Michels and Weber were writing about the domination of leaders over followers, long before the arrival of the mass media. Now party leaders can communicate directly with the people without the intermediary of the party organisation. If Tony Blair wants to speak to the people of Britain he goes on Breakfast with Frost or has Alistair Campbell or Andrew Adonis write articles, under his name, which appear in tabloid newspapers. The ethic of ultimate ends was the world of those who preferred the party to be right rather than to be in power. Better to despair of the prospect of ever being in a position of doing anything than to sacrifice the principles of the party on the altar of expediency.
Leadership brings with it the responsibility to win.
Labour spent eighteen years in the wilderness as a consequence and the most vulnerable groups in society suffered as a result. In the aftershock of the Conservative melt down of 1997 the Tories have found themselves in a similar position. The conference faithful are overcome by the once and future queen. It does not matter that the voters will not buy it. Better to be right than to be in power.