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Britain at the Polls, 1979: A Study of the General Election, edited by Howard R. Penniman, describes the election that gave Britain its first woman prime minister and a government more committed to private enterprise than any other since World War II. Although the Callaghan Government had succeeded in halving the inflation rate between 1974 and 1979, its supporters’ confidence in Labour’s ability to handle the economy was broken by a winter of unusually fierce industrial strife. This compounded a secular erosion in support for Labour’s fundamental principles and brought a decisive swing to the Conservatives among the working class.
The chapters in this book explain the British electoral system and analyze the economic context of the election, the campaigns of the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal parties, the role of the opinion polls, the financing of the campaign, the participation of women in British politics, and the causes of the Conservative victory.
The authors– one French, three American, and five British scholars– are Austin Ranney, Anothony King, Dick Leonard, William S. Livingston, Jorgen Rasmussen, Richard Rose, Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, Monica Charlot, and Ivor Crewe. In an appendix, Richard S. Scammon gives a regional breakdown of the election returns.
Howard R. Pennimen, general editor of the At the Polls series, is professor of government at Georgetown University, codirector of studies in political and social processes at the American Enterprise Institute, and an election consultant to the American Broadcasting Company. He has served as an official observer of elections in developing countries. |
