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The Parliamentary Labor Party in Great Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

James Macgregor Burns
Affiliation:
Williams College

Extract

Who rules Britain? For the political scientist hunting out the real core of power, the question is hard to answer. Students of British politics have variously concluded that the Cabinet, or Parliament, or the party in power, or the administrative class of civil servants, or the “Big Three” (or Four, or Five)—or some combination of these—actually held the reins of authority. Constitutionally, however, the question is an easy one. Formal power rests with a majority of the Members of Parliament. This majority can pass laws and raise money, can bring down governments and make new ones, can change the Constitution itself.

Those who have ruled Britain in this sense during the past five years have been a few hundred Labor Members of the House of Commons, organized in the Parliamentary Labor Party. Constitutionally, this is the ruling group, every member of which has equal power. In fact, a small minority of Labor Members, grouped in or about the Cabinet, actually make the great decisions of state. At the same time, the large majority of Labor Members not only lack real power but even in their very name —Backbenchers—they appear as the symbols of impotence.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1950

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References

1 Hereafter cited as the P.L.P.

2 Cole, G. D. H., British Working Class Politics, 1832–1914 (London, 1941), p. 158 Google Scholar.

3 The question of possible N.E.C. domination of a Labor Government was, however, a campaign issue in 1945.

4 McHenry, Dean E., The Labour Party in Transition, 1931–1938 (London, 1938), pp. 165168 Google Scholar.

5 Report of the 31st Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1931, pp. 93, 174 Google Scholar.

6 Cole, G. D. H., A History of the Labour Party from 1914 (London, 1948), pp. 288299 Google Scholar.

7 Owing to the paucity of written material on the P.L.P., the remainder of this article, except as otherwise noted, is based chiefly on interviews with Members of Parliament (including members of the Government, Backbenchers, and officials of the P.L.P.) conducted by the author in England during July-December, 1949.

8 Report of the 45th Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1946, p. 56 Google Scholar.

9 See, for example, The Tribune, September 7, 1945, p. 3 Google Scholar; The New Statesman and Nation, Vol. 30, p. 157 (September 8, 1945)Google Scholar.

10 Marx, Fritz Morstein (ed.), Elements of Public Administration (New York, 1946), p. 297 Google Scholar.

11 It has, however, recently issued a pamphlet entitled “Keeping Left.”

12 Gaus, J. M., Great Britain; A Study of Civic Loyalty (Chicago, 1929), p. 107 Google Scholar.

13 The New Statesman and Nation, Vol. 31, p. 3 (January 5, 1946)Google Scholar.

14 The full text of the present standing orders, as revised in the 1945–46 session of Parliament, is as follows:

“The Parliamentary Party have the authority to withdraw the Whip on account of things said or done by Members of the Party in the House, such decision to be reported to the National Executive Committee.

“Outside activities, whether in writing or speech, which are contrary to the discipline or constitution of the Party shall be dealt with by the National Executive Committee.

“1. For the purpose of securing concerted action in the House, Members shall consult the Officers of the Parliamentary Party before tabling any Motion, Amendment or Prayer, or other proposal which may involve Party policies or decisions and shall not vote for any Motion, Amendment or Prayer contrary to the decision of the Party Meeting.

“2. Where there is persistent refusal to observe the decisions of the Parliamentary Party, it shall be the duty of the Liaison Committee to bring a recommendation to the Party Meeting to report the Member to the National Executive Committee, who shall consider the matter in its constituency and other aspects with which the National Executive Committee is concerned. The Member concerned shall have the right to be heard both by the Parliamentary Party and the National Executive Committee.

“3. It is recognized that on certain matters, for example religion and temperance, Members may have good grounds for conscientious scruples, and in such cases they may abstain from voting.

“(The above Standing Orders may be amended, rescinded, altered, added to or suspended for such period and under such conditions as may be determined upon by a duly constituted meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party.)”

15 Report of the 45th Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1946, p. 57 Google Scholar.

16 Report of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1944, p. 199 Google Scholar.

17 The New York Times, November 7, 1946, p. 18 Google Scholar.

18 It was reported that members of the trade-union section of the P.L.P. and even a Junior Whip criticized the leadership, in a later P.L.P. meeting, for modifying its proposals in the face of minority opposition. See Report from the Committee of Privileges, House of Commons, July 23, 1947, especially Appendix 4.

19 Seymour Cocks, M. P., The Tribune, June 13, 1947, p. 12 Google Scholar.

20 Report of the 48th Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1949, pp. 18, 112, 119 Google Scholar. For Zilliacus' side of the case, see his pamphlet, Why I Was Expelled (London, 1949)Google Scholar.

21 Report of the 47th Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1948, pp. 17, 120121 Google Scholar.

22 The Tribune, March 24, 1950, p. 8 Google Scholar.

23 Cf. Overacker, Louise, “The Australian Labor Party,” in this Review, Vol. 43, pp. 677703 (August, 1949)Google Scholar, especially section on the Parliamentary Labor Party, pp. 696 ff.

24 Thus a note appended to the Standing Orders of the P.L.P. advises Members that they should “take advantage of Party meetings in suitable instances to raise questions of Party policies concerning which they have doubts.”

25 Wertheimer, Egon, Portrait of the Labour Party (London, 1930), p. xxvi Google Scholar.

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