ABSTRACT
There is no doubt that Party management is crucial. The Labour Governments of 1964-70 and 1974-79 ended in failure in this respect. The Party at the grassroots had been led to expect that their leaders would deliver on certain promises and commitments, and on the whole their hopes were shattered. The consequences were a decline in membership, an increasingly factionalised PLP and, in the 1970s, an NEC which set itself up as an alternative to the Cabinet. However, there are a number of reasons to believe that Party management will be a very different exercise under this new Labour Government.
