The Conservative Party Leadership Transition from Theresa May to Boris Johnson: Party Popularity and Leadership Satisfaction

2020/06/26 by Timothy Heppell, Thomas McMeeking · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Context (archaeology) #Democracy #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #History #Law #Political and Economic history of UK and US #Political science #Politics #Popularity #Public relations #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Transition (genetics)

paper · doi:10.1080/00344893.2020.1778512

openalex publication_date 2020/06/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26

Abstract

This paper considers the Conservative Party leadership transition from Theresa May to Boris Johnson using the work of Leonard P. Stark (1996) on the impact of changing the party leader. We adapt the Stark framework for determining impact and using public opinion data on party popularity and leadership satisfaction. We place the transition from May to Johnson in a historical context by comparing it to the impact of leadership transitions within the Conservative Party since the inception of leadership democracy in 1965.

Citations

• The Popularity of British Prime Ministers
• If Winning Isn't Everything, Why Do They Keep Score? Consequences of Electoral Performance for Party Leaders
• Who selects the party leader?
• The Art of Handing Over: (Mis)Managing Party Leadership Successions
• The (Un)Importance of Party Leaders: Leader Images and Party Choice in the 1987 British Election
• The British Conservative Party and Europe: The Choosing of John Major
• Peasants' Uprising or Religious War? Re-examining the 1975 Conservative Leadership Contest
• Classifying Party Leaders’ Selection Methods in Parliamentary Democracies
• What parties want from their leaders: How office achievement trumps electoral performance as a driver of party leader survival

Cited by

• Boris Johnson [wikipedia]