What’s in a Name ?
Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2025 5:15 pm
I’ve been thinking about the names of political parties, and whether or not a party’s chosen name helps its brand electorally - or otherwise.
Let’s have a look :
- The Conservative Party : formerly the Tories of course, arguably a more appropriate name as it apparently means “robbers” or “brigands” - which might explain the persistence of the name in the age of Johnson & Truss. But the term “conservative” seems to suggest keeping things just the way they are, not changing things too much. Which is bollocks of course, because they’ve changed plenty for the worse.(e.g. Brexit). More likely, the word “conservative” denotes the conservation of vested interests, privilege, and inequality.
-The Labour Party : clear and unambiguous - it’s the party for those who work, or labour, and make their living and their way in the world by dint of that, and little else. There ‘s a whole, and continuing, debate to be had about whether the modern Labour Party has or has not betrayed that founding principle.
- The Liberal Democrats : A relatively new party name for a party that was born of a merger between the Liberal Party - a very old party - and the Social Democrat Party, created in the 1980s by former Labour politicians disenamoured of the nature of the Labour Party at the time. The name suggests liberality - freedom, relaxed and tolerant social attitudes and such, combined with a commitment to democracy - and who could disagree with that ?
The Green Party : again, a relatively new party name for a party that used to be called “The Ecology Party” but which changed its name to the more snazzy “Green”, following the success of European ecology based parties, particularly in Germany. The party name seems to be attractive to voters, and now, particularly under Zac Polanski’s leadership, seems to be attracting many more radical left-inclined voters and members.
Reform UK : an insidious and disingenuous name here for a “party” , or rather a limited company, that was previously known as “The Brexit Party”, and before that the “UK Independence Party”, or UKIP. It is still of course, the very same party, trading on hatred, fear, prejudice, bigotry, and racism. The name, though - “Reform” - is well chosen, suggesting the reformation of many things - making things different and better., improved. Which is of course a massive lie. But the name seems to be doing its job.
“The Scottish National Party” (SNP), and “Plaid Cymru” (“the party of Wales”) : uncomplicated : both parties’ objective is simply the secession of their respective nations from the United Kingdom to become completely self-governing.
“Your Party” : Fuck knows.
Debate is encouraged. Fill your boots, Mailwatchers.
Let’s have a look :
- The Conservative Party : formerly the Tories of course, arguably a more appropriate name as it apparently means “robbers” or “brigands” - which might explain the persistence of the name in the age of Johnson & Truss. But the term “conservative” seems to suggest keeping things just the way they are, not changing things too much. Which is bollocks of course, because they’ve changed plenty for the worse.(e.g. Brexit). More likely, the word “conservative” denotes the conservation of vested interests, privilege, and inequality.
-The Labour Party : clear and unambiguous - it’s the party for those who work, or labour, and make their living and their way in the world by dint of that, and little else. There ‘s a whole, and continuing, debate to be had about whether the modern Labour Party has or has not betrayed that founding principle.
- The Liberal Democrats : A relatively new party name for a party that was born of a merger between the Liberal Party - a very old party - and the Social Democrat Party, created in the 1980s by former Labour politicians disenamoured of the nature of the Labour Party at the time. The name suggests liberality - freedom, relaxed and tolerant social attitudes and such, combined with a commitment to democracy - and who could disagree with that ?
The Green Party : again, a relatively new party name for a party that used to be called “The Ecology Party” but which changed its name to the more snazzy “Green”, following the success of European ecology based parties, particularly in Germany. The party name seems to be attractive to voters, and now, particularly under Zac Polanski’s leadership, seems to be attracting many more radical left-inclined voters and members.
Reform UK : an insidious and disingenuous name here for a “party” , or rather a limited company, that was previously known as “The Brexit Party”, and before that the “UK Independence Party”, or UKIP. It is still of course, the very same party, trading on hatred, fear, prejudice, bigotry, and racism. The name, though - “Reform” - is well chosen, suggesting the reformation of many things - making things different and better., improved. Which is of course a massive lie. But the name seems to be doing its job.
“The Scottish National Party” (SNP), and “Plaid Cymru” (“the party of Wales”) : uncomplicated : both parties’ objective is simply the secession of their respective nations from the United Kingdom to become completely self-governing.
“Your Party” : Fuck knows.
Debate is encouraged. Fill your boots, Mailwatchers.