against immigration, inflation and the excesses of the Winter of Discontent, claiming to represent "people with common sense".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontypridd (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918 onwards

Pontypridd is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Alex Davies-Jones of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preston (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1983 onwards

Preston is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2000 by Sir Mark Hendrick, a member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastbourne (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliament constituency since 1885

Eastbourne is a constituency for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was created as one of nine in Sussex in 1885, since when it has reduced in geographic size reflecting the growth of its main settlement, Eastbourne.

The Anti-Waste League was a political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921 by the newspaper proprietor Lord Rothermere.

The Patriotic Party was a far right political party in the United Kingdom.

The Times Guide to the House of Commons is a political reference guide book published by Times Newspapers giving coverage of general elections in the United Kingdom.

The City of London and Westminster South by-election on 24 February 1977 was held after Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Tugendhat resigned the seat upon his appointment to the European Commission. A safe Conservative seat, it was won by their candidate, Peter Brooke.

Beatrice Nancy Seear, Baroness Seear was a British social scientist and politician. She was leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords from 1984 to 1988, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 1988 to 1997. She was also appointed a Privy Councillor in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devon and East Plymouth (European Parliament constituency)</span> Constituency of the European Parliament

Devon and East Plymouth was a European Parliament constituency covering all of Devon in England, with the exception of the city of Plymouth. It was created in 1994 to replace the majority of Devon and a small part of Cornwall and Plymouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramsay Muir</span> British politician

John Ramsay Bryce Muir was a British historian, Liberal Party politician and thinker who made a significant contribution to the development of liberal political philosophy in the 1920s and 1930s through his work on domestic industrial policy and his promotion of the international policy of interdependency.

<i>United Kingdom Election Results</i> Website and e-book by David Boothroyd

United Kingdom Election Results is a website and e-book written by David Boothroyd, published in 1994. Boothroyd also wrote The History of British Political Parties, published in 2001. The website includes material about elections in the United Kingdom, including election results, resources for further information and links to relevant websites. Boothroyd used a minimalist approach for the site's design, avoiding "flashy graphics" and placing an emphasis on "authoritative unbiased information".

Parliamentary Monitoring Services is a United Kingdom-based political research and publishing company. The company researches the activities of the United States Congress, European Parliament, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Consultants to the company have included British politicians Sir Peter Fry and William Howie, Baron Howie of Troon. The company published PMS Guide to Pressure Groups and PMS Guide to the 1997 General Election.

The region of West Midlands is divided into 59 parliamentary constituencies which is made up of 35 borough constituencies and 24 county constituencies. Since the general election of December 2019, 43 are represented by Conservative MPs, 15 by Labour MPs, and 1 by a Liberal Democrat MP.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Reference & Research Book News staff (August 2001). "Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties". Reference and Research Book News. 16: 157.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Caless, Valerie (Winter 2001). "The History of British Political Parties". The School Librarian. School Library Association. 49: 219–220.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Polsby, N.W. (November 2001). "The History of British Political Parties". Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries . Association of College and Research Libraries. 39 (3): 586.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Green, Stephen W.; Douglas Ernest; Frederick L. Holler (2005). Information Sources of Political Science. ABC-CLIO. pp. 395–396. ISBN   1-57607-104-9.
  5. ↑ Parliamentary Affairs staff (July 2001). "Reference Works. D. Boothroyd, The History of British Political Parties, Politico's, 2000, 338 pp., £25". Parliamentary Affairs . Oxford University Press. 54 (3): 560–561. doi:10.1093/parlij/54.3.560.
  6. ↑ Dale, Iain; Peter Riddell (2003). The Times House of Commons Guide: 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's. p. vii. ISBN   978-1-84275-033-9.
  7. ↑ Whiteley, Paul; Patrick Seyd; Antony Billinghurst (2006). Third Force Politics: Liberal Democrats at the Grassroots . Oxford University Press. p.  213. ISBN   0-19-924282-8.
  8. ↑ Golder, Sona Nadenichek (2006). The Logic of Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation. Ohio State University Press. pp. 169, 184. ISBN   0-8142-1029-5.
  9. ↑ Seidman, Steven A. (1 September 2008). Posters, Propaganda, and Persuasion in Election Campaigns Around the World and Through History. Peter Lang Publishing. p. 272. ISBN   978-0-8204-8616-1.
  10. ↑ Whyte, Nicholas (2005). "Northern Ireland Political Parties". Northern Ireland Access Research Knowledge. www.ark.ac.uk.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.