Role orientations of junior British MPs: A test of Searing's categories with emphasis on constituency activities

Based on interviews with 45 junior British MPs in 1995, a factor analysis is used to test the staying power of the role categories found by Donald Searing in his study Westminster's World, based on 1972–73 interviews. Searing's categories Policy Advocate and Ministerial Aspirant are clearly identified by the factor pattern, as are two sub‐types of his Constituency Member: Welfare Officer and Local Promoter. Two additional factors emerged, indicating orientation of some MPs toward Local Media and Local Party. Regression analysis testing behavioural consequences of the role types (identified as independent variables based on factor scores) produced more mixed results than Searing's original tests, including the unexpected finding that MPs who find the Local Party helpful spend more time in their constituencies and in their surgeries with constituents than do Welfare Officers.