2. Democratic model of public policy Party A policies ELECTION Party A Wins Party A policy = public policy Party B policies PARTY POLICY ELECTIONPUBLIC POLICY

3. Elements of party competition Policies Image Leadership/personnel Competence o Experience (retrospective) o Credibility (prospective)

4. ‘Cloth cap’ image

5. Michael Foot’s ‘donkey jacket’

6. Conservative Party logos 2004 2006

7. Current conservatives.com masthead

8. Elements of party competition Policies Image Leadership/personnel Competence o Experience (retrospective) o Credibility (prospective)

9. Duverger’s law The simple-majority single-ballot system favours the two-party system Maurice Duverger, Political Parties (London: Methuen, 1954), p. 217

10. Democratic model of public policy Party A policies ELECTION Party A Wins Party A policy = public policy Party B policies PARTY POLICY ELECTIONPUBLIC POLICY

11. Left-right policy spectrum LEFT e.g. Redistribution State intervention RIGHT e.g. Private property rights Limited government

12. Normal distribution of public policy preferences LEFTRIGHT

13. e.g. Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (New York: Harper, 1957) Spatial theories of party competition

14. Position of the median voter LEFTmedian voterRIGHT

15. Positions of main political parties (notional) LEFTmedian voterRIGHT Lab LibDem Con

16. Positions of main political parties (1980s) LEFTmedian voterRIGHT Lab LibDem Con

17. Positions of main political parties (1997-2000s) LEFTmedian voterRIGHT LibDem Lab Con

18. Positions of main political parties (now?) LEFTmedian voterRIGHT Lab LibDem Con

19. Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert and Ian Budge, Parties, Policies and Democracy: Theoretical Lenses on Public Policy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994).