ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the causes of the ideological crisis in the Labour Party at the present time. The larger the correlation between the indicator and the left-right dimension, the more central that indicator is to the present ideological divisions within the party, and the more variance explained in the variable by the left-right dimension. A long exposure to the minutiae of local council business will blunt ideological radicalism, and induce a more ‘pragmatic’ concern with the small but important issues of politics rather than the large issues which divide the parties. The correlation between ideological coherence and the ideology scale is a highly significant 0.48, which indicates that left-wingers are much more ideologically coherent than right-wingers. The underlying cause of the ideological crisis in the party is the enormous gap between the policy aspirations of the Labour elite, particularly with regard to nationalization, and the poor performance of the party in power, in achieving those policy goals.
