AbstractThe paper treats politics as a complex process that embraces actual or potential interactions among constructed meanings of different social actors through various symbolic forms drawing on the specific socio‐historical, political context. These symbolic forms can take the form of various kinds from everyday linguistic utterances to complex images and texts. It is suggested that there is a strong interrelationship between ‘image’ and political discourse and their symbolic value grows as long as they come from consistent communication among all the social actors participating in the political process inside and outside of the political organisation. Two historical examples from the British political landscape—the Labour election defeat in 1987 and the Labour leadership election in 1994—are examined so as to draw some useful remarks concerning the limitations in drawing the line between ‘image’ and political discourse and among processes considered either internal or external of the party. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications