AQA Government and Politics Chapter 8: Political Parties (Revision Notes)
Updated 2023/2024
This Resource includes my extensive revision notes for the 'Political Parties' topic - also including a list of key definitions alongside a specification checklist (+ topics that have already come up)
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Ideology – Core beliefs and ideas of a political party
Party Structure – The organisation of political parties at both local and national level
Party System – The way in which political parties operate in a country
Party Funding – Method used by a political party to raise money for campaigns / activities
Party Functions – A political party’s key roles (contesting elections and seeking to hold
power)
Minor Parties – Smaller political parties that often have few or no MPs (Green Party / Brexit
Party)
Political Agenda – Issues that are the subject of decision-making / debate by those w/
political power
Origins, Ideas, Development, and Policies of UK Political
Parties
THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY
One-Nation Conservatism
Developed by Benjamin Disraeli to attract support from working-class voters, focused on the
duty and responsibility of those with power/privilege (paternalism)
State protects the vulnerable through public services, without penalising the rich nor
dismantling free-market capitalism / redistributing wealth
Benjamin Disraeli - “The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy”
David Cameron – “Big Society”
Theresa May wished to follow one-nation policies, yet her 2017 manifesto of supporting
grammar schools, fox hunting, and removing free school lunches suggested a diversion from
Cameron’s modern conservatism
Boris Johnson December 2019 speech – “members of our new one-nation government, a
people’s government”
Buskellite Conservatism
, After 1945 Labour landslide and establishment of Welfare State / NHS, Conservative party
shifted further to the centre and accepted bulk of Labour’s reforms
Thus 1950s-1960s = large overlap / consensus in many key policy areas between the two
parties
‘Buskellite Conservatism’ = pro-European, and Conservatives were keen to join the EEC
(Labour at the time were more Eurosceptic)
Conservative PM Edward Heath led the UK into the EEC in 1973
Traditional Values
Supports traditional nuclear family and institution of marriage
Maintains a firm line on immigration policy
Traditional values seen in John Major’s ‘Back to Basics’ campaign in 1993
1988 = Section 28 passed, banning promotion of homosexuality in schools
Home Secretary Theresa May promised to create a ‘hostile environment’ for immigrants
Criticised for embracing elements of racism – Enoch Powell ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech 1968
Thatcherism
Radical, orthodox social conservatism with a neo-liberal economy
Thatcher wanted to promote individual freedom, represented conviction > compromise
Included monetarist economic policy, deregulation of finance and trade, privatisation of
industry, and restriction of trade union powers
“Roll back the frontiers of the state”, denationalise industries, encourage council tenants to
buy their own homes, lower taxes (especially on income)
1984-85 Miner’s Strike = Thatcher Government broke the power of the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM), one of the UK’s most formidable unions
Confident + assertive foreign policy (Falklands War 1982)
Policies and principles of the modern Conservative Party (2019)
Extra funding for NHS, 50,000 more nurses and 50 million more GP surgery appointments a
year (Buskellite Conservatism)
20,000 additional police officers and tougher sentencing for criminals (Traditional Values)
Australian-style points-based system to control immigration (Traditional Values)
Promise to not raise rate of income tax / VAT / National Insurance (Thatcherism)
‘Get Brexit Done’ / remove power/influence of institutions such as the ECtHR
(Thatcherism/One-Nation – strong emphasis on sovereignty of the nation-state)
Maintain ‘triple lock’ on pensions (One-Nation)
Make GB a world leader in tackling plastic pollution, and create an independent office for
Environmental Protection (Buskellite / One-Nation)
Keep minimum voting age to 18 (Traditional Values)
Everyone who can work should work, Universal Credit, crack down on benefit fraud
(Thatcherism – reduce welfare dependency culture)
Divisions within the Conservative Party
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