Candidate Selection Role Perceptions of Conservative and Labour Party Secretary/Agents
| Author | Lyndelle D. Fairlie |
| Date | 01 September 1976 |
| Published date | 01 September 1976 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1976.tb00114.x |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CANDIDATE SELECTION ROLE PERCEPTIONS
OF
CONSERVATIVE AND LABOUR PARTY
SECRETARY/AGENTS
LYNDELLE D. FAIRLIE
San Diego State University
MI
CHELS”
analysis of political parties suggests that assessment of intra-party
democracy warrants empirical analysis of the roles of volunteers and professionals
in party organization. In Britain, examination of party organization decision
processes and assessment of intra-party democracy has occasionally analysed the
selection of parliamentary candidates, in part because many parliamentary
constituencies have generally been safe for either the Conservative or Labour
party and selection in these constituencies is tantamount to election. Candidate
selection has also been the object of concern because some scholars once hypothe-
sized from the systemic perspective that the maintenance of party cohesion and
responsible party government depended upon control over selection and re-
adoption of
MPs
by national party officials.2
Subsequent research analysing the role
of
party organizers in the candidate
selection process has generally indicated that national party officials do not play a
predominant role in candidate selection decisions. In general, constituency parties
jealously guard their autonomy and their right to select parliamentary candidates.
Case studies of the selection process have indicated that voluntary party officials
often play
a
major role in selection decisions. Another finding, less commonly
discussed but nevertheless important.
is
that professional secretary/agents,
com-
monly known as agents, sometimes have an important role in influencing the selec-
tion proce~s.~ Considering that professional agents are customarily employed
Robert Michels,
Political Parties: a Sociological Study
of
the Oligarchical Tendencies
of
Modern Democracy
(New York: Collier Books, 1962).
Summarized in Austin Ranney,
Pathways to Parliament
(London: Macmillan, 1965), p.
10.
Party agents, or secretarylagents, discussed in this paper are individuals who areemployed
on
a
full-time basis as political organizers. They perform a variety of tasks ranging from secretarial/
administrative duties
to
recruitment and fund-raising, The term ‘agent’
is
also used in another
context in literature
on
British politics
:
at the time of elections, candidates must appoint ‘agents’
who are legally responsible for such things as ensuring that the party’s campaign literature is
prepared in compliance with the law. When professional agents are available, they are customarily
designated legally as ‘agent’ during election periods and are assigned these responsibilities. When
professional agents are not available,
a
voluntary party activist is customarily designated as
‘agent’ for the election period. In these cases, the position of ‘party agent’ may
or
may not be
filled by the party ‘secretary’.
The role
of
agents in candidate selection was mentioned ten years ago in Austin Ranney’s
Pathways
to
Parliament.
Additional analysis appeared in Michael Rush,
The Selection
of
Parlia-
mentary Candidates
(London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1969), pp. 49,
104,
115,118,123,
2467, and 282. More recent comment
on
the roles
of
agents in party decision-making
can
be
found in the following works: Dick Taverne,
The Future
of
the Left
(London: Jonathan Cape,
1974); Patrick Seyd, ‘The Tavernite’,
The Political Quarterly,
Vol. 45,
No.
2, April-June, 1974,
pp. 243-6; Alan Kornberg and Robert
C.
Frasure, ‘Constituency Agents and Conflict in Labour
Parties’,
The Political Quarterly,
Vol.
45, No. 4, October-December, 1974, pp. 489-92; David
J.
Wilson,
Power and Party Bureaucracy in Britain: Regional Organisation in the Conservative and
Labour Parties
(Westmead, England
:
Saxon House, 1975).
Political
Studies,
Vol.
XXTV,
No.
3
(281-295)
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