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The term ‘Conservative’ came into general use shortly after the passing of the Reform Act of 1832, in place of the older name ‘Tory’ which continued to be used as a term of abuse. The work of re-creating a party adapted to a Britain where power resided no longer in the landed aristocracy that had supported the Tories but in the rising middle classes fell to Robert Peel. He tackled it in two ways: through reorganisation and through a re-statement of party policy. He set up a central party organisation and issued the Tamworth Manifesto, a statement of his policy aims to his electors in 1835. The break with the past was thus achieved. The 1840s were to see the two major Conservative leaders of the nineteenth century – Peel and Disraeli – bitterly opposed over the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1846 Peel – and his personal following of some 120 Peelites – resigned from the Party. The most distinguished of the Peelites was Gladstone, who after having been an ardent Tory was to join the Liberal Party and oppose the Conservative leader Disraeli in the second half of the nineteenth century. From 1832 to 1886 there were more Liberal ministries than Conservative, but when in power the record of the Conservatives was not negligible. Disraeli believed in what he called ‘popular Toryism’ and identified himself largely with the interests and sufferings of the poor. He it was who gave the vote to the working class in 1867, he it was who improved the condition of the people by Factory, Public Health and Food and Drugs Acts. He also imposed slum clearance. In a famous speech in 1872, known as the Crystal Palace speech, Disraeli set down the three great principles of the Party: -
the maintenance of national institutions; His brand of Conservatism is often referred to as ‘One-Nation Toryism’ or ‘Progressive Toryism’. The British right has very rarely been reactionary, in the sense of wishing to turn the clock back to some former regime. In Britain even the party’s most bitter opponents do not charge it with being anti-democratic. There is however within the party a constant tension between what Hugh Cecil has termed Natural Conservatism – that is a tendency to avoid change as something both new and dangerous – and what may be termed pragmatic Conservatism which reflects a desire to adapt to changing conditions and times – with as an inspiration and an end the desire for power. Disraeli described this pragmatic attitude when he said that good government was Tory men and Whig measures. Although Conservatism has two different ideological founts we can nonetheless detect through Conservative history some elements which are durable. We can express them as maxims. - Conservatives are pragmatic and able at different periods to adopt new ideas even if they were first put forward by their opponents. The Whigs accused the Conservatives of stealing their clothes for instance over electoral reform because it was Disraeli who gave the working man the vote in 1867. - Tradition is prized by all Conservatives. There is too a general feeling that Conservatives have a debt to future generations and must therefore conserve what they have in their trust. This may of course entail change. For instance the conservation of the environment which has become a fairly new aim of the Conservatives certainly involves extensive political reform and new ways of thinking and the Conservatives do not shy away from this. - Basic to Conservatism is the belief in the individual. It is for this reason that Conservatives have inclined towards free enterprise rather than to a centralised economy. For them too much power invested in the State must inevitably tend to create an authoritarian society, to weaken the processes of democracy and to limit the freedom of the individual. The watchword of Conservatism is equality of opportunity. Conservatives advocate strong government but they are vigorously opposed to excessive State power. The major tasks of the government are: to preserve order; to provide a framework of law; to prevent abuse of power; to provide those things which must be provided collectively. This last task of providing things collectively is of course extended or restricted according to the particular Conservative government. Broadly speaking at present there is agreement within the Party on the necessity of returning industry to private hands. The privatisation programme undertaken by three successive Thatcher administrations was extensive. On the other hand there are few within the Party who do not see health and education as needing to be provided by the State to a great extent, even if private schooling and private medicine may on occasion be encouraged. In any case the Conservatives are pragmatists and since public opinion is very attached to State provision of health and education, they are not likely to privatise them. Excessive State power must be resisted however. Checking mechanisms such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary are therefore essential. The greatness of Britain is another firm conviction shared by Conservatives. The individual they say identifies himself with the nation and they emphasise the need for loyalty to it. In recent times the Falklands War showed that it was not difficult to arouse patriotic fervour in Britain. For Conservatives social order and social harmony go together. Institutions of authority and order that have survived over a long period must be worth preserving and must be defended. Among them are the monarchy, Parliament and the family. Conservatism implies in addition to political proposals certain moral values. They see the fragmentation of moral values in contemporary society as endangering the social fabric. Since the Second World War the Conservatives have been in power for two long periods and one short one: thirteen years from 1951 to 1964, four years from 1970 to 1974 and eighteen years from 1979 to 1997. During the first long period three Conservative MPs governed in succession. First Sir Winston Churchill who retired a few months after his eightieth birthday in April 1955. During his time in office he freed Britain of the controls that had been necessary in war time but which had been, according to the Conservatives, unnecessarily prolonged by post-war Labour governments. He was succeeded by Anthony Eden who asked for a dissolution and won a comfortable victory in May 1955. He resigned eighteen months later in January 1957 dogged by ill-health following the Suez crisis. The party’s morale was low but the new Conservative Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, restored it rapidly and went on to win an increased majority in Parliament in 1959. This was the golden period of Conservatism in electoral terms: the Party had a majority of 13 in the 1951 election, increased to 60 in 1955 and to 98 in 1959. The Conservatives were conciliatory: the Labour government’s programme of nationalisations was agreed to except for iron and steel and road haulage; the necessity for the State to spend on welfare was also accepted. Towards the end of the fifties dissatisfaction with Macmillan’s liberal policy in Africa led to the formation of the Monday Club in 1961. The group felt that R.A. Butler and Harold Macmillan had led the Party to compromise too much with Socialism. It wanted the Party to take a stronger line on law and order and immigration and repatriate all non-European immigrants. It was against Britain’s retreat from Empire. The reversal of the Party’s fortunes in 1964 had several causes: the length of time it had been in power; the failure to take Britain into the Common Market and the humiliating veto of General de Gaulle; the disunity over Macmillan’s succession when he resigned on grounds of ill-health as he entered hospital for a prostate operation in October 1963 and a change in the nation’s mood linked to the tawdry developments of the Profumo Affair. Alec Douglas-Home became the next Conservative leader and fought the 1964 election against Harold Wilson. The Conservatives lost the election but Alec Douglas-Home was responsible for setting up rules for the election of the leader who was to be elected for the first time in 1965. Edward Heath became leader. The short period in power – 1970-74 – was under the Premiership of Edward Heath. The major achievement of his government was to take Britain into Europe. Britain entered on 1 January 1973 (European Communities Act, 1972). The second long period was dominated by Margaret Thatcher the first British woman Prime Minister. Between 1979 and 1990 she changed the face of Britain, controlling the money supply, curtailing the power of the unions, privatising many nationalised industries, reducing taxes and rolling back, as she said, the frontiers of the State. She won three elections in succession, in 1979, in 1983 and in 1987. Margaret Thatcher’s popularity declined sharply after the introduction of the poll tax. She was seen more and more as autocratic and unable to listen to those who did not share her views. The Party suffered several defeats – some unexpected – in by-elections. In 1990 the Parliamentary Party decided to change the Party leader. John Major was elected to replace Margaret Thatcher. He unexpectedly won the 1992 election and the Conservatives remained in power for five more years. In 1997 they were beaten by Tony Blair’s Labour Party and have been in the wilderness ever since (they lost the 2001 election to Labour again). Their next chance will come at the next general election (at the very latest in 2006) but they have a great deal to do if they want that to return to power.
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© PLOTON-ÉDITEUR, date de dernière modification : 08/11/2002 |
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