Welcome to the twelfth volume of British Politics. Our first contribution is from Martin Monahan, and it examines the influence of Christianity on Conservative party policies. Based on a series of interviews with mid- and elite-level actors, this shows that Christianity has been a minor but important influence within the party since the 1990s. Our second original article comes from Craig McAngus and looks at the dynamics of Stateless–Nationalist–Regionalist Parties. The paper draws on a series of interviews with elites from within Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party, and explores their internal processes of organisational reform. Following this, our third article, from Victoria Honeyman, focuses on the foreign policies of Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Here, the author argues that the doctrine of Liberal interventionism pursued by Tony Blair led to little in the way of practical change, and that the foreign policy of his successors was largely driven by practical concerns.

Our fourth contribution is from Isabelle Hertner and Daniel Keith. In this, the authors examine the European attitudes of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, and find that while both parties can be characterised as ‘soft’ Europhiles their strategies towards the European Union differ considerably. The fifth paper for this issue, by Noel Thompson, deals with the art of political speech and analyses the rhetoric deployed by Chancellors of the Exchequer in their efforts to convince the British public of the benefits of their fiscal measures. The final contribution for this issue is for our Forward Thinking section and comes from Alan Wager. In this, the author examines the issue of electoral pacts, finding that party leaders and elite-level dynamics have a critical role in explaining the success and failure of negotiations between parties.