In the past, these were of two types (1) Breakaway parties such as the Liberal Unionists before the First World War and the SDP in the 1980s or (2) Extremist parties such as the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s and the Communist Party. Most of them have been unsuccessful. The United Kingdom Independence Party is an exception.

In 2015, UKIP showed itself the most successful minor party in British history, winning one-eighth of the vote. Since then, it has been in decline. What is the explanation of the failure of the minor parties?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/minor-political-parties

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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