None past the post

Nicholas Allen is Reader in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of LondonJohn Bartle is Professor of Government at the University of Essex

‘None past the post features a distinguished set of contributors, who ably parse out the factors that shaped the surprising 2017 general election. This coherent, accessible and lively volume provides essential reading that will interest students of British party politics, election campaigns, and voting behaviour.’James Adams, University of California at Davis‘This book provides the authoritative, sophisticated and accessible account that is called for by the most extraordinary election of our recent history. Each chapter is a model of careful, focused analysis and finely judged interpretation. An election’s significance requires an appreciation both of numbers and of history. None past the post does this superbly.’Sir Ivor Crewe, University College, Oxford ‘The authors tell the story of the 2017 general election in rich, compelling detail. The twists and turns of British politics and British voting behaviour are captured with the right balance, explanation and evidence to offer an illuminating, fascinating and accessible record of one of the most intriguing periods in British political history.’Jane Green, University of Manchester‘The result of Britain’s 2017 general election was, with little doubt, one of the most dramatic and unexpected in modern British history. This latest contribution to the long-running Britain at the Polls series shines a clear light on what happened. The book is sure to become a benchmark in our understanding of this most unusual of elections.’Charles Pattie, University of Sheffield‘As an American attempting to make sense of the electoral instability characterizing recent US elections, I benefited from reading the efforts of British scholars to make sense of theirs. While there are major institutional dissimilarities between our two countries and some major trends are moving in opposite directions, there are important points of political contact as well. American scholars will profit from expanding their foci and digesting these analyses of their British colleagues.’Morris P. Fiorina, Stanford University

• Preface 1 Gambling with the electorate: The Conservatives in government - Nicholas Allen2 Revolt on the left: Labour in opposition - Thomas Quinn3 The Liberal Democrats: remaining in the doldrums - John Curtice4 The rise and fall of UKIP, 2010–17 - Paul Whiteley, Matthew Goodwin and Harold D. Clarke5 Squeezing the SNP: the election in Scotland - Robert Johns6 From Thatcher to May and beyond: women in British politics - Meryl Kenny7 Electoral integrity and post-truth politics - Sarah Birch8 Why the Conservatives lost their majority – but still won - John Bartle9 A coalition of chaos: where next? - Rosie CampbellAppendix: results of British general elections, 1945–2017