History of The British Conservative Party

History Of The British Conservative Party

The modern Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, also known as the Unionist Party in the early 20th century, traces its origins back to the "Tory" supporters of Duke of York, later King James VII&II, during the 1678-1681 exclusion. The name was originally meant as a pejorative—a 'Tory' was a type of Irish bandit.

The name 'Conservative' was suggested by John Wilson Croker in the 1830s and later 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 more often than not formed the government from the accession of King George III (in 1760) until the Reform Act 1832.

Widening of the franchise in the 19th century led the party to popularise its approach, especially under Benjamin Disraeli, his own Reform Act coming in 1867. 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 held office for all but three of the following twenty years. During this period the party was generally known as the Unionist Party, and it suffered a large defeat when the party split over tariff reform in 1906.

World War I saw an all-party coalition, and for four years after the armistice the 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. It again dominated the political scene in the inter-war period, from 1931 in a 'National Government' coalition. However in the 1945 general election the party lost power in a landslide to the Labour Party.

After the end of the Second World War, the Conservatives accepted the reality of the Labour government's nationalisation programme, the creation of the 'welfare state', and the high taxes required for all of it. But 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, 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 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.