Age of Promises: Electoral Politics in Twentieth Century Britain, by David Thackeray and Richard Toye

Acting as a continuation of the authors’ previous edited collection, Electoral Pledges in Britain since 1918, in this volume David Thackeray and Richard Toye argue that the twenty-six elections of the twentieth century saw the evolution not just of party manifestos, but also the nature of political promises themselves. They identify five ‘promissory eras’ (1891–1918; 1918–39; 1940–64; 1964–79; and 1979–97) where the nature, formulation, presentation and political impact of promises altered. The authors contend that politicians’ promises were not always just insincere and fleeting commitments, but could be influential in shaping political discourse, policy agendas, and political narratives and cultures over the years.

The book begins in 1891, when the Newcastle Programme was adopted as official Liberal Party policy. Arguably, the Programme represented the first official shift away from the traditionally ‘discursive’ promissory culture (where parties emphasised broad principles and philosophies) and towards more specific detailed commitments which would form a solid blueprint for a party if elected to office. The authors discuss this era primarily through the prism of election addresses (specific personal manifestoes candidates published for consumption by their constituents). These documents offered a detailed window into politicians’ assessments of the present political situation which might form the basis for future legislative action but were contingent on subsequent events and a naturally uncertain future parliamentary situation.

Programmatic promissory culture emerged more fully after the Great War, when the role of central government had expanded, and with it the new possibility of promising material deliverables, for example benefits, housing or tax cuts. Such deliverables could be targeted at key groups of voters who might have disproportionate influence on election outcomes: for example, those living in swing constituencies, or certain demographic groups generally defined according to class, gender and age. The authors find that the new programmatic manifestos also adopted a simpler, more direct language aimed at conveying policy proposals to a wide audience in the dawning age of universal suffrage. This seismic shift in promissory culture saw the recently formed Labour Party emerge as a key innovator. Programmatic politics were baked into its political DNA as a party of economic planning and high state expenditure, and possessing a distinct and implementable programme for change suited a radical challenger. Despite its patchy electoral record, the authors find that Labour’s approach increased the pressure on the established parties—especially the pragmatic Conservatives under Baldwin—to make more concrete electoral promises themselves.

A fascinating aspect of promissory culture which the book explores is the changing concept of the political mandate, especially after 1945. After the Second World War, national manifestos came to be seen not just as catalogues of promises, but as integral parts of a victorious party’s mandate for government, thus acquiring a quasi-constitutional status. Labour was not just elected in 1945 as a party, it was also (at least in part) elected on the basis of its memorably titled manifesto ‘Let us Face the Future’. Additionally, Thackeray and Toye also show how the manifesto became an important tool of political storytelling, helping parties to weave intricate narratives which could play on the hopes, fears and aspirations of the public. In the later twentieth century in particular, the success or failure of manifestos was often less about the practicality or effectiveness of their constituent policy proposals, but rather how well they reinforced the broader narrative that the authoring party was trying to construct. Increasingly that narrative focused on party leaders themselves, with manifestos often featuring their picture alongside a masthead slogan, arguably contributing to the presidentialisation of British political mandates.

Another theme the authors discuss at length is complexity. Generally, manifestos used simpler language as the century wore on (measured by Flesch-Kincaid scores). However, this did not come at the expense of either length or the detail of pledges, with manifesto wordcounts spiralling and proposals becoming more meticulous and precisely costed. The authors make the astute point that manifestos, originally designed to bring political promises to the people in an accessible printed form, morphed by the end of the century into documents primarily consumed by a small audience of the political classes and commentariat, with ordinary electors’ engagement largely relegated to proxy consumption through the media.

In addition to the focus on promises, the authors delve into the intriguing realm of ‘anti-promises’ (a term I am credited with coining). These were commitments to refrain from certain political actions or indeed attacks on the culture of promise-making itself (the book opens with just such an ‘anti-promise’ from Rab Butler in 1935: ‘I always have and always will refuse to make promises’). The ‘anti-promise’ could serve various political purposes, perhaps most obviously attacking opposition parties. By promising not to do something, parties implicitly questioned the wisdom or practicality of a course of action that served to indirectly undermine rival platforms without having to directly attack them and risk overdosing on political negativity. ‘Anti-promises’ could also be used to portray a politician or party as prudent, responsible and realistic precisely because they abstained from a bidding war of ever more ambitious promises and thus could be trusted to deliver on those pledges they did make. Such ‘anti-promises’ became a way of capitalising on voters’ increasing political scepticism and receding trust in politicians.

At the heart of the book is an analysis of the fundamental tension between the increasing need for politicians to make concrete promises to secure electoral support, and the inherent uncertainties of the political and economic future. By making specific promises, politicians opened themselves up to accusations of failure if they were not seen to deliver. Thackeray and Toye cite the term ‘manifestoitis’ in their chapter on the 1979–97 period, which describes the tendency of politicians to make (and then enact) specific manifesto promises regardless of changing political circumstances. ‘Manifestoitis’ could make governments prisoners to what they had promised in the past, especially because detailed commitments offered the obvious opportunity for opposition parties to attack then for breaking their word and thus being unworthy of voters’ future trust.

There are a few points of potential criticism of the book. One is that (perhaps understandably given its focus) it tends to exaggerate the utility of manifestos and election addresses as sources which shed light on electoral politics. Historians in general have frequently been guilty of underestimating the important caveat that these sources provide a much clearer window into what politicians thought elections would or should be about, rather than what they were actually about. A focus primarily on central manifestos also, of course, tends to give a nationalised commentary and mask local peculiarities of constituency politics. A second criticism concerns chronology: the nineteenth century is more important in the evolution of political promises than its comparatively sparse coverage in the book suggests, and more might have been said about both the Newcastle Programme of 1891 and particularly Joseph Chamberlain’s Unauthorized Programme of 1885, which, while unofficial, was arguably the first national election manifesto.

The historicisation of political promises is both historically fascinating and relevant to an audience primarily interested in contemporary politics as well as historians. The book fundamentally succeeds because its central premise is so sound, but its execution is also impressive. It is a commendably concise (under 200 pages) yet broad thematic study of electoral promises as an important component in the evolution of political culture that speaks powerfully to the present day. Readers will find it reflective, stimulating and enjoyable.