True Blues The Politics of Conservative Party Membership [Hardcover]

This book is the first in-depth study of this crucial section of the Conservative Party. Drawing on new and revealing survey data, it paints a fascinating picture of the social make-up and political views of a grass roots membership who dislike Jacques Delors more than the European Community, andThe Sunnewspaper most of all. The book challenges the stereotypical view of the Conservative activist as an eccentric and politically irrelevant Thatcher-loving extremist. Instead, the authors argue that the grass roots membership are the unsung heroes of political life; helping to keep the party system working and democracy intact at a time when it is under considerable strain.

A rigorous and pathbreaking study.... --The Economist

From reviews ofLabour's Grass Roots: The material from the author's specially mounted representative survey of activists is clearly and crisply presented in a fashion which all students of politics will find readily accessible...The book as a whole is thouht-provoking and germane to many of the debates currently being conducted within the Labour Party, and we should, indeed, look forward to a companion text on the Conservative Party. --Parliamentary Affairs

Their material is unique and their methodology impeccable...The authors have shone a torch into one of the least-explored areas of British politics. --The Economist

The whole report is well structured and clearly written...informative in providing new and relevant information in a descriptive way. --ESRC Data Archive Bulletin

Patrick Seyd has lived and taught in Sheffield since 1970. He is the co-author, with Paul Whiteley, of Labour's Grass Roots (OUP, 1992) which sold over 2,000 copies. Paul Whiteley has previously taught at the University of Arizona and the University of Bristol. Jeremy Richardson is the editor ofPressure Groups(1993) which is a volume inOxford Readings inló