Becci's Political Musings

The last two governments have got into power after a rebranding of their political party. Labour rebranded themselves as New Labour in the hope of moving away from their traditional manual labour voters to the new service sector workers. The Conservatives also saw the need to move away from the Thatcherite view of the party to get re-elected in 2010. These were very obvious rebranding, but what effects have they had on the way in which traditional voters of the political parties see the parties? The political parties seem to be questing after the floating voters which make the difference between being in government and opposition. The problem with this is that only about 100 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons have a chance of changing hands at a general election, but the number is often less than this and only higher when a landslide result takes place. This post will aim to describe the way in which the political parties have rebranded themselves and the ways in which this has ...

It was clear from the local elections and the South Shields by-election on the 2 May 2013 that the main winner of the day was UKIP. From being one of the “other” parties in the previous local elections, taking an unknown portion of 13 per cent of the vote (which had won them 12 councillors), the party now gained 23 per cent of the vote alone and 147 councillors. This was such a new phenomenon that a fourth party place was dedicated to them on Wikipedia, something not seen before. In the South Shields by-election UKIP secured second place, as they had done in the Eastleigh by-election (a previous post has been written on the topic), despite not standing in the seat in the 2010 general election. These results all point to a very successful day for UKIP, but was it really a result of the success and appeal of UKIP? This blog post will explore the ways in which the UKIP results were more a consequence of the failings of the three main parties (Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats)...

The Life and Legacy of Margaret Thatcher On Monday 8 April 2013, I was sat in Wetherspoons awaiting my lunch and noticed a picture of Margaret Thatcher on one of the television screens the other side of the pub. I jokingly thought “what had she done this time”, after a bit of squinting to read the headline it turns out she had died. Ironically I had been discussing what I should do for my next blog post. I had decided but that one will be posted at a later date as the passing of a highly controversial politician is a topic that cannot be omitted from a political blog. There are two main aspects of this blog. The first aspect focuses on the media coverage of her death and funeral. The second section will look to my own personal research focusing on the results of a short survey I created shortly after her death. Since the breaking of the news of Thatcher’s death the media has dedicated a huge amount of column inches to cover both the event of her death and her life and leg...

Voting is seen as a democratic right. The media horrifies us by accounting those who are denied this right. Despite this, in leading democracies, such as the UK, many chose not to vote at all. This blog is going to highlight the many reasons why you should leave your sofa on polling day. I am not going to suggest who to vote for, as it is not the aim of this blog to influence anyone how to vote. I do not see any reason why a person should not vote, as postal voting is available for anyone who cannot get to the polling station on the day. This is why in this post I will not explain why people do not vote, as I feel it would justify people not to vote. The major reason to vote is to hold the incumbent government to account. There is always a future election hanging over any government, no matter how far away. They know any controversial policy should always be approached with caution; this is irrespective of how large a majority they may have. It is often the controversial policies...

What makes the Eastleigh by-election so different? Firstly it is necessary to explain what a by-election is and its significance to parliament, before looking into the particular case of Eastleigh. A by-election occurs when a seat becomes vacant in the Houses of Parliament, caused either by death or a resignation. By-elections have little impact upon the balance of parliament, unless there is a small majority, meaning that the campaign is often subdued and the result is barely mentioned in the national media. There have been 15 by-elections since the 2010 General Election for the 647 seats in parliament. Due to the fact that usually only one seat has a by-election at any one time, the issues are often more localised compared to a national campaign which is used for a general election. The local nature of by-elections often causes more candidates to stand on local issues. In Eastleigh’s case there were 14 candidates. The cost incurred to stand for a by-election is a fraction of th...