It is clear that the Tory process for policy making is strongly dictatorial as was evidenced by May going off and negotiating what she thought Brexit would be which wasn't what most in her party were prepared to accept. We see the same with Johnson now and Cameron in the past. I've not been able to find any updates to the below for the Tories and there is still evidence of clear Dictatorship within the Tory party.
Corbyn puts forward the views agreed by representatives and not his own. It is well known that Corbyn is personally for unilateral disarmament is it part of Labour policy NO whilst Corbyn as leader obviously has as strong say its not his policies that we see from Labour. He's just the spokesperson. So people can drag up his views from that past on the EU, single market, Unilateral disarmament etc etc its not those views that he's putting forward in parliament or to the people and in some cases he's changed his views, which people do over time.
So lets look at the differences and I urge you to check this if you have any doubt. because the way the Tories are set up is the reason the UK finds itself in the mess that it does.
Outline of the Conservative party policy making process
In the past the Conservative policy making process and the manifesto have tended to come from the leader and a small group of advisors, as was the case for writing the 2010 manifesto.
The Conservatives continue to have the least formal and least democratic policy and manifesto making processes but there have been recent changes to increase backbencher involvement; several of the bodies listed below were set up specifically to do so. As they are relatively new it remains to be seen how much influence they will have, particularly over education policy.
The Conservatives are thought to be less advanced than the other parties in developing policy for 2015 and beyond as a result of the lack of formal structures to develop manifesto policies separate to government policy. It has been difficult for the Conservative leadership to distinguish between government and Conservative policy separate from the coalition. However 2014 has already seen the Conservatives and Lib Dems start to distinguish themselves from one another, as the election approaches this is likely to increase.
ConservativesOf the three main parties, the Conservative Party grants least influence to members in the formulation of policy. As Bale notes, the party leader dominates the Conservative Party and, in opposition in particular, the party operates as ‘an essentially top-down organization’. Indeed, Bale portrays the Conservative Party’s vesting of power and autonomy in its leader as almost the polar opposite of the Labour Party’s model of organisation,
Labour on the other hand is a democratic party with the Leader taking forward policy decided by over 200 representatives and discussed at Annual conference. Obviously the leadership make decisions on day to day items as long as they follow main policy.
About Labour’s Policy Process
Our policy development process is designed to involve members, local parties, trade unions, socialist societies, elected representatives as well as the wider community.
Policy is developed through the National Policy Forum (NPF). This is a body of over 200 representatives from all the major groups of the Labour Party, from constituency parties and regions to affiliated trade unions, socialist societies, MPs and councillors. Its role is to shape the Party’s policy agenda, drawing up policy documents for agreement.
NPF representatives are placed onto one of eight policy commissions that examine specific policy areas; each commission is co-convened by a Shadow Secretary of State and an NEC member.
These Commissions consider the policy submissions which come in from across the Labour Party, and develop detailed positions which are then discussed at Annual Conference. The current commissions are:
Policy making runs from general election to general election, with updated documents produced for every Annual Conference. Members, supporters and affiliate groups make submissions to the process detailing their views. What they tell the NPF shapes the documents produced.
LINKS
https://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/about/policy-process
https://www.ascl.org.uk/download.C2C47F02-5FFF-4157-B73FE140EFE6A25B.html
http://www.democraticaudit.com/2013/10/02/the-influence-of-party-members-on-policy-varies-across-the-major-parties/
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