Conservative Party, UK The dominant political party in twentieth-century British politics. Despite the absence of an ideology about what exactly it wants to conserve, it has been able to gather support around the issues of patriotism and allegiance to the Crown, support for the Established (
Anglican) Church of England, and the maintenance of the constitutional integrity and union of the
United Kingdom. The absence of set beliefs beyond these general tenets has imbued the party with a sense of flexibility and pragmatism which, since the leadership of Lord
Salisbury (1886–92, 1895–1902), has given it an ability constantly to re-evaluate its ideas and its leadership, and to adapt them to changing social circumstances. Within the above parameters, therefore, it has successfully pursued whatever policies would best keep it in power.
Perhaps the only exception to this rule came in the first decade of the century, under the unhappy leadership of
Balfour (1902–11), who was unable to contain party divisions under Joseph
Chamberlain's disastrous
tariff reform campaign. Furthermore, his inability to control the intransigence of the House of Lords led to a major constitutional reform in the 1911
Parliament Act, which deprived the British establishment of a crucial bastion of political influence.
The party recovered under the leadership of Bonar
Law and Austen
Chamberlain, and under
Baldwin it dominated British politics in the interwar period in a way that was surpassed only by the Conservative governments after 1979. This position was buttressed by the weakness of the progressive opposition, whose vote was divided between various
Liberal parties and the
Labour Party. It was also enabled by the party's traditionally strong organization. Through the establishment of the Primrose League and local Conservative Associations, many of which became major centres of socialization, the party was able to harness the support of a large proportion of newly enfranchised women, and up to half of the working-class vote. Ever mindful of the costs and consequences of another war, it rigorously pursued
appeasement. When this failed, after Neville
Chamberlain's best efforts, the party's image was tarnished despite
Churchill's strong leadership from 1940, which saw Britain through World War II.
Churchill's popularity prevented the party from detecting a major ideological shift in the electorate, which demanded a new postwar order along the lines of the
Beveridge Report. The party was, therefore, taken aback by its disastrous loss in the 1945 elections, but immediately adapted to the new circumstances by accepting the public desire for
Keynesian demand management, the nationalization of some state-run services such as the railways, and
social welfare institutions such as the
National Health Service.
It won the 1951 elections with opportunistic proposals to end rationing and to build more public housing. Success in these social areas helped the party overcome the disaster of
Eden's precipitation of the
Suez Crisis of 1956. Thereafter, under
Macmillan, the party's pragmatism overcame its patriotism in agreeing to the rapid
decolonization of the
British Empire in Africa, most of which was complete by the time
Douglas-Home left office in 1964. That it was the Conservatives, the traditional party of the Empire, who undertook this measure greatly eased the domestic tensions that otherwise might have occurred (and did occur at this time e.g. in France).
After a recuperative time in opposition (1964–70), the party regained power under
Heath, a singularly pro-European leader who took Britain into membership of the EEC (
European integration). Another concession of pragmatism over patriotism, this weakened further the country's connection with the
Commonwealth. After narrowly losing two elections in 1974, Heath was replaced as party leader by
Thatcher in 1975, who became Prime Minister in 1979.
Thatcher perfected the party's sense of pragmatism and response to electoral demands. However, she did so in a way that was wholly radical, and offended many of the traditional conservative tenets. Her market-orientated policies, which greatly increased the amount of poverty in the country, incurred the wrath and vocal opposition of the Church of England. She used the state institutions at her disposal (e.g. the civil service,
Parliament) to minimize opposition and maximize her control without regard for precedence or custom. The grocer's daughter was a profoundly anti-establishment figure, despising privilege or birthright if it stood in her way.
When the party recognized that a fourth election victory would be unobtainable for her, it replaced her with the more conciliatory
Major, who did, indeed, win the 1992 election. That election marked an important generational change for the party, as a host of young, right-wing Conservatives entered Parliament who had become politically active during the Thatcher years, and who generally espoused the values of
Thatcherism. This increased the party's divisions further. Even Thatcher had been at a loss to find a clear line between the opposing goals of pragmatism and patriotism with regard to further British participation in the European Union. This fundamental contradiction became more apparent under Major, whose greatest achievement was perhaps to have avoided an open party split on the issue, though at the cost of weakening his government permanently. Major's government was fatally wounded by Britain's exit from
ERM in 1992, and the subsequent devaluation of the pound. The Conservatives had lost their greatest asset against Labour, the public perception of economic competence.
Major suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of Tony
Blair in 1997, and was succeeded by William Hague (b.1961). Hague had been a compromise candidate, but his relative youthfulness tuned out to be anything but an advantage, as he struggled to command loyalty from the party faithful. Hague was unable to find any popular policy alternatives to Blair, and he suffered from having chosen a very disparate shadow cabinet which often contradicted itself on policy. In the 2001 elections the party was routed once again, as Hague opted to campaign on his opposition to the
euro, a strategy which only appealed to core Conservative voters. Hague was succeeded by the even more obscure and uncharismatic Iain
Duncan Smith, who was in turn replaced in 2003 by Michael Howard. Howard was an excellent speaker in Parliament and proved a competent leader, but he was burdened by popular memory of his right-wing policies as Home Secretary in Major's government.
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