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Professionalisation in the British

Electoral and Political Context

Ralph Negrine

INTRODUCTION

‘In a competitive world parties shun modern methods at their own risk’ (Butler &
Rose,1960,p.4).

‘Modern politics require an efficient and professional central office machine’(Socialist
Commentary,1965,p.xiii).

The election victory of New Labour in 1997 triggered off an enormous amount of
interest in its election campaign and in the roles played by its advisers. And, as more
and more information began to seep out about its organisation for the election, it
became clear that there was a story to tell: a story about levels of preparedness and
organisation apparently not seen before, about a centralisation and control of activities Professionalisation in the British Electoral and Political Context
that was unheard of, about a general orientation to the election that displayed a very
sophisticated understanding of what needed to be done to win. The fact that some of
its tactics had been borrowed from overseas – the Clinton election campaign being one
such source – added to the sense that British election campaigns were converging very
rapidly with those of the US,and probably of other media-centred democracies.

The importance of the role of professionals in the 1997 election cannot be doubted,
although one has to qualify that comment by noting that Labour’s victory came in the
wake of 18 years of Conservative governments that became progressively more and
more unpopular. Nevertheless, the use of professionals confirmed their place in the 47