Since the mid-1970s the British Labour Party has embarked upon a series of journeys up and down the nation's political spectrum. The central focus of this study is a survey of these changes in direction, and an explanation of why these movements occurred. The question posed is, what motivated the party to move further to the left of the spectrum than ever before, only to embark on a return trip which has given the party the most right-wing policy stances of its history? To achieve this

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... on the paper uses the Downsian1 theory of political parties as its starting point. Downs argues that in a two-party system parties will move only to the political center, because here electoral success is most likely.