Party Leadership

Who Chooses the Leader?

How parties choose their leaders varies enormously and has significant consequences. The most exclusive method is selection by a small group of party elites (common historically and still used in some parties). More inclusive methods include selection by party members through postal ballots (the UK's Labour and Conservative parties), selection by registered supporters (France's open primaries), and selection through primary elections open to all voters (the US system).

The trend over recent decades has been toward more inclusive selection methods, known as 'leadership democratization.' This shift reflects declining party membership (parties need to attract broader participation) and a belief that leaders chosen by wider electorates have greater legitimacy. However, inclusive methods can produce leaders who are popular with the base but unelectable nationally, as UK Labour arguably experienced with Jeremy Corbyn.

Leader Power and Its Limits

Party leaders' power depends on the selection method, the party's organizational culture, and the electoral system. In presidential systems, the party leader who wins the presidency has enormous power. In parliamentary systems, the leader must maintain the confidence of the parliamentary caucus, which constrains them. In personalist parties, the leader is effectively the party; in mass parties with strong democratic traditions, the leader must negotiate with factions and internal bodies.

Leadership challenges are the ultimate check on a leader's power. Margaret Thatcher was removed as Conservative leader by her own MPs in 1990. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard repeatedly challenged each other for the Australian Labor leadership. In parties that elect leaders through member votes, removing an unpopular leader is more difficult because it requires a contested election rather than a simple caucus vote.

Who Holds the Pen? Selection Methods Compared

The historical drift is downward and outward, toward larger selectorates, a trend political scientists call leadership democratization. But the selection rule also shapes the removal rule: a leader chosen by MPs can be removed by MPs, while a leader elected by a mass membership can usually only be replaced through another membership contest.

Anatomy of a Leadership Challenge

In November 1990, Margaret Thatcher, a three-time general-election winner, was forced out not by voters but by her own Conservative MPs. Cabinet resignations over Europe and the deeply unpopular 'poll tax' triggered a caucus leadership ballot; when Thatcher fell short of an outright first-round victory, senior colleagues warned her she would lose a second round, and she resigned. The episode captures the essence of parliamentary leadership: a leader governs only as long as the parliamentary party's confidence holds. Contrast this with member-elected leaders such as Jeremy Corbyn, whom Labour MPs opposed overwhelmingly in a 2016 no-confidence vote but could not remove, because the wider membership simply re-elected him. The rule that selects a leader also determines how hard they are to depose.