Political Marketing in the UK and Canada: A Comparative Study of the British Labour and Canadian Conservative parties

Abstract

Through the lens of the Lees-Marshment framework, this article compares and contrasts the evolution of the British Labour Party from 1979 to 1997 and the Canadian Conservative Party from 2004 to 2006, finding many similarities between the two. Owing to their employment of the tools of political marketing, both parties would abandon ideological policies that notably deviated from those of the center, precipitating the defeat of their long-time incumbents.