Labour's lost grassroots: The rise and fall of party membership

After years of declining membership, and in the wake of a general election in which it recorded its lowest share of the popular vote since 1983, the Labour party is again attempting to attract new members. This is not, of course, the first time that Labour has attempted to re-create a mass-membershi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish politics Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 181 - 206
Main Authors Pemberton, Hugh, Wickham-Jones, Mark
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.06.2013
Palgrave Macmillan
Subjects
British Politics
Comparative Politics
Elections
Leadership
Original Article
Parliamentary elections-UK
Political analysis
Political behavior
Political parties
Political Science
Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International Studies
Studies
United Kingdom > UK
Labour party
New Labour
grassroots membership
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Summary:After years of declining membership, and in the wake of a general election in which it recorded its lowest share of the popular vote since 1983, the Labour party is again attempting to attract new members. This is not, of course, the first time that Labour has attempted to re-create a mass-membership. New Labour deployed many of the same techniques between 1994 and 1997. This article both assesses the extent of the current membership crisis and explores that earlier experience. We outline the basis of Tony Blair's initiative in recruiting new members during the 1990s and detail the extent of the decline in membership after 1997. We examine the state of the party's membership currently and go on to consider the lessons for the party today both of New Labour's initial success in attracting new members and of its ultimate failure to retain them.
ISSN:1746-918X
1746-9198
DOI:10.1057/bp.2012.27