Ted R. Bromund: Politics of floating voters dominate the conferences THIS year, I attended the Conservative Party Conference, which has just concluded in Birmingham. As a historian of British politics, and as an American conservative who believes that the American and British systems are each excellent in their own way, it was not what I expected. One point of comparison is obvious: both the US and Britain have party conventions. In theory, they serve different purposes. In the US, the quadrennial conventions nominate candidates for the presidency; in Britain, the leaders of the parties are already in place. But in practice, this difference between the systems has disappeared. British conferences have become Americanised. In the US, it has been a long time since a convention genuinely chose a candidate. They now ratify decisions already made by the primary process, and exist only to win favourable (and free) publicity. The same is true in Britain. In the not too distant past, Britain was different. The older attendees at Birmingham reminisced fondly about the 1980s, when motions from the floor were allowed. My historical work focuses on the early 1960s, when party managers were worried that they might lose a vote. There is no chance of that today, and that is too [...] leedsinnews/ted-r-bromund-politics-of-floating-voters-dominate-the-conferences/
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 06:02:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015