Book Reviews and Notices : The British General Election of 1955. By D. E. BUTLER. (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1955. Pp. 236. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900421
• Published date: 01 December 1956
• Date: 01 December 1956
• Author: Richard W. Taylor
• Subject Matter: Articles

1006

thesis

and

the

supporting

evidence

will

henceforth

surely

be

the

admission

ticket

for

any

further

consideration

of

America’s

involvement

in

her

first

great

foreign

conflict.

FRED

A.

SONDERMANN.

Colorado

College.

The

British

General

Election

of

1955.

By

D.

E.

BUTLER.

(New

York:

St.

Martin’s

Press;

London:

Macmillan

&

Co.,

Ltd.

1955.

Pp.

236.

$5.00.)

As

Mr.

Butler

explains,

&dquo;This

book,

the fourth

in

a

series,

attempts

primarily

to

follow

its

predecessors

in

supplying

a

faithful

record

of

the

facts

about

the

background

of

the

election

and

about

its

contestants,

its

issues,

its

course

and

its

results.&dquo;

Three

constituency

campaigns

are

de-

scribed

by

local

observers,

and

the

addition

of

an

appendix,

&dquo;Trade

Unions

and

the

Election&dquo;

by

Mr.

Harrison,

is

also

helpful.

The

additional

attention

given

by

Mr.

Butler

to

the

process

of

nomina-

tion

of

candidates

in

the

constituencies

is

most

welcome.

While

no

satis-

factory

description

of

elections

in

the

United

States

would

neglect

nomina-

tions,

this

matter

has

been

too

long

overlooked

in

Britain

with

a

bland

assumption

of

domination

by

the

party

central

offices.

Some

recent

text-

books

published

on

this

side

continue

to

follow

a

literary

tradition

on

this

matter,

without

examining

the

facts.

British

parties

are

not

as

monolithic

as

is

sometimes

imagined

and

Mr.

Butler

shows

that

the

&dquo;chosen

candidates

reflect

the

prejudices

and

preferences

of

the

active

rank-and-file

of

each

party,

and

the

headquarters

in

London

can

do

little

to

change

the

situation

so

long

as,

both

in

theory

and

in

practice,

selections

are

made

by

the

local

party

organizations.&dquo;

Transatlantic

comparisons

are

treacherous.

Mr.

Butler

contrasts

British

and

American

platforms

by

telling

us

that

in

Britain

these

manifestoes

are

really

significant

political

documents.

Perhaps

campaign

promises

are

not

lived

up

to

in

the

same

way

in

the

United

States

as

in

Britain;

but

if

these

platforms

have

no

importance,

why

should

there

be

often

such

a

severe

struggle

over

precisely

this

item

of

the

United

States

campaign

repertoire?

An

able

introduction

defends

psychology

against

its

critics.

However,

it

complains

unjustifiably

about

the

backwardness

of

this

science

in

Britain

as

compared

with

the

United

States.

I

hope

the

Wardens

of

Nuffield

College

continue

to

sponsor

these

studies.

Although

this

study

provided

no

breath-taking

conclusions,

some

deserve

mention.

While

it is

generally

true

that

neither

campaign

or-

ganization

nor

the

personality

of

the

candidate

has

great

influence

on

constituency

results,

there

were

a

number

of

localities

where

their

influence

was

appreciable.

The

1955

election

also

showed

slightly

greater

individual