The Conservative Party

• Founded in 1834 - The conservative and unionist party

  • always one of 2 dominant parties, 19th century against liberals and 20th century against labour
  • in office for most of 20th century, 67 years
  • 12 tory PMs since the war, Labour has had 5
  • Been in power since 2010 general election
• Conservatism

  "a social and political philosophy that seeks to retain 'social institutions'"

  • pragmatic approach
  • Slow and incremental change which maintains the status quo with no radical change
• Conservatism key developments

  • origins - thomas hobbs 'leviathan'
  • Traditional Conservatism - 18th century: Edmund Burke 19th Century: Michael Oakshott
  • One nation conservatism - Benjamin Disraeli
  • The middle way - Harold Macmillan
  • The New Right - Magaret Thatcher, Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick
• Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)


  Prime Minister 1868 & 1874-1880

  • flamboyant charachter who started as a writer but later found success as a tory politician
  • feared that industrialisation had turned britain into two nations - the rich and poor
  • believed it was the tories responsibility to bring the two sides to unity and saw a role for the state in helping the poor
  • He coined the term ' one nation tory'
  • Tories saw patriotism, empire and tradition as a way of attracting support from lower classes
• One Nation Conservatism

  Name given to the general ideology of the party during the 20th century until the birth of Thatcherism in the 1970s

  • slow gradual change, evolution not revolution
  • Keynesian mixed economy with state intervention where necessary
  • Support for a universal welfare state
  • Increasing European intergration
  • post ww2 'one nation' was used to justify promoting full employment, the welfare state, the NHS and promoting social harmony
• Post-war Conservatives

  After ww2 Tories and Labour exchanged similar policies on issues like the NHS, at this point, the tory party was about slow changes

  • Thatcher became PM in 1979 and preceded over a period of radical change - maass privatisation, trade union reform, Falklands War, unemployment over 3 million. however big increase in home ownership and share ownership at this time
• Post-War Conservatives (2)

  • Under Cameron, gay marriage was legalised and the UK voted to leave the EU
  • Johnson secured a deal with the EU and managed the covid crisis, partygate
  • Truss ruined the economy overnight, government borrowing reached 5% the highest it had been since 2008
  • Under Sunak, priority has been placed on a return to more traditional fiscal conservatism to balance the books
• The Middle way - Harold Macmillan 


  Successive Tory govs had principles of

  • redistribution of tax
  • social welfare - provisions for the poor
  • State education & the NHS
  • State Pension Schemes
  • Built one million council homes
  • Accepted nationalisation except for rode Haulage
• The Middle Way - Harold Macmillan


  'Paternal Conservatism'

  • Seeing themselves as the natural party of government, the gov should provide for and regulate for its citizens as a father would to his children
  • Ruling class have a duty to promote welfare of its people
  • Compassionate with more concern for others - more inclusive
• Thatcherism: 1979-1990


  Rejected the politics of the 'post-war' era

  • pursued ideology of a free-market and competition (classical liberalism)
  • monetarism - control of inflation through interest rates and money supply
  • Believed that as individuals we are self-interested and aspire to achieve our potential - led to the policy of selling council houses to tenants
• Thatcherism: 1979-1990 - Anti-Keynesian

  • Believed in 'rolling back the state' - Anti-Keynesian
  • Keynesian economists advocate for a regulated economy with limited government intervention
  • ex, privatisation of national industries, although she was pragmatic (didn't private the royal mail)
• Thatcherism: 1979-1990 (2)

  Law and order were necessary

  • Police powers to stop and search people were expanded, striking miners were stopped by police from picketing other mines
  • Morals based on tradition/Christian values
  • Section 28 - local authorities could not intentionally promote homosexuality as an accepted family lifestyle
  • to some this was ironic given in Section 28 she believed in no state intervention in the economy
  • belief in personal responsibility led to 'get on your bike' speech by Norman Tebbitt
• Thatcher and the EU

  She had conflicting views on the EU but saw potential in it and she played a leading role in creating the European Single Market

  • she saw a larger EU as a threat to UK independence - 'haven't rolled back the role of the state in the UK to have it re-imposed at a EU level'
  • She sought to defend Britains Interest against what she saw as interventionist EU policies
• Structure of the Conservative Party

  Advisory Bodies: National Conservative Convention

  • conservative political Forum
• Structure of the Conservative Party

  Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ)

  • organises all aspects of the party
• Structure of the Conservative Party

  Fresh Future

  • policy group appointed by party leader
• Structure of the Conservative Party

  Conservative Associations

  • constituency level organisers
• Structure of the Conservative Party

  Local Branch of the conservative party

  • local party members by council ward
• Conservative Associations & Branches

  • Play a similar role to CLPs of Labour
  • Responsible for ensuring that the local branches are behaving and following policies appointed from Conservatives HQ
  • Responsible for putting candidates forward for parliamentary election although they don't have the final say
  • Local branch is designed to reflect council boundaries and as such are responsible for selecting candidates to be local councillors
• How the Conservatives choose a leader

  
• The 1922 Committee


  Founded in 1923 (by MPs elected in 1922) and the committee consists of all conservative backbench MPs

  • Meet weekly while parliament is in session
  • provides a way for backbenchers to co-ordinate and discuss their views independently of ministers
  • Since 2010, frontbench tory MPs have an open invite to attend committee meetings, its exclusive membership and officers are limited to backbench MPs
• The 1922 Committee (2)

  • It is the Chair of the committee who Tory MPs write to when expressing a lack of confidence in their leader
  • current chair - sir graham brady
  • 1922 committee also runs leadership elections, setting rules and overseeing voting/counting
• How are candidates selected?

  Methods were changed under David Camerons leadership:

  • The A-Lists
  • Hustings
  • Open Primaries
• The A-Lists (2005)

  • introduced to encourage diversity
  • lists were then submitted to the associations and CCHQ as possible candidates
  • Branches were encouraged to pick a diverse range of candidates (especially women and ethnic minorities)
• Hustings (2009)

  • In more than 100 seats candidates were selected in public meetings in which all tory members were invited
  • Prospective candidates debate on a range of issues
  • Members then vote for their preferred candidate to stand in the election
• Open Primaries (2009)

  • All members (aside from those in other political parties) of the local community register to vote to decide on which candidate they want to stand in election
  • Was used to select the candidate for Dudley South in 2015
• Membership of the Conservative Party

  Has 172,000 members (Aug 2023) and are likely to be male, white British, a leave voter, middle class, and living in the south of England.

  • 63% of membership are men
  • 95% of members are White British
  • 76% Backed Brexit
  • 80% are 'ABC1s' the highest-paid and most-educated demographic group
  • 43% live in the south of England
  • median age is 57