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Nobody doubts that politicians ought to fulfil their promises - what people cannot agree about is what this means in practice. The purpose of this book is to explore this issue through a series of case studies. It shows how the British model of politics has changed since the early twentieth century when electioneering was based on the articulation of principles which, it was expected, might well be adapted once the party or politician that promoted them took office. Thereafter manifestos became increasingly central to electoral politics and to the practice of governing, and this has been especially the case since 1945. Parties were now expected to outline in detail what they would do in office and explain how the policies would be paid for. Brexit has complicated this process, with the 'will of the people' as supposedly expressed in the 2016 referendum result clashing with the conventional role of the election manifesto as offering a mandate for action.

Electoral Pledges in Britain Since 1918: The Politics of Promises

1.Introduction - David Thackeray and Richard Toye2.Election Promises and Anti-Promises after the Great War - Luke Blaxill3.The 'Woman's Point of View': Women Parliamentary Candidates, 1918-1919 - Lisa Berry-Waite4.'A Fighting Man to Fight for You': The Armed Forces, Ex-servicemen, and British Electoral Politics in the Aftermath of Two World Wars - Matthew Johnson5.Broken Promises and the Remaking of Political Trust: Debating Reconstruction in Britain during the Second World War - Clare Griffiths6.Fiscal Promises: Tax and Spending in British General Elections since 1964 - Aled Davies and Peter Sloman7.he Introduction of Race and Immigration in British Post-imperial Politics: The General Elections of 1964 and 1966 - Emil Sokolov8.The Electoral Promises of Winston Churchill - Richard Toye9.'I Promise You This. I Won't Make Empty Promises'. The Election Manifestos of Margaret Thatcher - David Thackeray10.Custodians of the Manifesto: The Struggle over Labour's Electoral Platforms, 1974-1983 - Mark Wickham-Jones11.Thatcherism, the SDP and Vernacular Politics on the Isle of Sheppey, c. 1978-83 - Jon Lawrence12.The Promise of 'Liberal Democracy', c. 1981-2010 - Mike Finn13.'We Made a Pledge, We Did Not Stick to It, and For That I am Sorry': The Liberal Democrats' 2015 General Election Campaign and the Legacy of the Tuition Fees Debacle - Judi Atkins14.The Rhetorical Lives and Afterlives of Political Pledges in British Political Speech c. 2000-2013 - James Freeman