Britain Decides: The UK General Election 2005

by Geddes, Andrew; Tonge, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9781403946577
• ISBN10: 1403946574
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-03
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Combining analysis of the party campaigns with a longer-term assessment of the handling of key issues, the volume provides a definitive guide to how the election was won and lost. Academic analyses of social, political, and territorial factors in how the UK voted are complemented by outsider views and constituency profiles.

Author Biography

Andrew Geddes is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. Jonathan Tonge is Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for Irish Studies at The University of Salford.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
List of abbreviations	viii
List of figures	x
List of tables	xi
Notes on contributors	xiii
Introduction	1	(5)
Andrew Geddes
Jonathan Tonge
The results: how Britain voted	6	(21)
David Denver
Constituency profile: Liverpool Riverside	26	(1)
Labour's campaign: neither forward nor back	27	(19)
Steven Fielding
Constituency profiles: Crosby; Bristol West	44	(2)
New leaders, same problems: the Conservatives	46	(24)
Philip Cowley
Jane Green
Constituency profile: Enfield Southgate	69	(1)
The Liberal Democrats: steady progress or failure to seize the moment?	70	(21)
Edward Fieldhouse
David Cutts
Constituency profiles: Manchester Withington; Southport	89	(2)
The candidate: Tony Wright	91	(7)
Tony Wright
The election in Scotland	98	(15)
James Mitchell
Constituency profile: Dundee East	112	(1)
Wales: the second post-devolution general election	113	(16)
Jonathan Bradbury
Constituency profile: Monmouth	128	(1)
Northern Ireland: meltdown of the moderates or the redistribution of moderation?	129	(21)
Jonathan Tonge
Constituency profile: Upper Bann	149	(1)
Feminising politics: sex and gender in the election	150	(20)
Sarah Childs
Constituency profiles: Blaenau Gwent; Guildford	168	(2)
Campaign finance	170	(18)
Justin Fisher
Constituency profile: Westmorland and Lonsdale	187	(1)
The Internet, e-democracy and the election: virtually irrelevant?	188	(20)
Stephen Ward
Constituency profile: Solihull	207	(1)
Election unspun? Mediation of the campaign	208	(17)
David Deacon
Dominic Wring
Constituency profile: Bolton West	224	(1)
It's not the economy stupid! The disappearance of the economy from the 2005 campaign	225	(16)
Martin J. Smith
Constituency profile: Milton Keynes North East	240	(1)
Delivery of public services	241	(20)
David Richards
Constituency profile: Putney	260	(1)
Foreign policy and the 'War on Terror'	261	(18)
Gavin Cameron
Constituency profiles: Bethnal Green and Bow; Sedgefield	277	(2)
Nationalism: immigration and European integration at the 2005 general election	279	(16)
Andrew Geddes
Constituency profile: Barking	294	(1)
Conclusion	295	(6)
Andrew Geddes
Jonathan Tonge
Index	301