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The Labour Victory Is 1997 Is Perhaps Better Known As An Electoral Success ...

The Labour victory is 1997 is perhaps better known as an electoral success achieved through political marketing yet it is important to note that it was by no means a new phenomenon in this campaign. The Conservative had successfully utilised similar marketing principles almost two decades earlier it is perhaps the case that there is simply a greater awareness of political marketing techniques now that has made voters and the media aware of the technique.

The Conservatives in 1979 were arguably the first party to use political marketing to evolve into a market-oriented party. It is interesting to note that whilst Margaret Thatcher is generally perceived as a dogmatic politician, unwilling to change her convictions, her party used a great deal of market intelligence and altered aspects of its behaviour in order to achieve electoral success. It was in fact her style of leadership that was directed towards public opinion. Lees-Marshment writes:
her style arguably responded to voters desire for a strong leader who would not go back on promises as past leaders had done and would have the determination to face the nation's problems. Thatcher therefore can be seen as responding to the market in both aspects of her behaviour.

Market intelligence was used in a number of ways prior to the 1979 election. Informally, there was a good deal of debate and discussion within the party itself. The party's research department produced a number of ideas about what voters wanted, Thatcher herself canvassed senior colleagues for ideas and a number of policy and advisory groups were used to discuss proposals. On a more formal basis, the Opinion Research Centre and Saatchi and Saatchi carried out detailed qualitative and quantitative research. Particular popular policies such as council house sales and lower taxation were identified in this manner. The party was also efficiently run and was able to focus on improving voter support in different areas for example the Department of Community Affairs was able to work towards improving relations between the party and various sub-groups of society such as youth, ethnic minorities and trade unions.

The product design for 1979 included a number of policy proposals that were obviously geared towards public opinion at the time. Some of the ideas put forward were: cutting public expenditure across the board; cutting the top rate of income tax to 60 per cent as well as lowering the bottom rate; allowing the private sector to do its own pay deals; council house sales to tenants; privatisation of nationalised industries; exercising stronger control of the money supply and inflation along with a reduction in government borrowing; changes to union law including limiting secondary picketing; stricter crime and immigration laws and; increased spending on UK defence.

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