In theory all three major parties at present date would seem from the surface to be largely democratic with a leader as a figurehead who makes decisions under the influence of the rest of the party and sometimes members. For example the Labour party have adopted a bottom up style of policy making, and policy making was made at the annual party national conference where members and Mps could vote on policy decisions. However the reality of the situation in the Labour party in not so, in practise the Labour party operates a top down system of policy making and power, this situation has been enforced and increased by a document called Partnership in power which introduced the idea of a 2 year rolling programme of policy formulation, the whole system was devised to create a policy making system which would reduce annual conference debating that reflected badly on the party whilst critics would argue that the new system simply gives more power to the leader. The Liberal Democrats relations between theory and practise of policy making is similar to that of the Labour party in that they claim a bottom up policy making structure, policy is debated at annual conference as it

The conservative party continues its pattern of dominating leaders with the system in which they select their parliamentary candidates, firstly the conservative central office investigates an applicant and then chooses whether they should be moved onto the approved list, then the candidates on the approved list may apply to individual constituencies, the leaders of the local constituency then selects the candidates to present to a constituency general meeting, if the candidate passes through this stage then the candidate goes forward to a constituency general meeting which selects one of the short listed candidates as the parliamentary candidate for that ward. This system has absolutely no connection to democracy and is solely based on the decisions of those in power within the central office and subsequent constituency offices.

In comparison the three major parties policy making structure closely reflects their position in British politics, the conservatives holding the centre right and relenting to change in the face of more democratic structure. The Labour party have held the centre ground, and the Liberal Democrats have emerged with the most left wing system of choosing policy including the most opinion of party members.

Some topics in this essay:
Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy, NEC NEC, , Mps Major, Democrats Conservatives, Lib Dems, labour party, conservative party, liberal democrats, local constituency, leader absolute power, draw shortlists candidates, cut throat attitude, policy decisions, party leaders, lib dems, “the leader leads, top system, leader absolute, local constituency parties, constituency meeting,