The origins of the modern Political Parties can be traced as far back as the end of the 16th Century with the arrival of the Stuarts, and the end of Elizabeth I’s reign. It seems fitting that the parties are reaching the end of their dominance as we approach the end of Elizabeth IIs reign. The first two parties emerged as Parliament sought to prevent James from ascending the throne around 1680. The Tories were named after Irish Cattle Thieves and the Whigs after Scottish Horse Thieves.

The parties were created to help organise the Parliamentarians into a degree of order as they took on the Crown. This led to these privileged men first grappling with the concepts of Left and Right political thought. So few people in the 17th Century were able to participate in elections that the concept of political choice by ordinary people (or any women) would have been as irrational as e-petitions and twitter. When widespread suffrage arrived and the Trade Unions helped to form Labour as the third significant political party the level of political excitement throughout society must have been substantial. However it would take less than a hundred years for all of us to realise that first three and then in time four and now five credible English parties are not able to engage all of us or retain our confidence.

It would have been inconceivable for a new political party to emerge in the early 20th Century without substantial funding and support in terms of bodies on the ground. The funding from the Unions needed to be substantial at the outset, and as time went on the financial battle became intense. A Century later and a party like UKIP have been able to move into prominence with only modest financial support from a few rich men like Stuart Wheeler. They do not bankroll candidates in the way that other parties do. The Green Party is similarly poorly funded but it has beaten UKIP to bring an MP to Parliament. The emergence of Independent candidates over the last few decades (often to challenge corrupt or high handed practices) is helping to fracture the cosy arrangements still further.

It is clear that the British Public has no appetite for the public funding of political parties, and are also resistant to the buying of influence by wealthy business people, land owners or Trade Unionists. Only a fool would pretend to know what English Politics will look like in 2023, let alone 2080 when the Horse and Cattle Thieves can celebrate 400 years of existence (if they are still around). However it is clear that any attempt to continue to dominate political discourse by greedy and corrupt political structures will lead to even lower levels of support in elections than we have seen so far. We should be grateful for some of the positive legacies that the parties have provided all of us with, but recognise that they were formed to help Parliamentarians to organise themselves to defeat an out of control monarchy. They now appear to have become tools for rich men and institutions to try to control you and I. It is time to find a new way of governing the country that bursts the Westminster bubble.