Political Styles

Abstract

It is clear from earlier chapters that what the councillor does is related to how he or she defines the job to be done: how much time is to be devoted to policy issues, how much casework to take on, how to manage links with the party, how to react to local pressure groups, and so on. In this chapter we focus on these and other related issues and present a model of three political styles which provides an understanding of the complex and intertwined public and private worlds of the elected member. These styles treat council work as a hobby, as a vocation and as a job. The distinguishing criteria in each case include hours of work, the predominant nature of the work and the balance councillors perceive between their public and private worlds. These styles tend to develop along lines of gender and party.