History of the Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party (also known as Tories) is the oldest political party in the United Kingdom^[1] and second in the world.^[2] The current party was first organised in the 1830s and the name "Conservative" was officially adopted, but the party is still often referred to as the Tory party (not least because newspaper editors find it a convenient shorthand when space is limited). The Tories had been a coalition that more often than not formed the government from 1760 until the Reform Act 1832. Modernising reformers said the traditionalistic party of "Throne, Altar and Cottage" was obsolete, but in the face of an expanding electorate 1830s–1860s it held its strength among royalists, devout Anglicans and landlords and their tenants.^[3]

Widening of the franchise in the 19th century led the party to popularise its approach, especially under Benjamin Disraeli, whose Reform Act of 1867 greatly increased the electorate. After 1886, the Conservatives allied with the part of the Liberal Party known as the Liberal Unionists who opposed their party's support for Irish Home Rule and together they held office for all but three of the following twenty years. Lord Salisbury's and Arthur Balfour's governments between 1895 and 1906 were given the name of "Unionist". The Conservative Party was also known as the Unionist Party in the early 20th century. In 1909, the Conservative Party was renamed the Conservative and Unionist Party and in May 1912 it formally merged with the Liberal Unionists.

The First World War saw the formation of an all-party coalition government and for four years after the armistice the Unionist Party remained in coalition with the Lloyd George Liberals. Eventually, grassroots pressure forced the breakup of the coalition and the party regained power on its own, but after the separation of the Irish Free State in 1922 it increasingly used the name "Conservative" more than "Unionist". It again dominated the political scene in the inter-war period from 1931 in a National Government as its main rivals, the Liberals and Labour, virtually collapsed. The party pursued protective tariffs and low taxes during the depression years of the 1930s. In foreign policy, it favoured peace and appeasement of Italy and Germany until 1939. In the late 1930s, it supported a hurried rearmament program to catch up with Germany. The crisis came in 1940 as Germany defeated France and Britain and its Commonwealth stood alone against Adolf Hitler. The result was a wartime all-party coalition government with partisanship in abeyance. In the 1945 general election, the party lost power in a landslide by the Labour Party.

The Conservatives largely accepted the reality of the Labour government's nationalisation programme, the creation of the welfare state and the taxes required for it. However, when they returned to power in 1951 the party oversaw an economic boom and ever-increasing national prosperity throughout the 1950s. The party stumbled in the 1960s and 1970s, but in 1975 Margaret Thatcher became leader and converted it to a monetarist economic programme; after her election victory in 1979 her government became known for its free market approach to problems and privatisation of public utilities. Here, the Conservatives experienced a high-point, with Thatcher leading the Conservatives to two more landslide election victories in 1983 and 1987.

However, towards the end of the 1980s Thatcher's increasing unpopularity within the parliamentary party and unwillingness to change policies perceived as vote-losing led to her being deposed in 1990 and replaced by John Major, who won an unexpected election victory in 1992. Major's government suffered a political blow when the Pound Sterling was forced out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism later that year, which lost the party much of its reputation for good financial stewardship. Although the country's economy recovered in the mid-1990s, an effective opposition campaign by the Labour Party led to a landslide defeat in 1997. The party returned to government in a coalition under David Cameron following the 2010 general election. In the 2015 general election, the Conservatives managed to win a majority and saw Cameron return to power for a second term. The 2017 general election saw the Conservatives lose their majority and form a confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party. Under the leadership of Boris Johnson, the Conservatives were able to regain their majority during the 2019 general election, their largest ever since the Thatcher years.