West European Studies

British conservative Party is one of the oldest parties in the country and perhaps in the world. The party descended from the Tory Party and members are commonly referred to as Tories. Its origin can be traced way back in 1678 when the Tory faction vehemently opposed the exclusion of Duke of York from the succession plan. The Term conservative was first coined by George Canning back in the 1820s and came to be suggested as the Parties name later in the 1930s by John Croker.The name was later adopted as the official name but the Party continued to be referred as the Tory party. The party had been popular and had formed most of the governments between 1760 and 1932 when the great reform act was passed. This trend was also witnessed in the twentieth century as the party won most of the election especially after the Second World War. This stretch of popularity continued with the onset of popular leaders taking the party to greater heights. The party has been described as one of the most successful political organizations in the world. This description emanates from the fact that the party has remained in government for more than half the time the party has been in existence. The secret of this party success has largely been attributed to the loyalty it has enjoyed from the constituency association. These associations have over the time provided the much needed resources. The party has enjoyed relatively calm period which has enabled the party leadership to remain intact. This is completely different from the main competitor, the labor party which has witnessed leadership wrangles over the period of time. (Seldon, A and Staurt, B 1998 56)

The party had remained in the power for the better parts of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. This period was characterized by periods when the party was out in the cold as the main opposition party. One of the periods that the party suffered huge defeat was after the Second World War when the party lost through a landslide defeat due to its policy. The party was vehemently opposed to the nationalization program as well as creation of a welfare state, policies that made the labor party to win the 1945 general election through a landslide victory. The kind of reforms which the country was gearing towards were against partys ideologies therefore the leaders would not have advocated for them. This made the labor party to easily sell the kind of reforms which were needed for a country which was coming out of a long and weary war. (Andy, W 1994 109)

The landslide defeat by the labor Party in the 1945 general election made the party to go back to its drawing board. The party tried to understand the reasons for its humiliating defeat and started to strategize on how it was to return to the government. This was not going to be an easy task for the Party given that some of the policies which it had opposed were riding the Labor government to greater heights. The party adopted an opinion research to understand the trends that led to its defeat, this is one of the techniques which became an integral part of the politics in the country as parties used it to understand the electoral behaviour.This strategy was used to target voters in the future and also get to know the reasons behind the party decline and success. It was a very important tool as far as planning was concerned. During this period the strategy allowed the party to change its position as far as nationalization and welfare state programs were concerned.
The people were more interested with the economic prosperity and they believed that these two programs would help towards this realization explaining their behavior in the 1945 election .Conservative Party learnt from these mistakes and tried hard to consolidate strength through adoption of policies which were popular at that time. They came to accept the reality they supported the governments policies concerning the creation of the welfare state and the nationalization program which was being instituted. Winston Churchill would steer the party back to the limelight with his policies which saw an economic boom making the party popular a status it enjoyed for the rest of the 1950s. (Jarvis, M 1999 105)

In 1950 general election Labor Party did not garner enough seats to form a strong government, within one year a new election was called where the conservatives emerged the winners. Winston Churchill, a man who over the period has been described as the most popular Briton in the course of history steered the party over this period before he resigned in 1955.He left a legacy that many admired, perhaps this can be said to be the beginning of the conservative Partys domination in British politics. The five years which he led the party and the government Churchill build base which will be remembered through the history of this country. Forming a coalition with the National liberal allowed the conservatives to rule for this period as the Labor party had a narrow win but failed to garner enough seats to allow it form the government.( Andy, W 1994 209)

In 1955 the party emerged stronger after garnering almost fifty percent of the seats in the parliament. The party got a majority of sixty seats something which is attributed to its change of policies to include the more popular standings on voters which included creation of employment and economic growth in a period that was characterized with an economic boom across the world. The party seemed to have learnt from its past mistakes which kept it in the opposition for almost five years. In the period preceding the war the Britons were interested in urgent social reforms but the conservative party could not convince the voters that it was up to the task. Come the year 1950 the voters warmed up to the party and gave it an almost a win where the Tory party formed the government together with the liberal party since the Labor party could not carry out the day. Through the magic power of the one of the most powerful men in Europe the party was back again. The resignation of Churchill did not affect the party popularity. Instead the voters have warmed up to the old party and rallied behind it giving it a clear win over the major opponent. Sir Anthony steered the party after the resignation of Churchill. World crisis have an effect on any political organization, the Tory Party popularity diminished during this period following one of the major crisis that rocked the world in the period.

The Suez Canal crisis forced the then Prime Minister to resign. This was not a big blow to the party as it was to rise from this unfortunate event and emerge a more strong entity. The favorable economic conditions during this period and the exemplary political expertise of Harold Macmillan saved the party from diminishing popularity. The Tory party enjoyed the glory as the economy blossomed. The unemployment rates were steadily going down courtesy of the steering performance of the conservative party. This trend lead to the even more success for the party as it increased the number of majority from sixty seven to one hundred and seven. Macmillan was reelected the prime minister. This series of success for the party clearly indicates that the party had recovered from the diminishing popularity which forced Anthony Eden to resign. The booming economy and improved state of welfare for the majority of the Britons made them warm up to the party therefore riding high with another successive term in power. (Jarvis, M 1999 45)

The Party popularity came to wane during the leadership of The Prime Minister Douglas Home. The party was out of power in 1964 when it lost narrowly to its main political opponent, the Labor Party. In 1965 the Tory Party was back in power again, this time Edward Heath was holding the mantle as the Prime minister. He became the first leader to be selected through an election a a change that was brought forth by the preceding party leader sir Douglas Home through instituting a balloting method of choosing party leaders.
This method was more democratic than those used before since the party members were given an opportunity to select their own leaders. Previously it was the mandate of some of conservative members of parliament to choose a party leader. This new balloting system was all involving as it gave the people a chance to vote for their leader. This was through involvement of all the conservative members of parliament. This was seen as a process of democratizing the party perhaps raising the rating levels of this party which was determined to rule Britain for the longest period in the history of political parties. (Seldon, A and Staurt, B 1998 38)

In the early seventies Great Britain was going through a hard time both economically and its positioning in the world map. The economy was stagnant and the British positioning in the international political arena was going down. The country had lost most of its colonies and was left bruised by this loss. Unemployment was rising as well as general welfare of the people was greatly affected. The conservative party was fighting a battle to remain relevant and popular among the people. The trade union was one of the major threat for the government and party survival. The government had to move fast and control the power of this body which had helped to bring down governments in other parts of the world. Economic upsurge remained of the main priorities for the party in attempt to remain relevant to the masses. The party popularity was at stake due to its poor performance in as far as economic growth was concerned. The party lost two elections in 1974.In this year the party underwent radical changes by recording one of the positive development as far as women leadership is concerned. The first woman to head a political party was from this party. Margaret Thatcher replaced Edward Heath as the party leader following the humiliating defeat by the main rival party.

Thatcher introduced radical changes in the government some of which came to be hailed as the best whereas some of these changes or development has been seen as the worst in the history of this country. Thatcher moved the party a higher notch through making it popular and holding onto the power for more than eleven years. Come 1990 her leadership was challenged by the party members leading to elections where she was succeeded by John Major. John Major steered the party and won the 1992 elections. During his term the party became very unpopular leading to its resounding defeat in the ensuing elections, this lead to replacement of John Major as the party leader. (Raison, T 1990 34)

It is quite evident that the conservative government was popular in Great Britain than any other party. This is due to the fact that the party formed the government most of the times in the period between 1955 to 1995.Out of the forty years the party was out in the cold for less than ten years. The party leadership was up to the task in making sure that the party remained popular in and out of the Great Britain. One of the reasons behind this success was the change of leadership, once a leader became unpopular he or she was challenged and his popularity was put to the test through party elections. This ensured that the party leadership was party driven but did not dwell too much on an individual. The leaders did not cling to the power therefore the party avoided situation where the leaders turned out to be dictators. Once they were not up to the task they had no option but to resign. (Seldon, A and Staurt, B 1998 94)

Factionalism within the party was not very common in this major political grouping during this period. This enabled the party to remain in power for the entire period as major wrangling which can be as a result of factionalism was avoided. Although there were differences which emerged within the party structures they were dealt with accordingly avoiding the splitting of party leadership as has been the case in other political party. The party remained united for almost the entire course therefore it was able to articulate its view to the general public. (Jarvis, M 1999 106)

During The reign of Margaret Thatcher the party was advantaged in that its main challenger was having problem. At times conservative party was so unpopular with the masses due to some of the problems that were facing the nation but the party managed to remain in power. In 1979 the country was going through a rough time as the economic crises were escalating, unemployment rates were in an all time high. The party in power could not have survived if its opponent had put their house in order. This served to their disadvantaged since the labor party was having some internal wrangles which served to the conservative partys advantage.

The turn of events in the early 1980s worked the magic and the party was top in the opinion polls. The way Margaret Thatcher handled the Falkland Island crisis lead to her rise in popularity. The people were happy with her success in Falklands war as it boosted the national pride which was at threat. Though she was so unpopular in some section of the society due to her polices in labor union and escalating unemployment rates in the country she managed to steer the party to election victory in 1983 and 1988. (Norton, P 1996 100)
The party policies have made it popular and worked to its advantaged in persuading voters to support it. Its economic stand and the position it has taken as far as European Union is concerned have been in touch with the people leading to most of its success. Their opposition in adoption of euro as a common European Union currency was popular with the electorates leading to the support it got in the 1980s and early 90s despite the economic meltdown that ensued at the time. The party policy on free markets and nationalization of the government firms ensured that economy was moving. Thatcher made sure that some of the government institutions were sold to the public in a bid to reduce the government spending and allow it to concentrate on its core duties of creating an enabling environment. These were some of the measures that the conservative party adopted in a attempt to kick start the economy in a time when the country was going through one of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.These sweeping changes worked to the conservative advantage allowing it to retain power for three consecutive terms despite its declining rating in opinion polls. (Jarvis, M 1999 56)

The unity within the party played a great party in ensuring the success in election between 1945 and 1997.This period has been described by analysts as the most peaceful time for the party in its entire history. The party almost avoided crisis within itself where differences which emerged within the leadership were tackled before they escalated into major crisis. The high decline which was maintained within the party ranks served the purpose of uniting the political entity therefore ensuring that come elections the people saw a united organization which could lead them and tackle some of the serious problems which were affecting the nation as a whole. (Smith, M and Ludlam, S 1996 138)

The rise of Thatcherism in 1980s gave the party a new life line. The prime Minister was described as radical just what the country needed to put it back in the world map. The core of Thatcherism was freeing the market, rolling back the government interventions. The zeal that she moved in to address the declining economy and taming down the trade union endeared her to the public making her shine. Her dominant political personality made it possible to lead the party to three successive victories. This conservative party leader was widely hailed for the role she played in restoring the country image as far as enterprise based economy was concerned as well as the influence in the world stage. Thatcher made mistakes which made her rating go down something which lead to her exit as a conservative leader. The opposition within the party ranks made ensured that the party remained popular across the board. This has been one of the attributes of the party where those leaders who are perceived as unpopular are forced out and fresh mandate is given to those who can steer the party to greater heights. Within the party there exists a progressive group which acts as catalysts generating new ideas which make the party remain relevant (Norton, P 1996 70)

One it was realized that the party rating was diminished some radical measures were introduced within the entity. With the introduction of poll tax Thatcher made an unpopular move which put the party position in power at risk. She was thrown out and replaced by John Major, a person who was perceived to be able to unify the party. The party was seriously bruised due to some of the policies which have been adopted by Thatcher and the economic crisis which had hit the country. Major decided to abandon the poll tax and created an image of a caring party. These changes made him sail through in 1992 general elections with a very narrow margin. This margin was eroded steadily during his term as the partys popularity was waning. The electorates were warming up to the labor parties perhaps from the fact that the party was presenting a bright future than the group which has dominated power for almost two decades. People needed change and come 1997 general election conservative party was clinging on its toes. The tables were overturned and the party was thrown back to opposition a place it was to occupy for the next fifteen years. The serious problems which led to the diminishing party popularity emanate from the economic crises which were being experienced across the board couple with the disunity. The personal scandals which rocked the party leadership ranks dealt a major blow for the party as the electorates could not trust its leadership. (Smith, M and Ludlam, S 1996 78)

Conservative party has remained relevant for the entire period making it a formidable force. The able leadership has held the party together remaining united for the entire course therefore ensuring its success. The forty years span where the party has been at the top was characterized by periods of economic rise and decline, this worked well for the party as it was able to convince the electorates it was up to the task as far as turning up the situation for the better was concerned. The party did not experience major rifts in the course of the period. It remained united as the differences and factions which emerged were dealt with before they escalated and threatened to split the party. (Wheatcroft, G 2005 67)

The party has remained in the opposition since 1997 but recently the turn of events has made it the party to watch in future. It may have gone back to its drawing boards and realized the mistakes made in the course of time and seriously addressed the issues. All the same the party still remains a force to reckon with as far as United Kingdoms politics are concerned. The old party will continue to shine either in the opposition or in the government. It ha remained one of the strongest parties in the history of political organization.