ABSTRACT
Conventional party policy-making procedures were totally bypassed in the formulation of the Labour party manifesto for the general election in 1997. The need for the Labour party to react to the significant intergovernmental conference (IGC) documents coincided with the intensification of its general strategy to present itself as a respectable alternative government in the run-up to an almost certain spring 1997 general election. The Dutch, under whose Council presidency the crucial final negotiations would take place, were especially keen to set up a detailed exchange of information and would provide Sir Michael Butler with a fairly comprehensive flow of information and documents from the IGC. Butler established a private channel to the Dutch government several weeks prior to their assumption of the presidency, in anticipation of the intensification of the IGC negotiations and their likely conclusion by a Labour government. Butler appeared to be taking the lead in developing a comprehensive strategy to be pursued in the immediate post-election period.
