An authoritative contribution to the debate on the state of the Conservative party
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 of Pressure Groups (1993) which is
a volume in Oxford Readings in Politics and Government,and
co-author, with Sonia Mazey, of Lobbying in the European
Community (OUP, 1993).
From reviews of Labour'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.' 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
`Mrs Thatcher's memoirs caused a stir during the 1993 Tory
gathering, but the impact of True Blues is likely to be more
profound and lasting ... The authors of True Blues have conducted
the most detailed survey to date of Conservative Party members ...
they provoke fascinating speculations ... the importance of True
Blues is beyond dispute.'
Times Literary Supplement
`intriguing book ... it makes an important new contribution to the
important debate about the role of parties by studying a subject
that hardly anyone has treated seriously in the past ... as well as
more than fulfilling its first promise of delivering vital
intelligence on the opposition it is also an important contribution
to a much wider debate about the role and importance of
parties..'
Renewal
`This book makes absolutely fascinating reading for any member of
the Conservative Party. It has a rare quality in that it is a
scholarly examination of the Conservative Party, long on facts and
rhetoric free.'
Campaigner, Magazine of the National Young Conservatives
`From now on there is less excuse for ignorance. Paul Whiteley,
Patrick Seyd and Jeremy Richardson have conducted the first
national survey of Conservative Party members ... This is all good,
sound advice of the kind you might expect from a Guardian editorial
- and hence likely to be ignored.'
London Review of Books
`A major step forward in our understanding of the Conservative
Party at the local level ... Readers will gain much statistical
information from the book, and it will be quoted for years ahead as
the only survey of its type into political attitudes.'
Contemporary Record
`An exhaustive reading of the statistical runes of the Tory
membership, rounded off with their diagnosis of the party's current
ills.'
New Statesman and Society
`This volume splendidly complements Seyd and Whiteley's earlier
survey-based study of Labour Party members and joins the latter as
simply indispensable for most members of EPOP ... it is something
of a triumph that any large-scale survey of members has been
successfully carried out and the high quality of the book is an
added bonus.'
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