ABSTRACT

Party organisation is a long-established feature of the British House of Commons, pre-dating the emergence of mass political parties. Though the contemporary House of Commons is characterised by the opposition mode of executive-legislative relationships (King 1976) there is a less visible, but nonetheless significant, intra-party mode. Party organisation, facilitating communication between party leaders and supporters in the House of Commons, is central to that mode. The organisation has become more complex in the twentieth century and differs between the principal parties. On the Conservative side of the House, it allows Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) some input into party policy-making and the power to determine the fate of the party leader and, on occasion, ministers in Conservative governments. On the Labour side of the House, party structures give Labour MPs less input into policy-making and the choice of party leader. High levels of organisation and cohesion characterise both main parties, but recent decades have seen MPs giving less attention to party activity and exercising a greater degree of voting independence in parliamentary votes.