Still Causing Trouble: The Conservative Parliamentary Party

Authors: COWLEY, PHILIP; STUART, MARK

Source: The Political Quarterly, Volume 75, Number 4, October 2004 , pp. 356-361(6)

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Abstract:

There have been relatively few backbench rebellions on the Conservative benches in the Commons since 2001, but division manifested itself on three significant occasions: over the Children and Adoption Bill (when the leadership insisted on applying a whip to a vote that many thought should have been 'free'), over Lords reform (where on a free vote a majority of Conservative MPs voted against their leadership's preferred position) and over Iraq (where the divisions were smaller than on the Labour side of the House but where there was a qualitative dimension to the rebellion). Most importantly of all, the events of October 2003, when Iain Duncan Smith was removed as party leader, showed how much power remained with Conservative MPs: they initiated the vote of confidence, in which they alone participated, and the emergence of Michael Howard as the 'unity' candidate meant that the grassroots were denied any role in the change of leadership.

Keywords: Conservative rebellions; adoption; Lords; Iraq; Iain Duncan Smith

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2004.00634.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Nottingham

Publication date: 2004-10-01