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160-818: Originally called just the Conservative Technology Forum , it grew out of the Conservative Computer Forum (founded in 1978), was relaunched in May 2011 and is affiliated to the Conservative Party . As the Conservative Technology Forum, its mandate was to research key technology subjects, how these impact society and to inform Conservative Party policy in UK and European contexts. In October 2017,

320-444: A Party chairman to modernise the party: Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton rebuilt the local organisations with an emphasis on membership, money, and a unified national propaganda appeal on critical issues. With a narrow victory at the 1951 general election , despite losing the popular vote, Churchill was back in power. Apart from rationing, which was ended in 1954, most of the welfare state enacted by Labour were accepted by

480-565: A French invasion was planned, assisted by "disaffected persons from this country". The House of Commons passed a loyal address by 287 to 123. The Tories' insistence for the House to divide on this occasion seemed to the government a design by the Tories "to show the French what numbers in the House they might depend on". The Tories also opposed increasing the armed forces, it being noted "that none of

640-594: A Jacobite agent reported to the Pretender that the Tory party was "without a head", dispirited and frightened. In 1751 Frederick died, followed in 1752 by Cotton. This effectively ended opposition in Parliament for the rest of the session. Horace Walpole , in his memoirs for 1764, wrote of the decline of the Tory party: Hitherto it might be said that the two parties of Whig and Tory still subsisted; though Jacobitism,

800-548: A Jacobite rising. Wyndham's death in 1740 led to the breakdown of the coalition between the Tories and opposition Whigs. An opposition Whig motion for Walpole's dismissal was defeated by 290 to 106, with many Tories abstaining. At the general election of 1741 , there were 136 Tories elected. The Tories resumed their cooperation with the opposition Whigs after receiving another letter from the Pretender in September 1741, ordering them to "pursue vigorous and unanimous measures in

960-469: A body governed by bishops, using the Book of Common Prayer whilst subscribing to a specific doctrine and also as an exclusive body established by law, from which both Roman Catholics and Nonconformists were excluded. During his reign, James II fought for a broadly tolerant religious settlement under which his co-religionists could prosper—a position anathema to conservative Anglicans. James' attempts to use

1120-609: A coalition with the Liberal Democrats —the first postwar coalition government . Cameron's premiership was marked by the ongoing effects of the 2007–2008 financial crisis ; these involved a large deficit in government finances that his government sought to reduce through controversial austerity measures . In September 2014, the Unionist side, championed by Labour as well as by the Conservative Party and

1280-465: A coalition government. Labour won the October 1974 election with an overall majority of three seats. Loss of power weakened Heath's control over the party and Margaret Thatcher deposed him in the 1975 leadership election . Thatcher led her party to victory at the 1979 general election with a manifesto which concentrated on the party's philosophy. As Prime Minister, Thatcher focused on rejecting

1440-627: A coalition with Whigs. The 1747 general election resulted in only 115 Tory MPs being elected, their lowest figure up until this point. After Jacobite riots in Oxford in 1748, the government wanted to give the King the power to nominate the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, which was considered a hotbed of Jacobitism and Toryism. Thomas Carte wrote to the Pretender that "the attempt against

1600-481: A coherent political party. Sentimental Toryism remained, as in the writings of Samuel Johnson , but in politics "Tory" was little more than an unfriendly epithet for politicians closely identified with George III. The label "Tory" was in this sense applied to the Prime Ministers Lord Bute (1762–1763) and Lord North (1770–1782), but these politicians considered themselves Whigs. In his study of

1760-679: A decreasing extent, pro-European factions within it. Historically, the party took a socially conservative approach. In defence policy, it supports an independent nuclear weapons programme and commitment to NATO membership. For much of modern British political history, the United Kingdom exhibited a wide urban–rural political divide ; the Conservative Party's voting and financial support base has historically consisted primarily of homeowners , business owners , farmers , real estate developers and middle class voters, especially in rural and suburban areas of England . Since

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1920-471: A leadership challenge in 1995 by Redwood, but Redwood received 89 votes, further undermining Major's influence. The Conservative government was increasingly accused in the media of " sleaze ". Their support reached its lowest ebb in late 1994. Over the next two years the Conservatives gained some credit for the strong economic recovery and fall in unemployment. But an effective opposition campaign by

2080-798: A massive Liberal victory. Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith enacted a great deal of reform legislation, but the Unionists worked hard at grassroots organizing. Two general elections were held in 1910, in January and in December . The two main parties were now almost dead equal in seats, but the Liberals kept control with a coalition with the Irish Parliamentary Party . In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with

2240-575: A ministerial memorandum to the Prince Regent: It is almost unnecessary to observe that the British Government had for more than a century been and could only be a Whig Government; and that the present administration is, as every administration in this country must necessarily be, a Whig administration. For a Whig Government means now, as it has all along meant, nothing else than a Government established by laws equally binding upon

2400-683: A minority Labour government took office. In 1931, following the collapse of the Labour minority government, it entered another coalition, which was dominated by the Conservatives with some support from factions of both the Liberal Party and the Labour Party ( National Labour and National Liberals ). In May 1940 a more balanced coalition was formed —the National Government —which, under the leadership of Winston Churchill , saw

2560-513: A net gain of one seat for the Conservative Party and returned a mostly unscathed Labour Party back to government. This all occurred months after the fuel protests of September 2000 had seen the Conservatives briefly take a narrow lead over Labour in the opinion polls. In 2001, Iain Duncan Smith was elected leader of the party. Although Duncan Smith was a strong Eurosceptic , during his tenure, Europe ceased to be an issue of division in

2720-515: A new election and therefore decline[d] the acceptance of them". One of the Tories who accepted office, Sir John Cotton, did not swear the oath of loyalty to King George and informed the French King that he still favoured a Jacobite French invasion; he added that the Tories in office would try to ensure that more British soldiers were sent to Flanders from England in order to help a French invasion. After Lord Gower took office in this government,

2880-811: A one". The historian Eveline Cruickshanks stated that "[w]hat took place in 1715 was not a change to an all-Whig ministry, it was a whole social revolution". For the first time, Tory gentlemen could no longer employ their sons, as they traditionally had done, in public offices such as the Army, Navy, civil service and the Church. Tory officers in the Army had their commissions taken away, Tory lawyers could not now become judges or K.C.s. The predominantly Tory lower Anglican clergy could no longer become bishops and Tory merchants were refused government contracts or directorships in any major company. This proscription lasted for forty-five years. George Lyttelton wrote in his Letter to

3040-530: A red Ribband in his hat, she askt him what it meant, he said it signifyed that he was a Tory, whats that sd she, he ans. an Irish Rebel, — oh dreadful that any in England dare espouse that interest. I hear further since that this is the distinction they make instead of Cavalier and Roundhead, now they are called Torys and Wiggs". In a more general sense, the Tories (also known as the Court Party) represented

3200-606: A rhetoric borrowed from the Whigs of the Exclusion Crisis; they denounced government corruption and the high taxation needed to spend on foreign entanglements, opposed the growth of the Army and denounced "tyranny" and "arbitrary power". In a speech on the Army estimates, Walpole claimed that "No man of common prudence will profess himself openly a Jacobite; by so doing he not only may injure his private fortune, but he must render himself less able to do any effectual service to

3360-429: A sizable discount. The new owners were more likely to vote Conservative, as Thatcher had hoped. Thatcher led the Conservatives to two further electoral victories in 1983 and 1987 . She was deeply unpopular in certain sections of society due to high unemployment and her response to the miners' strike . Unemployment had doubled between 1979 and 1982, largely due to Thatcher's monetarist battle against inflation. At

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3520-448: A supposed plot to murder Titus Oates . The Whig Bishop of Meath , Henry Jones , offered O'Hanlon a pardon and a bribe if he would testify to Parliament that Ormonde was plotting a French invasion. In December 1680, the government seized these letters and the plan collapsed. In January 1681, the Whigs first began calling the supposed Irish plotters Tories, and on 15 February 1681 is recorded the first complaint from an English Royalist about

3680-465: A term of self-description by some political writers). About twenty years later, a new Tory party arose and participated in government between 1783 and 1830, with William Pitt the Younger followed by Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool . The Whigs won control of Parliament in the 1831 election , which was fought largely on the issue of electoral reform, opposed by the Tories. The Representation of

3840-573: A time. Upon the accession of George II in 1727 and the ensuing general election , the Tories were reduced to 128 MPs, their lowest total up to this point. The Tories were divided over whether to cooperate with the opposition Whigs against Walpole, with those in favour consisting of the Hanoverian faction led by Sir William Wyndham and with those opposed making up the Jacobite faction headed by William Shippen . Most Tories opposed voting with

4000-437: Is that the Tories had never universally embraced Jacobitism. The violence of the Whigs forced them into the arms of the Pretender". In October 1714, the French ambassador Charles-François d'Iberville noted that the number of Jacobites in the Tory party was increasing and in early 1715 he wrote that the Tories seemed to be "heading for civil war which they regard as their only resort". The former Tory chief minister, Lord Oxford,

4160-432: The 2005 general election , the Conservative Party increased their total vote share and—more significantly—their number of parliamentary seats, reducing Labour's majority. The day following the election, Howard resigned. David Cameron won the 2005 leadership election . He then announced his intention to reform and realign the Conservatives. For most of 2006 and the first half of 2007, polls showed leads over Labour for

4320-592: The Community Charge (known by its opponents as the poll tax ) in 1989 is often cited as contributing to her political downfall. Internal party tensions led to a leadership challenge by the Conservative MP Michael Heseltine and she resigned on 28 November 1990. John Major won the party leadership election on 27 November 1990, and his appointment led to an almost immediate boost in Conservative Party fortunes. The election

4480-826: The Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678–1681. Whig (from whiggamore , a "cattle driver") was initially a Scottish insult for the Covenanter faction in Scotland who opposed the Engagers (a faction who supported Charles I during the Second English Civil War ) and supported the Whiggamore Raid that took place in September 1648. While the Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of James,

4640-584: The Glorious Revolution of 1688, political disputes would be resolved through elections and parliamentary manoeuvring, rather than by an appeal to force. Charles II also restored episcopacy in the Church of England . His first Cavalier Parliament began as a strongly royalist body, and passed a series of acts re-establishing the Church by law and strongly punishing dissent by both Roman Catholics and non-Anglican Protestants. These acts did not reflect

4800-585: The Grenvillites and the Bedfordites ), all of whom claimed the Whig mantle, while the material distinction in politics was between the "King's Friends" who supported the newly activist role of George III in government, and those who opposed the king. The proscription on the employment of Tories in government offices ended, which resulted in the Tories dividing into several factions and ceasing to function as

4960-883: The House of Commons on 3 September 2019. Later that same day, 21 Conservative MPs had the Conservative whip withdrawn after voting with the Opposition to grant the House of Commons control over its order paper. Johnson would later halt the Withdrawal Agreement Bill , calling for a general election. The 2019 general election resulted in the Conservatives winning a majority, the Party's largest since 1987 . The party won several constituencies, particularly in formerly traditional Labour seats . On 20 December 2019, MPs passed an agreement for withdrawing from

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5120-528: The House of Commons , followed by the Liberal Democrats . As the second largest party, it has the formal parliamentary role of the Official Opposition . The party sits on the right-wing to centre-right of the political spectrum. It encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives , Thatcherites , and traditionalist conservatives . There have been twenty Conservative prime ministers . The party traditionally holds

5280-596: The Liberal Unionist Party merged with the party to form the Conservative and Unionist Party. Rivalry with the Labour Party has shaped modern British politics for the last century. David Cameron sought to modernise the Conservatives after his election as leader in 2005, and the party governed from 2010 to 2024 under five prime ministers, latterly Rishi Sunak . The party has generally adopted liberal economic policies favouring free markets since

5440-665: The Roundheads (the supporters of the Long Parliament upon which the King had declared war). This action resulted from the Parliament not allowing him to levy taxes without yielding to its terms. At the beginning of the Long Parliament (1641), the King's supporters pursued a course of reform of previous abuses. The increasing radicalism of the Parliamentary majority, however, estranged many reformers even in

5600-488: The Tory Party , which it soon replaced. Other historians point to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party , that coalesced around William Pitt the Younger in the 1780s. They were known as "Independent Whigs", " Friends of Mr Pitt ", or "Pittites" and never used terms such as "Tory" or "Conservative". From about 1812, the name "Tory" was commonly used for a new party that, according to historian Robert Blake, "are

5760-674: The War of the Spanish Succession which begun in 1701 led most of the Tories to withdraw into opposition by 1708, so that Marlborough and Godolphin were heading an administration dominated by the Junto Whigs. Anne herself grew increasingly uncomfortable with this dependence on the Whigs, especially as her personal relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough deteriorated. This situation also became increasingly uncomfortable to many of

5920-465: The Whigs . As direct attacks on the King were politically impossible and could lead to execution for treason, opponents of the power of the Court framed their challenges as exposés of subversive and sinister Catholic plots . Although the matter of these plots was fictitious, they reflected two uncomfortable political realities: first, that Charles II had (somewhat insincerely) undertaken measures to convert

6080-458: The cost of living crisis , including price caps on energy bills and government help to pay them. Truss's mini-budget on 23 September faced severe criticism and markets reacted poorly; the pound fell to a record low of 1.03 against the dollar, and UK government gilt yields rose to 4.3 per cent, prompting the Bank of England to trigger an emergency bond-buying programme. After condemnation from

6240-588: The '15 and '45 most Tories showed themselves to be Hanoverian and not Jacobite". In 1747, Prince Frederick invited the Tories "to unite and coalesce with him" and declared his intention that when he became King, he would "abolish...all distinction of the party" and put an end to the proscription of the Tories. A meeting of leading Tories (including Beaufort, Wynn and Cotton) accepted the Prince's offer and replied assuring him of their support for his "wise and salutary purposes". However, they refused to pledge themselves to

6400-685: The 1715-1754 Tory party for The History of Parliament , stated that "the available evidence leaves no doubt that up to 1745 the Tories were a predominantly Jacobite party, engaged in attempts to restore the Stuarts by a rising with foreign assistance". Sir Lewis Namier noticed that for the reigns of George I and George II, Tory family papers are non-existent. As papers from before 1715 and after 1760 survive, Cruickshanks contends that these families were hiding their Jacobite leanings by destroying incriminating papers. A nineteenth-century historian who had examined many collections such as these, claimed that it

6560-428: The 1950s and early 1960s. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a humiliating defeat for Prime Minister Eden, but his successor, Macmillan, minimised the damage and focused attention on domestic issues and prosperity. Following controversy over the selections of Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home via a process of consultation known as the 'Magic Circle', a formal election process was created and the first leadership election

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6720-530: The 1980s, although historically it advocated for protectionism . The party is British unionist , opposing a united Ireland as well as Scottish and Welsh independence , and has been critical of devolution . Historically, the party supported the continuance and maintenance of the British Empire . The party has taken various approaches towards the European Union (EU), with eurosceptic and, to

6880-535: The Bow Group included "Cashing in on the Chips" (CPC), "The Big Steal (Bow Group), "Learning for Change" (Bow Group), "No End of Jobs" (CPC) and "Training for jobs not just jobs for Trainers". After it was relaunched as the Conservative Technology Forum, with a remit to cover advanced technologies in general, a centre-right, policy " think tank ", 'Aediles', chaired by Malcolm Harbour MEP and directed by Simon Moores,

7040-580: The Conservative Computer Forum, formed from a merger of the party contact list with senior members of the computer and communications industries and a Bow Group team looking at policy towards the computer industry, was active from 1978 to 1986. During this time it was the source of policies such as Telecoms Liberalisation and Privatisation, the Micros in Schools Programme and IT Year. The publications authored by its members, usually published via CPC or

7200-473: The Conservative Party , including allegations against its policies, fringes, and structure, was often in the public eye. These include allegations against senior politicians such as Boris Johnson , Michael Gove , Theresa May , and Zac Goldsmith . During the period of the Cameron and Johnson governments, a number of Conservative MPs have been accused or convicted of sexual misconduct, with cases including

7360-635: The Conservative Party. In Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged Unionists who were opposed to Irish Home Rule into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, essentially forming the Irish wing of the party until 1922. In Britain, the Conservative party was known as the Unionist Party because of its opposition to home rule. Under Bonar Law 's leadership in 1911–1914,

7520-538: The Conservatives amidst the crisis. Tories (British political party) The Tories were a loosely organised political faction and later a political party , in the Parliaments of England , Scotland , Ireland , Great Britain and the United Kingdom . They first emerged during the 1679 Exclusion Crisis , when they opposed Whig efforts to exclude James, Duke of York from the succession on

7680-537: The Conservatives and became part of the "post-war consensus" that was satirised as Butskellism and that lasted until the 1970s. The Conservatives were conciliatory towards unions, but they did privatise the steel and road haulage industries in 1953. During the Conservatives' thirteen-year tenure in office, pensions went up by 49% in real terms, sickness and unemployment benefits by 76% in real terms, and supplementary benefits by 46% in real terms. However, family allowances fell by 15% in real terms. "Thirteen Wasted Years"

7840-403: The Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914 but the war pulled the party together, allowing it to emphasise patriotism as it found new leadership and worked out its positions on the Irish question, socialism, electoral reform, and the issue of intervention in the economy. The fresh emphasis on anti-Socialism was its response to the growing strength of the Labour Party. When electoral reform

8000-750: The Conservatives. Polls became more volatile in summer 2007 with the accession of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister. The Conservatives gained control of the London mayoralty for the first time in 2008 after Boris Johnson defeated the Labour incumbent, Ken Livingstone . In May 2010 the Conservative Party came to government, first under a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and later as a series of majority and minority governments. During this period there were five Conservative Prime Ministers: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. The initial period of this time, primarily under

8160-455: The Crown; whilst, to our additional and insupportable vexation, the bare merit of hating us, and everything we love and hold sacred, daily advances dunces in the law and church, cowards in our fleets and armies, republicans in the King's house, and idiots everywhere! The Whig government, backed by royal favour and controlling the levers of power, was able to maintain a series of majorities through

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8320-568: The Duke of Beaufort, and all the English cry loudly and vehemently for a body of troops to be landed near London, as the most effectual means to support the Prince". They could not rise for the Prince without "a body of troops to support them", but they "would join the Prince if His Highness could force his way to them". Throughout the Jacobite rising of 1745 , Charles could not establish contact with

8480-409: The Duke of York from the succession to thrones of Scotland , England and Ireland (the Petitioners ), the Tories were those who opposed the Exclusion Bill (the Abhorrers ). In 1757, David Hume wrote: The court party reproached their antagonists with their affinity to the fanatical conventiclers in Scotland, who were known by the name of Whigs: The country party found a resemblance between

8640-438: The Duke of York succeeded without difficulty. The rebellion of Monmouth , the candidate of the radical Whigs to succeed Charles II, was easily crushed and Monmouth himself executed. However, in the long run Tory principles were to be severely compromised. Besides the support of a strong monarchy, the Tories also stood for the Church of England, as established in Acts of Parliament following the restoration of Charles II, both as

8800-445: The ERM, a day thereafter referred to as Black Wednesday . Soon after, approximately one million householders faced repossession of their homes during a recession that saw a sharp rise in unemployment, taking it close to 3 million people. The party subsequently lost much of its reputation for good financial stewardship. The end of the recession was declared in April 1993. From 1994 to 1997, Major privatised British Rail . The party

8960-418: The EU referendum in 2016, the Conservatives targeted working class voters from traditional Labour strongholds. The Conservatives' domination of British politics throughout the 20th century made it one of the most successful political parties in the Western world . The most recent period of Conservative government was marked by extraordinary political turmoil. Some writers trace the party's origins to

9120-429: The EU referendum vote, and through the premierships of May, Boris Johnson, and their successors, the party shifted right on the political spectrum. In July 2019 Boris Johnson became Leader of the party. He became Prime Minister the next day. Johnson had made withdrawal from the EU by 31 October "with no ifs, buts or maybes" a key pledge during his campaign for party leadership . Johnson lost his working majority in

9280-434: The EU. On 24 June 2016, Cameron announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister, after he failed to convince the British public to stay in the European Union . On 11 July 2016, Theresa May became the leader of the Conservative Party. May promised social reform and a more centrist political outlook for the Conservative Party and its government. May's early cabinet appointments were interpreted as an effort to reunite

9440-675: The EU; the United Kingdom formally left on 31 January 2020. Johnson presided over the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic . From late 2021 onwards, Johnson received huge public backlash for the Partygate scandal, in which staff and senior members of government were pictured holding gatherings during lockdown contrary to Government guidance. The Metropolitan Police eventually fined Johnson for breaking lockdown rules in April 2022. In July 2022, Johnson admitted to appointing Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip while being aware of allegations of sexual assault against him. This, along with Partygate and increasing criticisms on Johnson's handling of

9600-529: The English Tories would only support a rising in Scotland if accompanied by a French invasion near London to aid the English Tories in their own rising. The English Tories repeatedly told the Jacobite court that only regular soldiers invading at the same time as their rising could achieve a Stuart restoration. In December 1744, the Broadbottom Administration was formed, which included a handful of Tories in minor offices. Some other Tories were offered places, but those serving for Jacobite counties "could not hazard

9760-404: The English Tories. Captain Nagle, who had visited a peer in London, reported in December that they were all being monitored by the government, but that they would declare for Charles if he made his way to London or if the French invaded. However, Charles retreated from England and the French never landed, so the English Tories did not feel safe in coming out for the Pretender. After the collapse of

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9920-415: The Forum's parliamentary members to get re-elected and on providing expert speakers, bloggers and other inputs to advance and inform political debate. That entails putting technology issues, such as broadband, successful systems delivery, professionalism and skills, smart metering, smart grid, privacy and surveillance, into mainstream political context, including industry and economic policy. As at April 2018

10080-444: The French court, carried a message from English Tories to the French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ( Jean-Jacques Amelot de Chaillou ) requesting French help for a Stuart restoration (including 10,000 French soldiers). It was signed by the Duke of Beaufort (one of the four richest people in Britain), Lord Barrymore , Lord Orrery , Sir Watkin Williams Wynn , Sir John Hynde Cotton and Sir Robert Abdy . Amelot replied that

10240-485: The French government would need considerable proof of English support for Jacobitism before it could act. James Butler, Louis XV 's Master of Horse, toured England ostensibly for purchasing bloodstock but in reality to gauge the health of Jacobitism in England, visiting leading Tories. Before he left for England. the French king briefed him personally to assure Tory leaders that all of their demands would be met. In November 1743 Amelot told Sempill officially that Louis XV

10400-421: The Junto ministers, replacing them with Tories. The new Tory ministry was dominated by Harley , Chancellor of the Exchequer (later Lord Treasurer) and Viscount Bolingbroke , Secretary of State. They were backed by a strong majority in the Parliament elected in 1710, rallying under the banner of " Church in Danger ". This Tory government negotiated the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which pulled Great Britain out of

10560-440: The King and the subject. Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry, the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in Scotland while Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders or land magnates and the Nonconformist Protestant churches. Both were still committed to the political system in place at that time. The new Tory party was distinct both in composition and ideological orientation from

10720-421: The King in Cabinet that elections to Parliament should be free from government bribery, an idea Sir Robert Walpole opposed due to the possibility of the election of a Tory Parliament. The King was also opposed: "King George stared the Earl of Sunderland in the face at the name of a Tory Parliament, for it seems nothing is so hideous and frightful to him as a Tory". The public outcry over the South Sea Bubble led

10880-490: The King's personal views and demonstrated the existence of a Royalist ideology beyond mere subservience to the Court. A series of disasters in the late 1660s and 1670s discredited Charles II's governments, and powerful political interests (including some who had been identified with the Parliamentary side in the Civil War ) began to agitate for a greater role of Parliament in government, coupled with more tolerance for Protestant dissenters. These interests would soon coalesce as

11040-427: The Labour Party culminated in a landslide defeat for the Conservatives in 1997 , their worst defeat since the 1906 general election . The 1997 election left the Conservative Party as an England-only party, with all Scottish and Welsh seats having been lost, and not a single new seat having been gained anywhere. Major resigned as party leader and was succeeded by William Hague . The 2001 general election resulted in

11200-413: The Liberal Democrats, won in the Scottish Independence referendum by 55% No to 45% Yes on the question "Should Scotland be an independent country". At the 2015 general election , the Conservatives formed a majority government under Cameron. After speculation of a referendum on the UK's EU membership throughout his premiership, a vote was announced for June 2016 in which Cameron campaigned to remain in

11360-408: The Maxwell Fyfe Report (1948–49). The report required the party to do more fundraising, by forbidding constituency associations from demanding large donations from candidates, with the intention of broadening the diversity of MPs. In practice, it may have had the effect of lending more power to constituency parties and making candidates more uniform. Winston Churchill , the party leader, brought in

11520-431: The Parliament itself and drove them to make common cause with the King. The King's party was thus a mixture of supporters of royal autocracy and of those Parliamentarians who felt that the Long Parliament had gone too far in attempting to gain executive power for itself and, more specifically, in undermining the episcopalian government of the Church of England , which was felt to be a primary support of royal government. By

11680-479: The Party morale improved, the "radical right" wing was contained, and the party machinery strengthened. It made some progress toward developing constructive social policies. While the Liberals were mostly against the war until the invasion of Belgium, Conservative leaders were strongly in favour of aiding France and stopping Germany. The Liberal party was in full control of the government until its mismanagement of

11840-584: The People Act 1832 removed the rotten boroughs , many of which were controlled by Tories and the Party was reduced to 175 MPs in the 1832 elections . Under the leadership of Robert Peel , who issued a policy document known as the Tamworth Manifesto , the Tories began to transform into the Conservative Party . However, his repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 caused the party to break apart;

12000-613: The Pretender on the throne, in conjunction with an English rising. Lord Oxford, who had already in 1716 offered the Pretender his services, directed the Swedish Plot from the Tower. In January 1717, the government discovered this plot and won a vote of credit for defence measures against the projected invasion in the Commons against Tory opposition. Charles' death in 1718 ended hopes from that quarter and Ormonde's planned Spanish invasion

12160-564: The Prince [Charles] lands in present circumstances with ten battalions or even smaller body of troops there will be no opposition". Tory leaders sent Robert MacCarty to France with a request for 10,000 troops and 30,000 arms to be landed in England, where they would join them upon arrival. Charles travelled to Scotland in July without consulting the Tories or the French and without a sizeable body of troops. After his landing, Sempill wrote: "The City of London, Sir John Hynde Cotton, Lord Barrymore,

12320-479: The Queen's government was replaced by a Council of Regency until the new King should arrive from Hanover. Bolingbroke offered his services to the King but was coldly rejected; George I brought in a government composed entirely of Whigs, and the new Parliament, elected from January to May 1715, had a large Whig majority. In December 1714 Lord Carnarvon wrote that "hardly one Tory is left in any place, though never so mean

12480-425: The Tories (1747): We are kept out of all public employments of power and profit, and live like aliens and pilgrims in the land of our nativity; [...] no quality, no fortune, no eloquence, no learning, no wisdom, no probity is of any use to any man of our unfortunate denomination, ecclesiastic or layman, lawyer or soldier, peer or commoner, for obtaining the most deserved advancement in his profession, or any favour of

12640-492: The Tories afterwards, declaring: "I cannot delay any longer expressing to you my satisfaction at the late behaviour of my friends in Parliament, and I take it as a great mark of their singular regard for what I wrote to you some months ago". In 1743, war broke out between Britain and France, as part of the larger War of the Austrian Succession . Later that year Francis Sempill , the Pretender's representative at

12800-457: The Tories no longer looked to him as their leader as Lyttleton wrote that "when it was discovered that Gower was really a friend to the Hanover succession, the Tories discarded him for being their leader, and adopted a determined Jacobite the Duke of Beaufort in his stead". In June 1745, the Tory leaders in the Commons, Wynn and Cotton (together with Beaufort), informed the Jacobite court that "if

12960-542: The Tories to believe that it would not be worthwhile raising funds for the general election , as they considered a Jacobite rising would be successful considering the state of public opinion. Sunderland joined the Tories in the Atterbury Plot , in which the Pretender was to be put on the throne. A rising was planned for each county, assisted by Irish and Spanish troops. However, Sunderland's death in April 1722 led to

13120-450: The Tory opposition in the later 1690s. Although William's successor Anne had considerable Tory sympathies and excluded the Junto Whigs from power, after a brief and unsuccessful experiment with an exclusively Tory government she generally continued William's policy of balancing the parties, supported by her moderate Tory ministers, the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Godolphin . The stresses of

13280-402: The Tory platform had failed, but the institutions of monarchy and of a state Church survived. Despite the failure of their founding principles, the Tories remained a powerful political party during the reigns of the next two monarchs, particularly that of Queen Anne . During this time, the Tories fiercely competed with the Whigs for power, and there were frequent Parliamentary elections in which

13440-551: The United Kingdom through the Second World War. However, the party lost the 1945 general election in a landslide to the resurgent Labour Party. The concept of the "property-owning democracy" was coined by Noel Skelton in 1923 and became a core principle of the party. While serving in Opposition during the late 1940s, the Conservative Party exploited and incited growing public anger at food rationing , scarcity, controls, austerity , and government bureaucracy. It used

13600-511: The War of the Spanish Succession (to the dismay of Britain's allies, including Anne's eventual successor, George, Elector of Hanover ); the peace was enacted despite a Whig majority in the House of Lords , which Anne defeated by creating new Tory peers. Following a long disagreement between the ministers, Anne dismissed Harley in 1714. The arch-Tory Bolingbroke became in effect Anne's chief minister and Tory power seemed to be at its zenith. However, Anne

13760-580: The West Country, but the Scots forced their hand by unilaterally raising the Pretender's standard. One of Ormonde's agents betrayed the plans for an English rising and subsequently the government arrested many Tory MPs, ex MPs and peers. The subsequent Jacobite rebellion of 1715–16 resulted in failure. However, Charles XII of Sweden was willing to aid the English Tories by sending troops to put

13920-406: The Whigs, played a significant role in the cohesion of the Tories; the Whigs offered few opportunities for Tories who switched sides, and as a party the Tories found no possibilities for compromise with the Whigs. The proscription of the Tories alienated them from the Hanoverian regime and converted many of them to Jacobitism. Bolingbroke later wrote: "If milder measures had been pursued, certain it

14080-564: The ancestors of Conservatism". Blake adds that Pitt's successors after 1812 "were not in any sense standard-bearers of 'true Toryism'". The term Tory was an insult that entered English politics during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678–1681, which derived from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe (modern Irish : tóraí ) meaning outlaw or robber , which in turn derived from the Irish word tóir , meaning pursuit , since outlaws were "pursued men". The term " Conservative "

14240-534: The annual Conservative Party Conference during party conference season , at which senior Conservative figures promote party policy. The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party and was one of two dominant political parties in the 19th century, along with the Liberal Party . Under Benjamin Disraeli , it played a preeminent role in politics at the height of the British Empire . In 1912,

14400-419: The army (including by importing 6,000 Dutch troops). Louis XIV had promised them arms but no troops, as France was exhausted by war, despite Bolingbroke's claim that just one-tenth of the number of troops William of Orange brought with him in 1688 would have sufficed. However, this promise of arms disappeared when Louis died in September 1715. The conspirators intended to abandon the rising they had planned for

14560-405: The cause he has embraced...Your right Jacobite, Sir, disguises his true sentiments, he roars out for revolution principles; he pretends to be a great friend to liberty". He further claimed that a large Army was needed to defeat any possible Jacobite invasion. In 1737, Frederick, Prince of Wales applied to Parliament for an increased allowance. This split the Tories, with 45 abstaining, leading to

14720-485: The concealed mother of the latter, was extinct...The subsequent contests were rather a struggle for power than the settled animosity of two parties, though the body of Opposition still called itself Whig, an appellation rather dropped than disclaimed by the Court; and though the real Tories still adhered to their own distinctions while they secretly favoured, sometimes opposed, the Court, and fluctuated accordingly as they esteemed particular chiefs not of their connection or had

14880-400: The consumption of pornography in parliament, rape, groping, and sexual harassment. In 2017, a list of 36 sitting Conservative MPs accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour was leaked. The list is believed to have been compiled by party staff. Following accusations of multiple cases of rape against an unnamed Tory MP in 2023 and allegations of a cover-up, Baroness Warsi , who has served as

15040-408: The cost-of-living crisis, provoked a government crisis following a loss in confidence and nearly 60 resignations from government officials, eventually leading to Johnson announcing his resignation on 7 July. Boris Johnson's successor as leader was confirmed as Liz Truss on 5 September, following a leadership election . In a strategy labelled Trussonomics she introduced policies in response to

15200-611: The courtiers and the popish banditti in Ireland, to whom the appellation of Tory was affixed. And after this manner, these foolish terms of reproach came into public and general use; and even at present seem not nearer their end than when they were first invented. The first Tory party traces its principles and politics to the English Civil War which divided England between the Cavaliers (supporters of King Charles I ) and

15360-430: The debates in Parliament for 1768–1774, PDG Thomas discovered that not a single politician labelled themselves a Tory. JCD Clark similarly argues: "The history of the Tory party in parliament between the early 1760s and the late 1820s may be simply written: it did not exist". Applied by their opponents to parliamentary supporters of the younger William Pitt (1783–1801, 1804–1806), the term Tories came to represent

15520-449: The dissatisfaction with the socialist and egalitarian policies of the Labour Party to rally middle-class supporters and build a political comeback that won them the 1951 general election . In 1947, the party published its Industrial Charter which marked its acceptance of the " post-war consensus " on the mixed economy and labour rights . David Maxwell Fyfe chaired a committee into Conservative Party organisation that resulted in

15680-543: The dominant force in British politics from 1783 until 1830 and, after Pitt's death (1806), the ministers in the Portland ministry (1807–1809) called themselves the "Friends of Mr Pitt" rather than Tories. Portland's successor, Spencer Perceval (Prime Minister, 1809–1812), never adopted the label of Tory and, after his assassination in 1812, the members of the government of Lord Liverpool (1812–1827) firmly rejected it in

15840-514: The end of the 1640s, the radical Parliamentary programme had become clear: reduction of the King to a powerless figurehead and replacement of Anglican episcopacy with a form of Presbyterianism . This prospective form of settlement was prevented by a coup d'état which shifted power from Parliament itself to the Parliamentary New Model Army , controlled by Oliver Cromwell . The Army had King Charles I executed and for

16000-462: The epithet Tory by the anti-Exclusion newspaper Heraclitus Ridens : "[T]hey call me scurvy names, Jesuit, Papish, Tory; and flap me over the mouth with their being the only True Protestants". Within a few months, anti-Exclusionists were calling themselves Tories and a northern Dissenter called Oliver Heywood recorded in October: "Ms. H. of Chesterfield told me a gentleman was at their house and had

16160-495: The faction led by the Earl of Derby and Benjamin Disraeli went on to become the modern Conservative Party, whose members are still commonly referred to as Tories. As a political term, Tory was an insult (derived from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe , modern Irish tóraí , meaning " outlaw ", "robber", from the Irish word tóir , meaning "pursuit" since outlaws were "pursued men") that entered English politics during

16320-510: The formation of a coalition, in the light of lessons learned after the 1979 General Election, when policy work within the party atrophied because those involved were elected or became special advisors and the consequent focus was on influencing or defend short-term "government policy", as opposed to longer-term "party policy". The current focus is on generating ideas and material for the Conservative Manifesto for 2015, on helping

16480-478: The forum expanded its remit to cover science and changed its name to the current title. The Conservative Science & Technology Forum describes itself as existing to "identify and discuss the industrial, economic and social benefits of recent technological advances in the UK" and to "contribute to shaping the Party's science & technology policies, and provide information and research support to Conservative Ministers or Spokesmen for Technology." Its predecessor,

16640-497: The government discovering the plot and it subsequently collapsed. When the Commons voted on the bill of pains and penalties against Atterbury, nearly ninety per cent of Tory MPs voted against it. Although the Whig Prime Minister Robert Walpole decided not to prosecute those Tories that he knew were involved in the plot, the Tories were demoralised and largely absented themselves from Parliament for

16800-427: The government-controlled church to promote policies that undermined the church's own unique status in the state led some Tories to support the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The result was a King established solely by parliamentary title and subject to legal controls established by Parliament, the principles that the Tories had originally abhorred. The Tories' sole consolation was that the monarchs chosen were close to

16960-442: The grounds of his Catholicism . Despite their fervent opposition to state-sponsored Catholicism, Tories opposed his exclusion because of their belief that inheritance based on birth was the foundation of a stable society. After the succession of George I in 1714, the Tories had no part in government and ceased to exist as an organised political entity in the early 1760s (although the term continued to be used in subsequent years as

17120-466: The infrequent elections of the next several decades (only 7 in the 46 years of the first two Georges, as opposed to 11 in the 26 years from the Revolution to the death of Queen Anne). For much of the period, the Tories commanded a broad base of support in rural England, but the relatively undemocratic nature of the franchise and the maldistribution of the borough seats ensured that this popular appeal

17280-486: The kingdom to Catholicism (in a 1670 treaty with Louis XIV of France ); second, that his younger brother and heir presumptive , James, Duke of York , had in fact converted to Catholicism, an act that many Protestant Englishmen in the 1670s saw as only one step below high treason. The Whigs tried to link the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , the Duke of Ormonde , with the foremost Irish Tory, Redmond O'Hanlon , in

17440-406: The late 1750s and the early 1780s. Even the Whigs ceased to be an identifiable party, and Parliament was dominated by competing political connections, which all proclaimed Whiggish political views, or by independent backbenchers unattached to any particular group. Upon the accession of George III , the old political distinctions dissolved. The Whig factions became in effect distinct parties (such as

17600-471: The late 1940s but was too great a challenge to the post-war consensus to win Conservative endorsement. Thatcher favoured the idea because it would lead to a "property-owning democracy", an important idea that had emerged in the 1920s. Some local Conservative-run councils enacted profitable local sales schemes during the late 1960s. By the 1970s, many working-class people could afford to buy homes, and eagerly adopted Thatcher's invitation to purchase their homes at

17760-550: The leaders amongst the Tories, either on this occasion or that of the King's first message, showed the least sign of zeal or affection to the Government". On 24 February, a storm scattered the French invasion fleet and suspected Jacobites were arrested, leading to the French government cancelling their planned invasion. Charles Stuart, who was still in France and determined to start a Jacobite rising, looked to Scotland. However,

17920-492: The leadership consists of: Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative and Unionist Party , commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories , is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom , along with the Labour Party . Following defeat by Labour in the 2024 general election , it is currently the second largest political party by the number of votes cast and number of seats in

18080-440: The main line of succession as William III was James II's nephew and William's wife Mary was James's elder daughter. The Act of Toleration 1689 also gave rights to Protestant dissenters that were hitherto unknown, while the elimination of a large number of bishops who refused to swear allegiance to the new monarchs allowed the government to pack the episcopate with bishops with decidedly Whiggish leanings. In both these respects

18240-723: The mild liberalism of the post-war consensus that tolerated or encouraged nationalisation, strong labour unions, heavy regulation, and high taxes. She did not challenge the National Health Service , and supported the Cold War policies of the consensus, but otherwise tried to dismantle and delegitimise it. She built a right-wing political ideology that became known as Thatcherism , based on social and economic ideas from British and American intellectuals such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman . Thatcher believed that too much socially democratic-oriented government policy

18400-597: The more agreeable opportunity of distressing those who supported the cause of freedom. As their whole conduct was comprised in silent votes, and never was considerable enough to turn a single scale in the political changes, I shall seldom mention them anymore. Dickinson reports the following: All historians are agreed that the Tory party declined sharply in the late 1740s and 1750s and that it ceased to be an organized party by 1760. The research of Sir Lewis Namier and his disciples [...] has convinced all historians that there were no organized political parties in Parliament between

18560-474: The more conservative royalist supporters of Charles II, who endorsed a strong monarchy as a counterbalance to the power of Parliament, and who saw in the Whig opponents of the Court a quasi-Republican tendency (similar to that seen in the Long Parliament ) to strip the monarchy of its essential prerogative powers and leave the Crown as a puppet entirely dependent upon Parliament. That the Exclusion Bill

18720-433: The motion being defeated by 30 votes. Bolingbroke, who wanted to dissociate the Tories from Jacobitism, denounced this as "the absurd behaviour of the Tories, which no experience can cure". In 1738 Frederick's attempts to reconcile with the Tories broke down on Wyndham's insistence that he join the Tories in favouring a reduced Army. With the outbreak of war against Spain in 1739, there was renewed plotting amongst Tories for

18880-424: The next 11 years the British kingdoms operated under military dictatorship . The Restoration of King Charles II produced a reaction in which the King regained a large part of the power held by his father. However, Charles' ministers and supporters in England accepted a substantial role for Parliament in the government of the kingdoms. No subsequent British monarch would attempt to rule without Parliament, and after

19040-410: The next session of Parliament. [...] They will probably have many occasions of greatly distressing the present Government and ministry and perhaps find some who will concur with them in that, though not out of goodwill to my cause. [...] In such cases I hope my friends will make no scruples in joining heartily with them for whatever their particular motives may be anything that tends to the disadvantage of

19200-466: The non-Junto Whigs, led by the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Shrewsbury , who began to intrigue with Robert Harley 's Tories. In early 1710, the prosecution by the Whig government of the ultra-Tory preacher Henry Sacheverell for sermons delivered the previous year, led to the Sacheverell riots and brought the ministry into popular discredit. In the spring of 1710, Anne dismissed Godolphin and

19360-504: The old. It consisted largely of former Whigs, alienated from the party that now bore that name. While it maintained a sentimental and conservative respect for the symbolic institutions of the British monarchy, in practice Tory ministries allowed the King no more freedom than Whig ones. The incompetence of George III's personal interventions in policy had been sufficiently shown in the American War (1775–1783), henceforward his active role

19520-534: The opposition Whigs, only reversing this stance when the Pretender sent a letter to the Tories in 1730, ordering them to "unite in the measures against the Government and even with those who oppose it for different views than theirs". For the next decade, the Tories cooperated with the opposition Whigs against Walpole. Public admission of Jacobitism was treason, so the Tories challenged the Hanoverian-Whig regime without specifically addressing it by developing

19680-525: The opposition inside the Unionist/Conservative Party. Nevertheless, Balfour, as party leader, introduced protectionist legislation. Churchill crossed the floor and formally joined the Liberal Party (he rejoined the Conservatives in 1925). In December, Balfour lost control of his party, as the defections multiplied. He was replaced by Liberal Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman who called an election in January 1906 , which produced

19840-474: The party as it united behind calls for a referendum on the proposed European Union Constitution . However, before he could lead the party into a general election, Duncan Smith lost the vote on a motion of no confidence by MPs. This was despite the Conservative support equalling that of Labour in the months leading up to his departure from the leadership. Michael Howard then stood for the leadership unopposed on 6 November 2003. Under Howard's leadership in

20000-421: The party formed an alliance with Spencer Cavendish and Joseph Chamberlain 's new Liberal Unionist Party and, under the statesmen Robert Gascoyne-Cecil and Arthur Balfour , held power for all but three of the following twenty years before suffering a heavy defeat in 1906 when it split over the issue of free trade . Young Winston Churchill denounced Chamberlain's attack on free trade, and helped organise

20160-662: The party in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the European Union . She began the process of withdrawing the UK from the European Union in March 2017. In April 2017, the Cabinet agreed to hold a general election on 8 June. In a shock result, the election resulted in a hung parliament , with the Conservative Party needing a confidence and supply arrangement with the DUP to support a minority government. May's Premiership

20320-427: The party's co-chairman under David Cameron, stated that the Conservative Party has had a problem handling complaints of sexual misconducts against members appropriately. The 2010 election resulted in a hung parliament with the Conservatives having the most seats but short of an overall majority. Following the resignation of Gordon Brown , Cameron was named Prime Minister, and the Conservatives entered government in

20480-598: The party. Heath had come to power in June 1970 and the last possible date for the next general election was not until mid-1975. However a general election was held in February 1974 in a bid to win public support during a national emergency caused by the miners' strike. Heath's attempt to win a second term at this "snap" election failed, as a deadlock result left no party with an overall majority . Heath resigned within days, after failing to gain Liberal Party support to form

20640-554: The political current opposed to the Old Whigs and the radicalism unleashed by the American and French Revolutions. This was reinforced by the breakup of the Whig party in 1794 when the conservative group led by the Duke of Portland joined Pitt's ministry, leaving an opposition rump led by Charles James Fox . The historian JCD Clark has written of the 1790s: "It cannot be too clearly stressed that no public figure at that date accepted

20800-458: The premiership of David Cameron, was marked by the ongoing effects of the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the implementation of austerity measures in response. From 2015 the predominant political event was the Brexit referendum and the process to implement the decision to leave the trade bloc. The Conservatives' time in office was marked by several controversies. The presence of Islamophobia in

20960-489: The present Government and to the bringing it into confusion cannot be but of advantage to my cause". As a result, 127 Tories joined the opposition Whigs in successfully voting against Walpole's nominated chairman of the elections committee in December 1741. The Tories continued to vote against Walpole with the opposition Whigs in subsequent divisions until Walpole was forced to resign in February 1742. The Pretender wrote to

21120-485: The protectionist wing of the party rejected the Conservative label. They preferred to be known as Protectionists or even to revive the older Tory as an official name. By 1859 the Peelites (Peel's Conservative supporters) joined the Whigs and Radicals to form the Liberal Party . The remaining Tories, under the leadership of the Earl of Derby (a former Whig) and Disraeli (once a Radical candidate for Parliament), adopted

21280-444: The public, the Labour Party and her own party, Truss reversed some aspects of the mini-budget, including the abolition of the top rate of income tax. Following a government crisis Truss announced her resignation as prime minister on 20 October after 44 days in office, the shortest premiership in British history. Truss also oversaw the worst polling the Conservatives had ever received, with Labour polling as high as 36 per cent above

21440-458: The recovering British economy, saw the Conservatives returning quickly to the top of the opinion polls and winning the 1983 general election with a landslide majority, due to a split opposition vote. By the time of the general election in June 1987, the economy was stronger, with lower inflation and falling unemployment and Thatcher secured her third successive electoral victory. The introduction of

21600-482: The rising, Charles' captured secretary, John Murray of Broughton , informed the government of the Tories' conspiracy with the Pretender. The government decided not to prosecute them. The trial of the Scottish rebel lords in London was boycotted by most Tory peers. After the Duke of Cumberland 's brutal suppression of the Scots, English Tories adopted the plaid as their symbol. Eveline Cruickshanks in her study of

21760-555: The time of the 1979 general election , inflation had been at 9% or under for the previous year, then increased to over 20% in the first two years of the Thatcher ministry, but it had fallen again to 5.8% by the start of 1983. The period of unpopularity of the Conservatives in the early 1980s coincided with a crisis in the Labour Party, which then formed the main opposition. Victory in the Falklands War in June 1982, along with

21920-421: The title 'Tory', and that they had the best reasons for denying its appropriateness". Pitt rejected the Tory label, preferring to refer to himself as an independent Whig, for he believed in the current constitutional arrangement as being well balanced, without particular favour towards the royal prerogative, unlike the Tories of the first half of the 18th century. The group surrounding Pitt the Younger came to be

22080-484: The two parties measured their strength. William III saw that the Tories were generally more friendly to royal authority than the Whigs, and he employed both groups in his government. His early ministry was largely Tory, but the government gradually came to be dominated by the so-called Junto Whigs . This tight-knit political grouping was opposed by the Country Whigs led by Robert Harley , who gradually merged with

22240-402: The university of Oxford brought them all up at once to town, which nothing else would, and in their zeal on that account, they entered into a sort of coalition with Prince Frederick's party to stand by the university of Oxford, to join in opposing all unconstitutional points, but to be under no obligation to visit Prince Frederick's court, nor unite in other points". After Wynn's death in 1749,

22400-485: The war effort under the Shell Crisis badly hurt its reputation. An all-party coalition government was formed in May 1915. In late 1916 Liberal David Lloyd George became prime minister but the Liberals soon split and the Conservatives dominated the government, especially after their landslide in the 1918 election . The Liberal party never recovered, but Labour gained strength after 1920. Nigel Keohane finds that

22560-409: Was "the custom in Jacobite days to destroy all letters with any hint of political or religious feeling in them". However, some historians (such as Linda Colley ) have questioned the Tories' commitment to Jacobitism. In 2016, Frank O'Gorman noted that given the nature of the evidence, it is unlikely that the question will ever be answered, but added that "judged by the acid test of how they behaved in

22720-523: Was a popular slogan attacking the Conservative record, primarily from Labour. In addition, there were attacks by the right wing of the Conservative Party itself for its tolerance of socialist policies and reluctance to curb the legal powers of labour unions. The Conservatives were re-elected in 1955 and 1959 with larger majorities. Conservative Prime Ministers Churchill, Anthony Eden , Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home promoted relatively liberal trade regulations and less state involvement throughout

22880-519: Was also formed, in 2002. Its main publication to date is "Computerising the Chinese Army" (on the state of computing in the NHS), using expertise from both ICT and Health Care industries. The Forum has also produced a public "manifesto" in advance of each general election, alongside private submissions to those working on the main party manifesto. The Forum was restructured after the 2010 election and

23040-400: Was an industrialist rather than a landowner. Peel in his 1834 Tamworth Manifesto outlined a new conservative philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good. The subsequent Peel administrations have been labelled Conservative rather than Tory, but the older term remains in use. When the Conservative Party split in 1846 on the issue of free trade (namely, the repeal of the Corn Laws ),

23200-416: Was an issue, it worked to protect their base in rural England. It aggressively sought female voters in the 1920s, often relying on patriotic themes. In 1922, Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin led the breakup of the coalition, and the Conservatives governed until 1923, when a minority Labour government led by Ramsay MacDonald came to power. The Conservatives regained power in 1924 but were defeated in 1929 as

23360-610: Was destroyed by a storm at sea. During the Whig Split of 1717, the Tories refused to back either side and adopted the same stance to Lord Sunderland 's overtures in 1720. Nonetheless, their combined efforts helped the opposition win some victories, such as the defeat of the Peerage Bill in 1719. In 1722, Sunderland advised the King to admit leading Tories into government, thereby dividing them and ending their hopes for revenge by looking for support from abroad. He also advised

23520-469: Was dominated by Brexit as she carried out negotiations with the European Union, adhering to the Chequers Plan , which resulted in her draft Brexit withdrawal agreement . May survived two votes of no confidence in December 2018 and January 2019, but after versions of her draft withdrawal agreement were rejected by Parliament three times , May announced her resignation on 24 May 2019. Subsequent to

23680-588: Was extremely ill and died within a few days. Bolingbroke had not been able to formulate any coherent plans for dealing with the succession, for if he thought of proclaiming the son of James II (the Pretender) king, he made no moves to do so. The Elector George succeeded to the throne entirely peacefully, supported by the Hanoverian Tory grouping. In accordance with Succession to the Crown Act 1707 ,

23840-571: Was held in 1965, won by Edward Heath. Edward Heath 's 1970–74 government was known for taking the UK into the EEC , although the right-wing of the party objected to his failure to control the trade unions at a time when a declining British industry saw many strikes, as well as the 1973–75 recession . Since accession to the EEC, which developed into the EU, British membership has been a source of heated debate within

24000-488: Was held on 9 April 1992 and the Conservatives won a fourth successive electoral victory, contrary to predictions from opinion polls. The Conservatives became the first party to attract 14 million votes in a general election. On 16 September 1992, the Government suspended Britain's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), after the pound fell lower than its minimum level in

24160-498: Was impeached and sent to the Tower, with Bolingbroke and the Tory peer the Duke of Ormonde fleeing to France to join the Pretender. A series of riots against the coronation of George I and the new Hanoverian-Whig regime (in which the mob voiced their support for Jacobitism and local Tory parliamentary candidates) led to the Whig government strengthening their power by passing the Riot Act , suspending habeas corpus and increasing

24320-475: Was leading to a long-term decline in the British economy. As a result, her government pursued a programme of economic liberalism , adopting a free-market approach to public services based on the sale of publicly owned industries and utilities, as well as a reduction in trade union power. One of Thatcher's largest and most successful policies assisted council house tenants in public housing to purchase their homes at favourable rates. The "Right to Buy" had emerged in

24480-488: Was limited to negations of government policies such as the Catholic emancipation . In foreign policy, the differences were even more marked as the old Tory party had been pacific and isolationist whereas the new one was bellicose and imperialistic. The Tories became associated with repression of popular discontent after 1815, but the Tories later underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence of Robert Peel , who

24640-416: Was never translated into a Tory majority in Parliament. The Tories would have won every general election between 1715 and 1747 had the number of seats obtained corresponded to the number of votes cast. The Tories were, therefore, an effectively null factor in practical politics, a permanent minority in Parliament and entirely excluded from government. The latter exclusion, and the rigid party politics played by

24800-420: Was not at issue; rather, it was the wisdom of a policy of creating a King whose sole title to the Crown was the will of Parliament and who was essentially a Parliamentary appointee. On this original question, the Tories were in the short run entirely successful as the Parliaments that brought in the Exclusion Bill were dissolved, Charles II was enabled to manage the administration autocratically and upon his death

24960-516: Was plagued by internal division and infighting, mainly over the UK's role in the European Union . The party's Eurosceptic wing, represented by MPs such as John Redwood , opposed further EU integration, whilst the party's pro-European wing, represented by those such as Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke , was broadly supportive. The issue of the creation of a single European currency also inflamed tensions. Major survived

25120-456: Was resolved to restore the House of Stuart and that he was planning a French invasion headed by the Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart . The "Declaration of King James" (written by Tory leaders) was signed by the Pretender on 23 December. This was to be published in the event of a successful French landing. However, the Whig government was informed by a spy of the intended French invasion and King George told Parliament on 15 February 1744 that

25280-467: Was suggested as a title for the party in an article by J. Wilson Croker published in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was formally adopted under the aegis of Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto . The term "Conservative Party" rather than Tory

25440-464: Was the central question upon which parties diverged, did not hinge upon an assessment of the personal character of the Duke of York (though his conversion to Catholicism was the key factor that made the Bill possible), but rather upon the power of Parliament to elect a monarch of its own choosing, contrary to the established laws of succession. That the Parliament, with the consent of the King, had such power

25600-517: Was the dominant usage by 1845. The widening of the electoral franchise in the 19th century forced the Conservative Party to popularise its approach under Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby and Benjamin Disraeli , who carried through their own expansion of the franchise with the Reform Act of 1867 . The party was initially opposed to further expansion of the electorate but eventually allowed passage of Gladstone's 1884 Reform Act . In 1886,

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