AQA Government and Politics Chapter 8: Political Parties (Essay Plans)
Updated 2023/2024
This Resource includes 5 9-Mark Question Plans and a brief 25-Mark Extract Question Plan for the 'Political Parties' topic - also including a list of key definitions alongside a specification checklist (+...
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
“Explain and Analyse three features of party funding”
Membership Fees
, - Large numbers paying small amounts ensures that no single donor
gets undue influence
- Standard Conservative Party membership is £39 a year
Less significant – as party membership has fallen since the
twentieth century, income from these has also subsequently fallen –
thus membership fees are not large enough to sustain the level of
finance required to run national campaigns
Conservative membership over 2 million in 1950, has fallen to
124,000 in 2018
Large Donations from Wealthy Members
- Significant source of income for the Conservative Party: raised over
£5.67 million in the first week of the 2019 campaign – including
£200,000 from Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a Russian Businessman
- TISB smaller parties also benefit from large donations on occasion –
businessman Christopher Harbourne donated £2 million towards the
Brexit Party’s 2019 Campaign
Although there is a potential for ‘cash for honours’ through
donations – Michael Farmer has donated over £6 million to the Tories
since 2010, and thus received a peerage
Trade Union Funding to the Labour Party
- ‘Unite the Union’ donated over £5 million to the Labour Party in
2015, donating almost £25 million in the span of 5 years
TISB as although the Conservative’s Trade Union Act 2016
currently imposes restrictions on the ability of Trade Unions to fund
political parties in order to increase transparency, Unions have still
continued to make significant donations – e.g., Unite the Union
further donated £4 million to Labour in 2019, following Labour’s
promise in their 2019 manifesto to “repeal all anti-trade union
legislation” including the 2016 Act
“Explain and Analyse three factors that explain why some
parties do better than others in elections”
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