Ethnic minorities in British politics: candidate selection and clan politics in the Labour Party

In increasingly diverse polities, the question of how minorities engage with national and local political processes is important. In the U.K., the Labour Party has traditionally benefited electorally from ethnic minority communities, often through ethnicity-based voting blocs. However, little attent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnic and migration studies 2019-08, Vol.45 (11), p.1902-1918
Main Authors: Akhtar, Parveen, Peace, Timothy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biraderi
candidate selection
Candidates
Ethnic groups
ethnic minority politics
Ethnicity
Kinship
Kinship networks
Labor parties
Labour Party
Membership
Minority & ethnic groups
Minority groups
Nominations
Political campaigns
Politics
Prime ministers
Voting
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Summary:In increasingly diverse polities, the question of how minorities engage with national and local political processes is important. In the U.K., the Labour Party has traditionally benefited electorally from ethnic minority communities, often through ethnicity-based voting blocs. However, little attention has been paid to how the Party's candidate selection process is influenced by strategic party membership and nomination. We argue that community clan or kinship (biraderi) networks found amongst British Pakistanis have been mobilised for this purpose. We examine the cases of Bradford and Birmingham with respect to the nominations for Prospective Candidates at both parliamentary and local council level. We show the continued importance of biraderi connections in spite of Labour Party attempts to 'clean up' selection contests through impositions of the National Executive Committee (NEC). Such practices favour the selection of candidates with strong biraderi links and, as such, often marginalise female candidates.
ISSN:1369-183X
1469-9451
DOI:10.1080/1369183X.2018.1443804