Book Review: Andrew Geddes and Jonathan Tonge (eds), Britain Votes 2015
| Author | David Jeffery |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929916666770 |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsBritain and Ireland |
142 Political Studies Review 15 (1)
entity, maintaining strong links with independ-
ent film makers, and the cultural policies of the
Government of the time. This is a book for
those looking for clear and concise arguments
about the problems faced by the UK film-
making industry.
This book covers a lot and succeeds in pro-
viding a great level of detail on the problems
that the UK Film Council had to endure during
its time in existence. Although the authors do
admit that it would be difficult to measure suc-
cess, it would help readers if they directly dem-
onstrated the interactions between the work
done by the UK Film Council and the films
produced. One of the UK Film Council’s major
successes was The King’s Speech, but very
little is made of this. In fact, there is a com-
plete lack of interaction between the films
made during this period and how they were
shaped and developed as a direct impact of UK
Film Council policies.
The book is well written and provides an
excellent base of knowledge on the overall
problems suffered by the British film-making
industry.
Adam Sadler
(University of Nottingham)
© The Author(s) 2016
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Britain Votes 2015 by Andrew Geddes
and Jonathan Tonge (eds). Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2015. 278pp., £15.99 (p/b), ISBN
9780198748953
Before the 2015 General Election, very few peo-
ple would have predicted that David Cameron’s
Conservative Party would free itself from the
shackles of coalition government to win a major-
ity of seats for the first time since 1992. Britain
Votes 2015 is an edited volume which seeks to
present a comprehensive analysis of the cam-
paign and this extraordinary outcome.
The book can be broadly split into four
(non-sequential) sections. The first covers
‘how’, with chapters on how Britain voted,
and the role of the electoral system. The sec-
ond analyses ‘who’, focusing on the three
main parties, the UK Independence Party
(UKIP) and the (English and Welsh) Green
Party. The third section examines ‘where’,
with contributions on the dynamics of the
elections in Scotland, Wales, and the ever-
different Northern Ireland. The final section
assesses ‘why’ the result occurred as it did,
through chapters on the economy, party
finance, female voters and women’s issues,
the role of the media, and the contribution of
anti-politics to the political environment.
One of the strengths of this volume is the
way it presents a series of academic assess-
ments but does so in a language and manner
which are accessible to a general audience.
Despite running the risk of this work being rel-
evant only to the 2015 election, each chapter
can be placed within wider debates surround-
ing the state of UK politics. Especially perti-
nent for future elections is the chapter on the
role of the media, which includes the Internet
and social media, and examines its usefulness
and the extent to which it can reach those who
are disengaged from the status quo. Dominic
Wring and Stephen Ward do not paint an opti-
mistic picture for those who think the Internet
will revolutionise elections, highlighting how
most online searches about Cameron, the most
Googled politician, asked whether ‘he was
rich, married, dead, left-handed, or, indeed, a
Labour politician’ (p. 239).
Another impressive aspect of this work is
that it was released in September 2015, just 4
months after the election. However, this means
the volume is unable to cover one of the most
interesting aspects of the election: why did the
polls get it so wrong? For an in-depth coverage
of this topic, we must wait until the publication
of the British Polling Council’s review, but a
chapter covering this and the future implications
for the polling industry would add great worth to
what is already a very comprehensive volume.
David Jeffery
(Queen Mary University of London)
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929916666770
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From Serfdom to Socialism by Keir Hardie
(introduced and edited by John Callow). London:
Lawrence & Wishart, 2015. 174pp., £12.99 (p/b),
ISBN 9781910448472
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