¹ For a discussion see McLean, Iain, ‘Forms of Representation and Systems of Voting’, in Held, David, ed., Political Theory Today (Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1991), pp. 172–96Google Scholar; Pitkin, Hanna, The Concept of Representation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967)Google Scholar; Pennock, J. R. and Chapman, J. W., eds, Nomis, X, Representation (New York: Atherton Press, 1968)Google Scholar; Eulau, Heinz and Wahlke, John C., The Politics of Representation (London: Sage Publications, 1978).Google Scholar

² John Adams, quoted in McLean, , ‘Forms of Representation’, p. 173.Google Scholar

³ See McLean, , ‘Forms of Representation’, p. 173.Google Scholar

⁴ For a discussion of the relationship between social background and political attitudes, see Norris, Pippa, ‘Party Leaders, Members and Voters: The Special Law of Curvilinear Disparity Revisited’ paper presented at the PSA Elections, Parties and Public Opinion Specialist Group conference, University of Essex, 09 1992.Google Scholar

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⁶ See Burch, Martin and Moran, Michael, ‘The Changing Political Elite’, Parliamentary Affairs, 38 (1985), 1–15Google Scholar; Kavanagh, Dennis, ‘The Political Class and Its Culture’, Parliamentary Affairs, 45 (1992), 18–32Google Scholar; Mellors, Colin, The British MP: A Socio-Economic Study of the House of Commons (Farnborough, Hants: Saxon House, 1978)Google Scholar; Criddle, Byron, ‘MPs and Candidates’, in Butler, David and Kavanagh, Dennis, eds, The British General Election of 1992 (London: Macmillan, 1992)Google Scholar. See also previous chapters in Nuffield series by David Butler et al.

⁷ In 1945 83 per cent of Conservative MPs and 19 per cent of Labour MPs had attended public school. In 1992 the figures were 62 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively. There has also been a decline in the number from Oxford and Cambridge although in 1992 one-third of all MPs had been educated there. See Burch, and Moran, , ‘The Changing Political Elite’Google Scholar; Criddle, , ‘MPs and Candidates’Google Scholar; Borthwick, George, Ellingworth, Daniel, Bell, Colin and MacKenzie, Donald, ‘The Social Background of British MPs’, Sociology, 25 (1991), 713–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸ See Guttsman, W. L., The British Political Elite (London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1968)Google Scholar; Parry, Geraint, Political Elites (London: Allen and Unwin, 1969)Google Scholar; Bottomore, T. B.Elites and Society (London: Watts, 1964).Google Scholar

⁹ The authors are most grateful to the principal investigators for this data: Anthony Heath, Roger Jowell and John Curtice.

¹⁰ See Holland, Martin, Candidates for Europe (Farnborough, Hants: Gower, 1986).Google Scholar

¹¹ Although the British Candidate Study included candidates from all the main parties – Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National, Plaid Cymru and Greens – within the limitations of space this article has focused only on the major parties. For further details of the selection procedures and outcomes in the other parties, see Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, Political Representation (forthcoming).Google Scholar

¹² The BCS survey was compared with the larger Whiteley and Seyd survey of Labour party members. This confirmed that selectors are broadly socially representative of all members. For details see Seyd, Patrick and Whiteley, Paul, Labour's Grass Roots: The Politics of Party Membership (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992).Google Scholar

¹³ It should be noted that throughout this article the term ‘applicant’ is used to refer to those on the national lists of applicants. It does not refer to those who apply to particular constituencies. Further it should be noted that the Labour and Conservative lists are not wholly comparable. The Conservative list is based on candidates approved by Conservative Central Office, therefore some ‘applicants’ have already been weeded out. In contrast those on the Labour ‘A’ (trade union nominees) and ‘B’ (constituency nominees) lists have not been approved by the National Executive Council. For details, see Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, ‘Party Rules and Women's Representation: Reforming the British Labour Party’, in Crewe, Ivor et al. , eds, British Elections and Parties Yearbook, 1991 (Brighton, Sussex: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991).Google Scholar

¹⁴ For a recent statement of this assumption, see Adonis, Andrew: ‘By and large, the selectorate, itself a predominately middle class cohort, discriminates against men without a professional, political or managerial background and – at least until recently – against women of all kinds’ (Parliament Today (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990), p. 36).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Quoted in Ranney, Austin, Pathways to Parliament: Candidate Selection in Britain (London: Macmillan, 1965), pp. 60–1.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Personal interview with a Conservative MP, No. 19. This, and subsequent references to interviews, were derived from the series of thirty-nine detailed interviews, in their home or office, with MPs, PPCs and applicants. For details, see Appendix.

¹⁷ Personal interview with Conservative applicant, No. 38.

¹⁸ Personal interview with Conservative MP, No. 21.

¹⁹ ‘I would go up once a month to the Executive. When I started with great enthusiasm I went up every week as well, and began knocking on doors. It was an utterly pointless exercise really. You see my task was to help create an association. It was an association they claimed was totally demoralized, neglected; the fact is that it's a tiny, tiny association run by some councillors who are there in a minority, who all hate each other because there are so few of them, and they're all getting on in years… it was raising virtually no money, it had a dreadful old office, it doesn't have any professional agent, so my first task was really to give the association some confidence in itself, but I thought, my God, what have I got myself into… I thought, right, they can sort it out themselves, and it's been like that all the time.’ Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 23.

²⁰ Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 16.

²¹ Personal interview with a Labour MP, No. 13.

²² Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 38.

²³ Personal interview with a woman Labour MP, No. 12.

²⁴ See Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘British Conservative Parliamentary Recruitment: Patronage, Liberal-Rational, Radical and Feminist Models’ (paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association, Washington DC, 1991).Google Scholar

²⁵ It is difficult to generalize about the process of getting on the union ‘A’ list since different unions use different procedures. Some like ASLEF include ‘rising political stars’ in any occupation whom they feel would make good Labour MPs, not just union members. Other unions, like the AEU, insist nominees are employed in their trade, and they use a very rigorous week-long assessment process testing verbal and written skills, knowledge of Labour party policy, public speaking ability and personal interviews. Labour party rules do not control or standardize this process, leaving it to the discretion of the unions concerned.

²⁶ See, however, Lovenduski, and Norris, , ‘Party Rules and Women's Representation’Google Scholar in Crewe, Ivor et al. , eds, British Elections and Parties Yearbook, 1991Google Scholar; Norris, Pippa, ‘Comparing Legislative Recruitment’ in Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, eds, Gender and Party Politics (London: Sage, forthcoming 1992).Google Scholar

²⁷ The following are legally excluded from membership of the House of Commons: aliens; persons under 21 years of age; lunatics; peers; undischarged bankrupts; traitors; convicts in prison for more than one year; persons convicted of corrupt or illegal electoral practices; clergy of the Established Church; office-holders, such as civil servants; members of the armed forces or the police. For more details, see Griffith, J. A. G. and Ryle, Michael, Parliament: Functions, Practice and Procedures (London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1989), pp. 47–9.Google Scholar

²⁸ See Norris, Pippa, Vallance, Elizabeth and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘Do Candidates Make a Difference? Gender, Race, Ideology and Incumbency’, Parliamentary Affairs, 45 (1992), 497–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁹ In the Harris Exit Poll in the 1992 general election voters were asked to nominate the single most important reason for supporting the party just voted for. The following responses were given: the party's policies, 47 per cent; I usually vote for that party, 20 per cent; dislike of another party, 15 per cent; the party leader, 7 per cent; the local candidate, 5 per cent; none of these, 4 per cent; not stated, 1 percent (Harris/ITN, Exit Poll N.4,701, 9 04 1992).Google Scholar

³⁰ For more details of the process and the roles of local and central party organizations, see Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘Who Selects? Central–Local Relations in the British Conservative and Labour Parties’ (paper presented at the XVth World Congress of the International Political Science Association, Buenos Aires, 1991)Google Scholar. See also Geddes, Andrew, Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, ‘Candidate Selection: Reform in Britain’, Contemporary Record, 4 (1991), 19–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni, ‘Pathways to Parliament’, Talking Politics, 1 (1989), 90–4.Google Scholar

³¹ See Mellors, , The British MPGoogle Scholar; Burch, and Moran, , ‘The Changing Political Elite’.Google Scholar

³² Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament, p. 119Google Scholar; Guttsman, , The British Political Elite, p. 27.Google Scholar

³³ Bochel, John and Denver, David, ‘Candidate Selection in the Labour Party: What the Selectors Seek’, British Journal of Political Science, 13 (1983), 45–69, p. 56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁴ Greenwood, John, ‘Promoting Working-class Candidature in the Conservative Party: The Limits of Central Office Power’, Parliamentary Affairs, 41 (1988), 456–68.Google Scholar

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³⁶ Jacob, H., ‘The Initial Recruitment of Elected Officials in the US – a Model’, Journal of Politics, 24 (1962), 703–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁷ One Conservative candidate reported being dismissed by an unsympathetic employer for requesting leave of absence to fight the campaign: ‘They said to me they wanted me gone as soon as the election was called. So I had to face that election with absolutely nothing. It was terrible when you've got that at the back of your mind. You've got all the excitement of the campaign but I knew there was no job at the end of that.’

³⁸ Personal interview with Labour candidate, No. 13.

³⁹ Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 10.

⁴⁰ Personal interview with a Conservative MP, No. 39.

⁴¹ Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 18.

⁴² Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament.Google Scholar

⁴³ Rush, Michael, The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates (London: Nelson, 1969), p. 83.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Personal interview with Conservative MP, No. 1.

⁴⁵ Holland, , Candidates for Europe pp. 193–8Google Scholar; Holland, Martin, ‘The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates: Contemporary Developments and the Impact of the European Elections’, Parliamentary Affairs, 34 (1981), 28–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁴⁷ In parenthesis, it is worth noting that at the grassroots level, the rise of the Labour polytocracy, combined with the age and gender profile of the Conservatives, means that ironically the workers' party is now the better educated.

⁴⁸ See Vallance, Elizabeth, ‘Women Candidates in the 1983 General Election’, Parliamentary Affairs, 37 (1984), 301–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rasmussen, Jorgen, ‘The Electoral Costs of Being a Woman in the 1979 British General Election’, Comparative Politics, 15 (1983), 461–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Martlew, C., Forester, C. and Buchanan, G., ‘Activism and Office: Women and Local Government in Scotland’, Local Government Studies, 11 (03/04 1985), 47–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁵⁰ Interview with a Conservative woman MP, No. 39.

⁵¹ Interview with a Conservative woman MP, No. 19.

⁵² Bochel, and Denver, , ‘Candidate Selection in the Labour Party’.Google Scholar

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⁵⁶ Personal interview with a woman Labour applicant, No. 34.

⁵⁷ Rush, , The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates, pp. 65–6.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Interview with a Conservative MP, No. 39.

⁵⁹ Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 30.

⁶⁰ See Office of Population and Census Surveys, Population Trends, 67 (London: HMSO, 1992).Google Scholar

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⁶³ Henry, Zig Layton and Studlar, Donley, ‘The Electoral Participation of Black and Asian Britons: Integration or Alientation?’ Parliamentary Affairs, 38 (1985), 307–18Google Scholar; Bochel, and Denver, , ‘Candidate Selection in the Labour Party’, p. 56.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Personal interview with an Asian Labour applicant, No. 37.

⁶⁵ Crewe, Ivor, ‘Representation and the Ethnic Minorities in Britain’ in Glazer, Nathan and Young, Ken, eds, Ethnic Pluralism and Public Policy (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983), pp. 277–8.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Anwar, Muhammad, Race and Politics (London: Tavistock, 1986).Google Scholar

⁶⁷ See Norris, , Geddes, and Lovenduski, , ‘Race and Parliamentary Representation’, for more details.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ One interviewee (No. 30), aged over 45, was told in her initial interview by Central Office: ‘Hmmm, well I suppose you're just about in the age bracket – another few months and you'd be what we would consider past it.’ Another Conservative MP (No. 19) noted: ‘There was a cut off point at 50. I mean, it was a tacit cut-off point. We all knew about it though it wasn't written down.’

⁶⁹ Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament, p. 78.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Interview with a Labour applicant, No. 20.

⁷¹ Hills, Jill, ‘Lifestyle Constraints’, p. 46.Google Scholar

⁷² Estimated from the British Candidate Study, Q30 for MPs: ‘Roughly how many hours do you think you usually devote to the following activities in the average month when the House is sitting?’

⁷³ It should be noted that this data is unavailable at present for Conservative members.

⁷⁴ See Pinto-Duschinsky, Michael, British Political Finance 1830–1980 (Washington, DC: American Economic Institute, 1981), pp. 129–30, 159Google Scholar; Ranney, , Pathways to Parliament, pp. 51–5.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Interview with Conservative woman candidate from the north, No. 22.

⁷⁶ Personal interview with a Conservative candidate, No. 3.

⁷⁷ Personal interview with Conservative MP, No. 31.

⁷⁸ Interview with Conservative MP, No. 7.

⁷⁹ Personal interview with prospective Conservative candidate, No. 34.

⁸⁰ Ranney, , Pathways to ParliamentGoogle Scholar

⁸¹ Personal interview with a Labour applicant, No. 32.

⁸² Personal interview with Labour applicant, No. 32.

⁸³ Personal interview with a Conservative applicant, No. 38.

⁸⁴ See Verba, , Nie, and Kim, , Participation and Political Equality.Google Scholar

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⁸⁶ Personal interview with Labour MP, No. 29.

⁸⁷ Ross, J. F. S., Parliamentary Representation (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1944), p. 116.Google Scholar