The power of the people is, once again, beginning to raise its head. The way that the political parties organise themselves, campaign and make policy is starting to change. This will have implications for those looking to engage with the parties. In the future it won’t all be about the party leadership and centralised control.
For many parties the era of the 24/7 media and then onto the social media has led to centralised processes across the media and policy-making. The power of the people has been lessened despite the protestations of some parties.
That has made the job of public affairs more straightforward but that is about to change. There is an appetite from party members for more engagement. That will, in turn, lead to less control and less power for the centre. The process of decentralisation being applied to government is being applied to the parties as well.
The most obvious example of this is the greater democracy promised by the Corbyn-led Labour Party. As he said during his conference speech:
“I want to thank all those who took part in that election, at hustings and rallies all across the country. Our Party at its best, democratic, inclusive and growing.”
The size of his victory plus the impressive growth in party membership shows that Labour wants a new style of party. There were also calls by those who fought for the Deputy Leadership, such as Stella Creasy MP, for a rethink about the way that the party works. In her speech to the Cooperative Party Annual Conference she spoke about a Cooperative Action Network developing support and training for activists.
Details will start to emerge but we can fully expect Corbyn to lead changes to policy-making processes (the National Policy Forum), party conferences and, even more controversially, candidate selection.
But this is not just a product of the Labour Party. By opening up candidate selection through primaries both parties want to be seen as being more open.
The Conservative Party has never been viewed as a democratic party but as the ConservativeHome Daily, 6th October, revealed “Conservative Party members want greater democratic control of the Party’s institutions”. Their survey showed that 86% of those surveyed wanted the power to directly elect at least some of the Party Board, 61% wanted to elect the Chairman of the Board and 54% believed that the post of Party Chairman should be elected by the membership.
There were complaints about fringe panels being all male and about the lack of diversity on the party’s board. Of its 22 members only two are women and there is no representation from the BAME community.
It is one thing to consider how the parties may change but what about Government? The speed of decision-making needed and the ability to react to the media does not open itself easily to mass decisions. However, that may not be the case if the party’s had good records of emails / social media contacts. In those circumstances reaction could potentially be gathered quickly.
The civil service is though a different matter altogether. Consultations remain clunky and lack interaction. Despite changes, decisions are often shrouded in secrecy and open government operates in some circumstances but not others.
While devolution looks likely to transfer powers and responsibilities to cities so public affairs needs to look not just to not just Westminster or the devolved parliaments. Combined with potential changes in the ways the parties work then those in public affairs really need to understand the processes and procedures not just the politics.
The times they are a-changin’.