The Lessons of Tony Benn as a Cabinet Minister: Breaking the Rules and Paying the Price

Martin Smith (Anniversary Professor of Politics at the University of York) and Dave Richards (Professor of Public Policy at the University of Manchester) on Tony Benn's time in Government.

Much has recently been written about the legacy of Tony Benn - his campaigning efforts, the effect he had on both the Labour Party and the wider political landscape especially during the onset of Thatcherism and finally of course his diary writing. Less though has been said about his time in Government, where in many ways it could be argued he failed to fully use the opportunities presented to him as a holder of ministerial office. At the same time, Benn’s experience in government, particularly in the 1970s, reveals how officials could thwart a radical minister in the wake of behaviour they regarded as falling outwith the accepted Whitehall rules. Crucially, the lessons of Benn’s time in Cabinet illustrates that if a minister fails to build alliances with either ministerial colleagues or department officials, he or she is unlikely to be effective in making policy. The commentary below draws on extensive interviews conducted two decades ago with Benn, his Cabinet colleagues and various officials who served under him.

Crunch time on Trident for Miliband and his party

In an article published yesterday with the Guardian, Nick Ritchie argues that as political parties prepare for the run up to the next general election, Miliband has a chance to break with Blairite and Tory nuclear business as usual - and show some real leadership 

"Ed Miliband confirmed at last year’s party conference that Labour policy on Trident replacement would be reviewed after the publication of the Trident Alternatives Review and the Basic Trident Commission report. With the former now published and he latter due soon, Miliband will face a difficult choice: stick with the Blair and Tory plan of nuclear business as usual; or demonstrate international leadership by ending permanent deployments and further reducing our nuclear arsenal..." 

Read the full article here.

Climate change and political parties

How do political parties formulate their positions on climate change? What are the factors that encourage mainstream political parties to embrace environment and turn it into an issue of party competition? And what factors stop them from doing so? 

Professor Neil Carter explains how questions like these are motivating his latest research, and describes his longstanding interest in environmental politics and policy, political parties and British politics.

"My ongoing project on UK climate policy focuses on an often overlooked feature of the last Labour Government: that it was responsible for a fundamental transformation of climate policy between 2006 and 2010. 

Having adopted a complacent approach to domestic climate policy for almost a decade, the Labour Government introduced a tranche of reforms, notable the ground breaking Climate Change Act 2008, an innovative Low Carbon Transition Plan, policy measures on renewable energy, feed-in tariffs, carbon capture and storage, infrastructure planning and energy efficiency, supported by significant public investment. Of course, plenty of gaps remained, notably in reducing emissions from transport, and much work is still needed, but climate and energy policy was undoubtedly transformed.

My primary aim is to explain why that step-change occurred. Here I have been fortunate to do some work with Michael Jacobs, who was Special Advisor to Gordon Brown on climate change and energy policy between 2004 and 2010. We have a jointly authored paper forthcoming in Public Administration in which we identify, amongst other factors, the critical role played by party competition in ratcheting up the pressure for change. 

In particular, David Cameron’s decision as Opposition leader to use the environment as a tool for detoxifying the ‘nasty’ image of the Conservative Party saw him support Friends of the Earth’s ‘Big Ask’ campaign for a Climate Bill, and take strong positions opposing a third runway at Heathrow Airport and a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth, Kent. 

The cross-party consensus on the need for progressive climate and energy policy briefly produced a virtuous circle: while the Labour Government came under pressure from opposition parties, public opinion and the media, equally Government ministers could afford to be bolder in their policy initiatives confident that they would not be crucified by their political opponents. This finding that ‘parties matter’ is supported by recent comparative studies suggesting that party competition over the environment has a positive impact on government policy outputs.

This assumption that ‘parties matter’ underpins my new ESRC project Climate Policy and Political Parties, with Robert Ladrech at Keele University. 

Clearly, the response of parties is crucial, yet we know very little about how parties formulate their positions on climate change. Our two-year comparative study aims to understand and explain the way mainstream centre-left and centre-right political parties in Western Europe develop their positions on climate change policy. It will examine the impact on party policy development of domestic factors, including internal party dynamics and party system competition, environmental and business interests, and external factors, notably European Union legislation and international commitments. The countries we will study are Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. We hope our findings will enhance our understanding of climate politics and identify ways in which policy makers can secure political support for progressive climate policy".

Neil will give the Department of Politics departmental seminar on Wednesday 1 May (D/104, 12.15), entitled 

Explaining radical policy change: The case of climate change and energy policy under the UK Labour Government 2006-10

All welcome!