ABSTRACT
In the course of this study we have been concerned with Britain’s three major parties, largely because it is principally they who constitute the British party system, but mention has been made here and there of smaller or minority parties. The phrase ‘minority party’ is in general use, and is convenient as a kind of shorthand term, but we shall not be using it here systematically because it suggests a single category of party about which useful generalisations might be made. In Britain however this would be misleading.
