The Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party (in Scotland Conservative and Unionist Party) is the largest right-wing political party in the United Kingdom. It was formerly called the Tory Party, and its members are still commonly referred to as "Tories".
Its current formal name, rarely used outside of Scotland, as registered with the UK Electoral Commission, is the Conservative and Unionist Party, a relic of the 1912 merger with the Liberal Unionist Party and an echo of the party's defence (1886-1921) of the union of Great Britain and Ireland and subsequent insistence on British sovereignty in Northern Ireland in opposition to Irish nationalist and republican aspirations.
The modern Conservative Party arose out of the split in the Tories in 1846 between Peelite free-traders and the protectionist wing led by the Earl of Derby and Benjamin Disraeli. Although Derby managed to lead several minority governments in the 1850s and 60s, the party was never able to achieve a majority until after the passage of the Reform Act of 1867, which broadened the franchise. Disraeli's jingoistic nationalism managed to win him enough working-class support to win a majority in 1874, but the Conservative hold remained tenuous, and Disraeli was defeated in the Midlothian Election of 1880. It wasn't until the split in the Liberal Party over Irish home rule in 1886 that the Conservatives were able to achieve truly secure majorities through the defection of the Liberal Unionists.
The Conservatives remained in power for most of the next twenty years, until internal disputes over Joseph Chamberlain's ideas on protection in the early 20th century led to a severe defeat to the Liberals in the General Election of 1906. The Conservatives managed to make up much of their losses in the two general elections o 1910 - forcing the Liberals to rely on Irish Nationalist votes to maintain their majority - and during World War I, with the split and then the collapse of the Liberals, the Conservatives under Andrew Bonar Law were able to become the dominant party in Lloyd George's coalition government.
For most of the 20th century, the Conservative party was viewed as the "natural party of government" in the UK, effectively keeping the Labour Party from holding power for more than one term at a time.
During the 1970s this seemed in danger, as Conservative leader Edward Heath lost three of the four general elections he had contested. The monetarists, led by Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher started to challenge Heath's authority, and Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, becoming leader of the opposition. The Tories capitalised on the Winter of Discontent and the growing inflation rate, not to mention the humiliating bailout of the UK economy by the IMF in 1976, and won the 1979 general election with a majority of 43.
Thatcher became extremely unpopular among the electorate but due to the Falklands War and the percieved "loony left" nature of the Labour Party, and won the 1983 general election with a landslide, giving them a majority of 144.
The second and third terms were dominated by privatisations of Britian's many state-owned industries including British Telecom in 1984, the bus companies in 1985, British Gas in 1986, British Airways in 1987, British Leyland, British Steel in 1988.
The Conservatives won the 1987 general election and were returned with a 102 seat majority. However in terms of votes, the victory was less convincing - the Tories recieved 13 million, Labour 10 million and the Liberal-SDP alliance 7 million. A PR would have led to a Labour/Liberal/SDP coalation.
In 1989, the Poll tax was introduced to replace the ancient system of rates which funded local government. This was a flat rate per person, and was very unpopular, as it seemed to be shifting the tax burden onto poor people. Once again Thatcher became very unpopular, but this time the Conservatives thought it might cost them the election. Michael Heseltine, a former cabinet member challenged her for the leadership in 1990. She won the first round, but unconvincingly, and after taking soundings from cabinet members, resigned. In the ensuing leadership election, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Major beat Heseltine and Douglas Hurd.
Major introduced a replacement for the poll tax, the Council Tax and continued with the privatisations, and went on to narrowly win the 1992 election, with a majority of 21.
However, his first full term was beset with scandals. Many of these were purely about the personal lives of politicians which the media attempted to as construe hypocrisy, but the Cash for Questions affair and the divisions over EU were substantive. In 1995, Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party in order to trigger a leadership election which he hoped would give him a renewed mandate, and quieten the Maastricht rebels (people such as Iain Duncan Smith, Bill Cash, Bernard Jenkin).
As the term went on, with by-elections being consistently lost by the Conservatives, their majority reduced and eventually entirely vanished. Getting every vote out became increasingly important to both sides, and on several occasions ill MPs were wheeled into the Commons to vote. Eventually, the Government became a technical minority and was forced to rely on the support of the Ulster Unionists.
As predicted, the general election was a win for the Labour Party, but perhaps the magnitude of the victory surprised everyone. There was a swing of about 20% in some places, and Labour got a majority of 177. The Conservatives lost all their seats outside of England, and prominent members such as Michael Portillo and Malcolm Rifkind lost their seats. Major resigned within 24 hours.
The ensuing (1997) leadership election was contested by five candidates. The electorate for the contest consisted solely of the 165 Conservative MPs who had been returned to the House of Commons. The candidates were Kenneth Clarke, William Hague, John Redwood, Peter Lilley and Michael Howard. Clarke was the favoured candidate of the Europhile left of the party, while the three latter candidates divided right wing support roughly equally. Hague, who had initially supported Howard, emerged second as a compromise candidate and won the final ballot after Redwood and Clarke negotiated a joint ticket which was derided as an Instability Pact by their opponents (punning on the economic Stability Pact of the European Community).
At first William Hague portrayed himself as a moderniser with a common touch. However by the time the 2001 general election came he concentrated on Europe, asylum seekers and tax cuts whilst declaring that only the Conservative Party could "Save the Pound". He was seen by a political lightweight by many, and was widely mocked for his claim he used to drink 14 pints of beer a day. Despite a low turnout (usually a good sign for the party), the election resulted in a net gain of a single seat for the Conservative Party and William Hague's resignation as party leader.
A new leadership electoral system designed by Hague resulted in five candidates competing for the job; Michael Portillo, Iain Duncan Smith, Ken Clarke, David Davis and Michael Ancram. The drawn out and at times acrimonious election saw Conservative MPs select Iain Duncan Smith and Ken Clarke to be put forward for a vote by party members. As Conservative Party members are characteristically Eurosceptic, Iain Duncan Smith was elected, even though opinion polls showed that the public preferred Ken Clarke, a member of the Tory Reform Group.
Iain Duncan Smith (often known as IDS) is a strong eurosceptic; although he supports continued membership in the European Union, he opposes the UK ever joining the Euro, unlike his predecessor William Hague, who opposed joining the Euro for the term of the next parliament, without absolutely ruling out joining it in the future.
He since has filled his shadow cabinet with similarly unknown Eurosceptics, generally pushed the party further to the right, and alienated many Europhile and moderate Tories. Some believe that the party has turned so far right that they are now destined for political oblivion. The shadow cabinet appointments included his fellow Maastricht rebel Bill Cash as Shadow Attorney General, the former Home Secretary, Michael Howard, as Shadow Chancellor, his defeated rival Michael Ancram as Shadow Foreign Secretary and Oliver Letwin (who had gained a right wing reputation during the General Election campaign for arguing for an ambitious program of tax cuts) as Shadow Home Secretary. Though Kenneth Clarke had signalled his reluctance to serve in the new shadow cabinet, Iain Duncan Smith was criticised for not offering a more senior position to Clarke's highly regarded supporter Andrew Tyrie.
Others noted however, that people were saying similar things about the Labour Party in the 1980s being destined for oblivion because it was so far left, and that the dynamics of the two-party system can create surprising comebacks. However it must be noted that while Labour lost a third of their support to the SDP and that no major group has defected from the Conservatives. Whether or not the U.K has a two party system is debatable, certainly the gap between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, tends now to be smaller than between Labour and the Tories.
Also, half the Shadow Cabinet's seats are under threat from the Liberal Democrats who are growing at a rapid rate in former Tory strongholds in the South West and South East.
In October 2003 (week beginning October 27) there were strong calls for Iain Duncan Smith to resign as leader or face a vote of confidence. Under the rules of the Conservative party, the back bench Conservative 1922 Committee will review the leadership, and in order for this to take place the chairman of the committee, Sir Michael Spicer must be presented with 25 letters proposing a vote.
On 28 October sufficient letters were presented to the chairman of the 1922 Committee to initiate a vote of confidence in Iain Duncan Smith. The vote was conducted on 29 October, and IDS lost 90 to 75.
Duncan Smith remained as caretaker leader until Michael Howard, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, was elected to the post of leader (as the only candidate) on 6 November 2003.
Howard announced radical changes to the way the Shadow Cabinet would work on the 10th. He slashed the number of members by half, and has Theresa May and Tim Yeo each shadowing two government departments. Minor departments still have shadows but have been removed from the cabinet, and the post of Shadow Leader of the House of Commons abolished. The role of party chairman has also been split into two, with Maurice Saatchi and Liam Fox appointed, with responsibility for running the party machine, and publicity respectively. Michael Portillo was offered a position but refused, due to his plans to step down from Parliament at the next election.
Also, a panel of 'grandees', including John Major, Iain Duncan Smith, William Hague and notable Kenneth Clarke has been set up to advise the leadership as they see fit.
A number of political scandals have created the impression of what is described in the British press as "sleaze": a perception that the Conservatives are associated with political corruption and hypocrisy. In particular the successful entrapment of Graham Riddick and David Tredinick in the "cash for questions" scandal, the contemporaneous misconduct as a minister by Neil Hamilton (who lost a consequent libel action against The Guardian), and the convictions of former Cabinet member Jonathan Aitken and former party deputy chairman Jeffrey Archer for perjury in two separate cases have damaged the Conservatives' public reputation. Persistent false rumours about the activities of the party treasurer Michael Ashcroft have not helped this impression.
John Major's "Back to Basics" morality campaign back-fired on him by providing an excuse for the British media to expose "sleaze" within the Conservative Party and, most damagingly, within the Cabinet itself. A number of ministers were then revealed to have committed sexual indiscretions, and Major was forced by his own policies to dismiss them. In September 2002 it was revealed that, prior to his promotion to the cabinet, Major had himself had a longstanding extramarital affair with a fellow MP, Edwina Currie.
History
Pre-1975
The Thatcher Years, 1975-1990
The Major Years: 1990-1997
William Hague: 1997-2001
Iain Duncan Smith: 2001-2003
Michael Howard
Tory "sleaze"
Leaders of the Conservative Party since 1828
Other famous Conservative MPs
External links
Official Party sites
Internal party policy groups
Critics
Media stories
