ABSTRACT
Party politics in crisis Th e ‘crisis’ of British political parties is, essentially, one of reputation – or, more specifi cally, the parties’ reputation among voters. Put simply, our political parties have fallen into disrepute among those they seek to serve. Th e implications of this cannot be underrated, for two basic reasons. First, Britain’s political system has long accorded a central role to political parties: British government is generally about party government while British elections are generally about party voting. Second, most political systems rely ultimately on the consent of the governed – and, given the current reputation of British political parties, there are reasons to suspect that, here in the UK, such consent is fading.
