Was Ruling Party’s Unity Secured without Considering Backbenchers’ Ideas in Britain?

Abstract

In Japan, there is a general view that British government has decided governmental policies independently from its supporting party, particularly from the party’s backbenchers. Also, this British style has been thought to be quite opposite to that of the LDP government in Japan where the party’s backbenchers used to exercise veto power against their government.

Contrary to such a common view, this paper argues that even British government has incorporated in their backbencher’s ideas in order to secure party’s unity. For this purpose, this study sheds light on party committees within the Conservative’s and the Labour’s parliamentary party from the late 1940’s to the 1970’s. First, it reveals how the party committees were installed in the two parties. Second, it makes clear the reason why the committees of the Conservatives had a greater influence than those of the Labours. Third, it illustrates how the committees of the Conservatives had worked well for both their government and its backbenchers, focusing on a case of the Agricultural committee. Additionally, a hypothesis which explains why the LDP’s style mentioned above was settled on can be proposed through these analyses.