El Partido Conservador , oficialmente el Partido Conservador y Unionista , y también conocido coloquialmente como Tories , Tory Party , o simplemente Conservadores , es un partido político en el Reino Unido . Ideológicamente, los conservadores se ubican en el centro-derecha del espectro político. Los conservadores han estado en el gobierno desde 2010; a partir de 2019, tienen una mayoría general en la Cámara de los Comunes , con 365 miembros del Parlamento . El partido también cuenta con 264 miembros no electos de la Cámara de los Lores , 8 miembros de laAsamblea de Londres , 31 miembros del Parlamento de Escocia , 16 miembros del Senedd (Parlamento de Gales) y 7430 concejales de autoridades locales . [12]
Partido Conservador y Unionista | |
---|---|
Líder | Boris Johnson ( primer ministro ) |
Líder de los Señores | La baronesa Evans de Bowes Park |
Jefe de látigos | |
Presidente | |
Director | Mike Chattey (en funciones) [2] |
Fundado | Diciembre de 1834 |
Fusión de | |
Sede | Sede de la campaña conservadora 4 Matthew Parker Street, Londres SW1H 9HQ |
Ala juvenil | Jóvenes conservadores [3] |
Ala de las mujeres | Organización de mujeres conservadoras |
Ala de ultramar | Conservadores en el Extranjero |
Ala LGBT | Conservadores LGBT + |
Membresía (2021) | 200.000 [4] |
Ideología | |
Posicion politica | Centro-derecha [8] [9] |
Afiliación europea | Partido Conservadores y Reformistas Europeos |
Afiliación internacional | Unión Demócrata Internacional |
Colores | Azul |
Eslogan | Libera el potencial de Gran Bretaña [10] |
Órgano rector | Junta del Partido Conservador |
Ramas descentralizadas o semiautónomas |
|
Partido parlamentario | Comité de 1922 |
cámara de los Comunes | 364/650 |
Cámara de los Lores [11] | 259/790 |
Asamblea de Londres | 25/9 |
Parlamento escocés | 31/129 |
Senedd | 16/60 |
Gobierno local [12] | 7.226 / 19.698 |
Alcaldes elegidos directamente | 4/25 |
Comisionados de policía y delitos | 29/40 |
Sitio web | |
www .conservatives .com | |
|
El Partido Conservador se fundó en 1834 a partir del Partido Conservador y fue uno de los dos partidos políticos dominantes en el siglo XIX, junto con el Partido Liberal . Bajo Benjamín Disraeli , jugó un papel preeminente en la política en el apogeo del Imperio Británico . En 1912, el Partido Unionista Liberal se fusionó con el partido para formar el Partido Conservador y Unionista. Después de esto, el Partido Laborista se convirtió en el principal rival de los conservadores. Hasta el día de hoy, los partidos Laborista y Conservador constituyen los dos partidos más importantes del Reino Unido.
Posicionado en el centro-derecha del espectro político británico, el Partido Conservador es ideológicamente conservador . Varias facciones han dominado el partido en diferentes momentos, incluidos los conservadores de una nación , los thatcheristas , los conservadores liberales y los liberales conservadores . Además, hay facciones influyentes de conservadores sociales y euroescépticos . Si bien sus puntos de vista y políticas han cambiado a lo largo de su historia, el partido generalmente ha adoptado políticas económicas liberales que favorecen la economía de libre mercado, incluidas medidas como la desregulación , la privatización y la mercantilización desde la década de 1980, aunque el partido también defendió históricamente el proteccionismo . El partido es unionista británico , se opone a la reunificación irlandesa , la independencia de Escocia y Gales , y ha sido crítico con la devolución . Históricamente, el partido apoyó la continuidad y el mantenimiento del Imperio Británico . El partido ha adoptado varios enfoques hacia la política de la Unión Europea (UE). Hay facciones euroescépticas y, cada vez en menor medida, europeístas del partido. En los últimos años, el partido ha adoptado una posición fuertemente euroescéptica, con el partido adoptando el lema "Consiga el Brexit Listo" tras la decisión de abandonar la UE en un referéndum celebrado bajo el gobierno conservador de Cameron . En política social, históricamente ha adoptado un enfoque socialmente más conservador que incluye la implementación de la Sección 28 [13] y, en general, el mantenimiento de las leyes dominicales azules . [14] Sin embargo, algunos argumentan que su política social se ha vuelto más liberal en las últimas décadas, tal vez evidenciado mejor por la legalización del matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo por parte del gobierno de coalición conservador- liberal demócrata en 2014. En política de defensa, favorece un ejército fuerte capacidad que incluye un programa independiente de armas nucleares y el compromiso de ser miembro de la OTAN .
Históricamente, la base de apoyo del partido ha consistido principalmente en votantes de clase media, especialmente en las áreas rurales y suburbanas de Inglaterra. Su dominio de la política británica a lo largo del siglo XX y su resurgimiento en la década de 2010 lo ha llevado a ser considerado uno de los partidos políticos más exitosos del mundo occidental. [15] [16] [17]
Las ramas del partido escocesas , galesas , norirlandesas y gibraltareñas son semiautónomas. Los conservadores son un partido miembro fundador tanto de la Unión Demócrata Internacional como del Partido Conservadores y Reformistas Europeos .
Historia
Orígenes
El Partido Conservador se fundó en la década de 1830. Sin embargo, algunos escritores remontan sus orígenes al reinado de Carlos II en la Crisis de Exclusión de la década de 1670 . Otros historiadores apuntan a una facción, arraigada en el Partido Whig del siglo XVIII , que se unió en torno a William Pitt el Joven en la década de 1780. Se les conocía como "Whigs independientes", "Amigos del señor Pitt" o "Pittites" y nunca usaban términos como "Tory" o "Conservador". Pitt murió en 1806. Desde aproximadamente 1812 en adelante, el nombre "Tory" se usó comúnmente para un nuevo partido que, según el historiador Robert Blake, "son los antepasados del conservadurismo". Blake agrega que los sucesores de Pitt después de 1812 "no fueron en ningún sentido abanderados del 'verdadero toryismo'". [18]
El término "Conservador" fue sugerido como título para el partido por un artículo de una revista de J. Wilson Croker en la Quarterly Review en 1830. [19] El nombre se popularizó inmediatamente y fue adoptado oficialmente bajo la égida de Robert Peel alrededor de 1834. Peel es reconocido como el fundador del Partido Conservador, que creó con el anuncio del Manifiesto de Tamworth . El término "Partido Conservador" en lugar de Tory era el uso dominante en 1845. [20] [21]
Conservadores y unionistas (1867-1914)
La ampliación del sufragio electoral en el siglo XIX obligó al Partido Conservador a popularizar su enfoque con Edward Smith-Stanley, el decimocuarto conde de Derby y Benjamin Disraeli , quienes llevaron a cabo su propia expansión del sufragio con la Ley de Reforma de 1867 . En 1886, el partido formó una alianza con Spencer Compton Cavendish, Lord Hartington (más tarde el octavo duque de Devonshire ) y el nuevo Partido Unionista Liberal de Joseph Chamberlain y, bajo los estadistas Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury y Arthur Balfour , ocupó el poder. durante todos menos tres de los siguientes veinte años antes de sufrir una gran derrota en 1906 cuando se dividió sobre el tema del libre comercio . El historiador Richard Shannon sostiene que, si bien Salisbury presidió uno de los períodos más largos de dominio conservador, interpretó mal y manejó mal sus éxitos electorales. La ceguera de Salisbury hacia la clase media y la dependencia de la aristocracia impidió que los conservadores se convirtieran en un partido mayoritario. [22] El historiador EHH Green sostiene que después de la jubilación de Salisbury el Partido fue impulsado ideológicamente y se parecía a un conservadurismo europeo más amplio. Después de su derrota en 1906, surgió un conservadurismo radical que buscaba promover una "reforma arancelaria" (es decir, nuevos aranceles altos) para unir al Imperio Británico y proteger la agricultura y la industria británicas de la competencia extranjera y evitar la amenaza del socialismo. [23]
El joven Winston Churchill denunció el ataque de Chamberlain al libre comercio y ayudó a organizar la oposición dentro del Partido Unionista / Conservador. Sin embargo, Balfour, como líder del partido, siguió la política de Chamberlain introduciendo legislación proteccionista. [24] El elemento arancelario alto se llamó a sí mismo "reformadores arancelarios" y en un importante discurso en Manchester el 13 de mayo de 1904, Churchill advirtió que su toma del poder del Partido Unionista / Conservador lo marcaría permanentemente de la siguiente manera:
- Un partido de grandes intereses creados, unidos en una formidable confederación; corrupción en casa, agresión para encubrirla en el exterior; el engaño de los malabarismos arancelarios, la tiranía de una máquina del partido; sentimiento por el balde; patriotismo por la pinta imperial; la mano abierta en el erario público, la puerta abierta en la taberna; comida cara para el millón, mano de obra barata para el millonario. [25]
Dos semanas después, Churchill cruzó la cancha y se unió formalmente al Partido Liberal (se reincorporó a los conservadores en 1925). En diciembre, Balfour perdió el control de su partido, ya que las deserciones se multiplicaron. Fue reemplazado por el primer ministro liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman, quien convocó elecciones en enero de 1906 , lo que produjo una victoria liberal masiva con una ganancia de 214 escaños. El primer ministro liberal, HH Asquith, promulgó una gran cantidad de reformas legislativas, pero los unionistas trabajaron duro en la organización de base. En 1910 se celebraron dos elecciones generales, una en enero y otra en diciembre . Los dos partidos principales estaban ahora casi completamente iguales en escaños. Los unionistas tenían más votos populares, pero los liberales mantuvieron el control con una coalición con el Partido Parlamentario Irlandés . [26] [27]
En 1912, los unionistas liberales se fusionaron con el Partido Conservador. En Irlanda, la Alianza Unionista Irlandesa se formó en 1891, que fusionó a los unionistas que se oponían a la autonomía irlandesa en un solo movimiento político. Sus parlamentarios tomaron el látigo conservador en Westminster y, en esencia, formaron el ala irlandesa del partido hasta 1922. En Gran Bretaña, el partido conservador era conocido como el Partido Unionista debido a su oposición al gobierno local en Irlanda . [28] [29]
Bajo el liderazgo de Bonar Law en 1911-1914, la moral del Partido mejoró, el ala de la "derecha radical" fue contenida y la maquinaria del partido se fortaleció. Hizo algunos avances hacia el desarrollo de políticas sociales constructivas. [30] El historiador Jeremy Smith dice que Bonar Law estaba presionando con fuerza, ciertamente fanfarroneando y amenazando, y quizás fanfarroneando, pero al final su estrategia demostró ser coherente y efectiva. [31]
Primera Guerra Mundial
Mientras que los liberales estaban mayoritariamente en contra de la guerra hasta la invasión de Bélgica, los líderes conservadores estaban firmemente a favor de ayudar a Francia y detener a Alemania. El Partido Liberal tenía el control total del gobierno hasta que su mala gestión del esfuerzo bélico bajo la Crisis Shell dañó gravemente su reputación. En mayo de 1915 se formó un gobierno de coalición de todos los partidos. A fines de 1916, el liberal David Lloyd George se convirtió en primer ministro, pero los liberales pronto se dividieron y los conservadores dominaron el gobierno, especialmente después de su aplastante victoria en las elecciones de 1918 . El Partido Liberal nunca se recuperó, pero el Laborismo ganó fuerza después de 1920. [32]
Nigel Keohane encuentra que los conservadores estaban amargamente divididos antes de 1914, especialmente en el tema del unionismo irlandés y la experiencia de tres derrotas electorales consecutivas. Sin embargo, la guerra unió al partido, lo que le permitió enfatizar el patriotismo mientras encontraba un nuevo liderazgo y elaboraba sus posiciones sobre la cuestión irlandesa, el socialismo, la reforma electoral y el tema de la intervención en la economía. El nuevo énfasis en el antisocialismo fue su respuesta a la creciente fuerza del Partido Laborista. Cuando la reforma electoral fue un problema, funcionó para proteger su base en la Inglaterra rural. [33] Buscó agresivamente votantes femeninas en la década de 1920, a menudo basándose en temas patrióticos. [34]
1920-1945
En 1922, Bonar Law y Stanley Baldwin lideraron la disolución de la coalición, y los conservadores gobernaron hasta 1923, cuando un gobierno laborista minoritario encabezado por Ramsay MacDonald llegó al poder. Los conservadores recuperaron el poder en 1924 y permanecieron en el poder durante el período completo de cinco años. Fueron derrotados en 1929 cuando un gobierno laborista minoritario, nuevamente dirigido por MacDonald, asumió el cargo. En 1931, tras el colapso del gobierno de la minoría laborista, entró en otra coalición, que estaba dominada por los conservadores con cierto apoyo de facciones tanto del Partido Liberal como del Partido Laborista ( Nacional Laborista y Nacional Liberal ). [35] En mayo de 1940, se formó una coalición más equilibrada, [35] el Gobierno Nacional , que, bajo el liderazgo de Winston Churchill , vio al Reino Unido a través de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Sin embargo, el partido perdió las elecciones generales de 1945 en una victoria aplastante ante el resurgente Partido Laborista , que ganó su primer gobierno de mayoría. [36] [37]
El concepto de "democracia propietaria" fue acuñado por Noel Skelton en 1923 y se convirtió en un principio fundamental del partido. [38]
1945–1963
Insatisfacción popular
Mientras servía en la Oposición a fines de la década de 1940, el Partido Conservador explotó e incitó una creciente ira pública por el racionamiento de alimentos , la escasez, los controles, la austeridad y la burocracia gubernamental omnipresente. Usó la insatisfacción con las políticas socialistas e igualitarias del Partido Laborista para reunir a los partidarios de la clase media y construir un regreso político que les ganó las elecciones generales de 1951 . Su atractivo fue especialmente efectivo para las amas de casa, que enfrentaron condiciones de compra más difíciles después de la guerra que durante la guerra. [39]
Modernizando la fiesta
En 1947, el partido publicó su Carta Industrial que marcó su aceptación del " consenso de posguerra " sobre la economía mixta y los derechos laborales . [40] David Maxwell Fyfe presidió un comité en la organización del Partido Conservador que resultó en el Informe Maxwell Fyfe (1948-1949). El informe requería que el partido hiciera más recaudación de fondos, al prohibir a las asociaciones de electores exigir grandes donaciones a los candidatos, con la intención de ampliar la diversidad de diputados. En la práctica, puede haber tenido el efecto de otorgar más poder a los partidos de la circunscripción y hacer que los candidatos sean más uniformes. [41]
El éxito del Partido Conservador en la reorganización fue validado por su victoria en las elecciones generales de 1951. Winston Churchill , el líder del partido, trajo un presidente del partido para modernizar la institución chirriante. Frederick Marquis, primer conde de Woolton , fue un exitoso propietario de grandes almacenes y ministro de Alimentos durante la guerra. Como presidente del partido de 1946 a 1955, reconstruyó las organizaciones locales haciendo hincapié en la membresía, el dinero y un llamamiento de propaganda nacional unificado sobre cuestiones críticas. Para ampliar la base de candidatos potenciales, el partido nacional proporcionó ayuda financiera a los candidatos y ayudó a las organizaciones locales a recaudar fondos locales. Woolton enfatizó la retórica que caracterizaba a los oponentes como "socialistas" en lugar de "laboristas". La influencia libertaria del best-seller Road to Serfdom de 1944 del profesor Friedrich Hayek fue evidente en la generación más joven, pero eso tomó otro cuarto de siglo para tener un impacto político. En 1951, el laborismo había agotado su acogida en las clases medias; sus facciones estaban amargamente envueltas. Los conservadores estaban dispuestos a gobernar de nuevo. [42]
Con una estrecha victoria en las elecciones generales de 1951 , a pesar de perder el voto popular, Churchill volvió al poder. Aunque envejecía rápidamente, tenía prestigio nacional y mundial. Aparte del racionamiento, que terminó en 1954, la mayor parte del estado de bienestar promulgado por los laboristas fue aceptado por los conservadores y se convirtió en parte del "consenso de posguerra" que fue satirizado como butskellismo y que duró hasta la década de 1970. [43] [44] Los conservadores fueron conciliadores con los sindicatos, pero privatizaron las industrias del acero y el transporte por carretera en 1953. [45] Durante los trece años de mandato de los conservadores, las pensiones aumentaron un 49% en términos reales. las prestaciones por enfermedad y desempleo en un 76% en términos reales y las prestaciones complementarias en un 46% en términos reales. Sin embargo, las asignaciones familiares disminuyeron un 15% en términos reales durante ese período. [46]
"Trece años perdidos" fue un eslogan popular que atacó el récord conservador 1951-1964. Las críticas provinieron principalmente del Laborismo. Además, hubo ataques de la derecha del propio Partido Conservador por su tolerancia a las políticas socialistas y su renuencia a frenar los poderes legales de los sindicatos, haciéndolos cómplices del consenso de posguerra . Los críticos sostienen que Gran Bretaña fue superada por sus competidores económicos y no pudo evitar una molesta espiral ascendente de salarios-precios. El historiador Graham Goodlad pide una perspectiva más amplia. Sostiene que hubo avances significativos en transporte, salud y educación superior. Habría sido poco realista esperar que Gran Bretaña pudiera continuar como potencia mundial después del enorme gasto de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la independencia de India y otras colonias. Goodlad dice que el liderazgo conservador en política exterior ajustó adecuadamente el papel mundial de Gran Bretaña construyendo una capacidad nuclear independiente y manteniendo un papel de liderazgo en los asuntos mundiales y, de todos modos, los gobiernos sucesivos rara vez hicieron un mejor trabajo. [47]
Los conservadores fueron reelegidos en 1955 y 1959 con mayorías más amplias. Los primeros ministros conservadores Churchill , Anthony Eden , Harold Macmillan y Alec Douglas-Home promovieron regulaciones comerciales relativamente liberales y una menor participación estatal durante los años cincuenta y principios de los sesenta. La crisis de Suez de 1956 fue una derrota humillante para el primer ministro Eden, pero su sucesor, Macmillan, minimizó el daño y centró la atención en los problemas internos y la prosperidad. Macmillan se jactó durante las elecciones generales de 1959 de que Gran Bretaña "nunca lo había tenido tan bien".
En 1958, Geoffrey Howe fue coautor del informe A Giant's Strength publicado por la Asociación Conservadora de Inns of Court . El informe argumentó que los sindicatos se habían vuelto demasiado poderosos y que sus privilegios legales deberían reducirse. Iain Macleod desanimó a los autores de publicar el informe. Macmillan creía que los votos sindicales habían contribuido a las victorias de 1951 y 1955 y pensaba que "no sería conveniente adoptar una política que implique una legislación que enajene este apoyo". [48]
El intento de Macmillan de unirse a la Comunidad Económica Europea (CEE) a principios de 1963 fue bloqueado por el presidente francés Charles de Gaulle . El período vio el declive del Reino Unido como un líder mundial prominente, con la pérdida de prácticamente todo el Imperio y una economía rezagada.
Tras la controversia sobre las selecciones de Harold Macmillan y Alec Douglas-Home a través de un proceso de consulta conocido como el 'Círculo Mágico', [49] [50] se creó un proceso de elección formal y la primera elección de liderazgo se celebró en 1965. De los tres candidatos, Edward Heath ganó con 150 votos frente a los 133 de Reginald Maudling y los 15 de Enoch Powell . [51]
Edward Heath (1965-1975)
El gobierno de 1970-1974 de Edward Heath era conocido por llevar al Reino Unido a la CEE, aunque la derecha del partido se opuso a su incapacidad para controlar los sindicatos en un momento en que una industria británica en declive vio muchas huelgas, así como una recesión que comenzó en 1973 y duró dos años.
Desde la adhesión a la CEE, que se convirtió en la UE, la membresía británica ha sido una fuente de acalorados debates dentro del Partido Conservador.
Heath había llegado al poder en junio de 1970 y la última fecha posible para las próximas elecciones generales no era hasta mediados de 1975. [52] Sin embargo, se llevaron a cabo elecciones generales en febrero de 1974 en un intento por ganar el apoyo del público durante una emergencia nacional causada por la huelga de los mineros. Sin embargo, el intento de Heath de ganar un segundo mandato en el poder en estas elecciones "rápidas" fracasó, ya que el resultado de un estancamiento no dejó a ningún partido con una mayoría absoluta . Los conservadores tenían más votos que los laboristas, pero los laboristas tenían cuatro escaños más. Heath dimitió a los pocos días, después de no conseguir el apoyo del Partido Liberal para formar un gobierno de coalición, allanando el camino para que Harold Wilson y los laboristas regresaran al poder como un gobierno minoritario. Las esperanzas de Heath de regresar al poder más adelante en el año terminaron cuando los laboristas ganaron las elecciones de octubre de 1974 con una mayoría general de tres escaños. [53]
Margaret Thatcher (1975-1990)
La pérdida de poder debilitó el control de Heath sobre el partido y Margaret Thatcher lo destituyó en las elecciones de liderazgo de 1975 . En la década de 1970, el Reino Unido había experimentado tasas de inflación elevadas y sostenidas , que estaban por encima del 20% en el momento de las elecciones de liderazgo, y luego cayeron por debajo del 10%; el desempleo había aumentado y durante el invierno de 1978-79 hubo una serie de huelgas conocidas como el " invierno del descontento ". [54] Thatcher llevó a su partido a la victoria en las elecciones generales de 1979 con un manifiesto que se concentraba en la filosofía del partido en lugar de presentar una "lista de compras" de políticas. [55]
Como primer ministro, Thatcher se centró en rechazar el leve liberalismo del consenso de la posguerra que toleraba o fomentaba la nacionalización, los sindicatos fuertes, la regulación estricta, los impuestos elevados y un estado de bienestar generoso. [56] No desafió al Servicio Nacional de Salud y apoyó las políticas de consenso de la Guerra Fría, pero por lo demás trató de desmantelarlo y deslegitimarlo. Para reemplazar el viejo consenso de la posguerra, construyó una ideología política de derecha que se conoció como thatcherismo , basada en ideas sociales y económicas de intelectuales británicos y estadounidenses como Friedrich Hayek y Milton Friedman . Thatcher creía que demasiada política gubernamental de orientación socialdemócrata estaba conduciendo a un declive a largo plazo de la economía británica. Como resultado, su gobierno siguió un programa de liberalismo económico , adoptando un enfoque de libre mercado para los servicios públicos basado en la venta de industrias y servicios públicos de propiedad pública, así como una reducción del poder sindical. Sostuvo la creencia de que la tendencia actual de los sindicatos estaba paralizar el progreso económico mediante la imposición de huelgas "salvajes", manteniendo los salarios artificialmente altos y obligando a las industrias no rentables a permanecer abiertas.
Una de las políticas más grandes y exitosas de Thatcher ayudó a los inquilinos de viviendas públicas en viviendas públicas a comprar sus casas a precios favorables. El "derecho a comprar" había surgido a fines de la década de 1940, pero era un desafío demasiado grande para el consenso de posguerra como para ganar el respaldo de los conservadores. Thatcher desde sus primeros días en política favoreció la idea porque conduciría a una "democracia propietaria", una idea importante que había surgido en la década de 1920. [38] Algunos consejos locales administrados por los conservadores promulgaron esquemas de ventas locales rentables a fines de la década de 1960. En la década de 1970, muchas personas de la clase trabajadora tenían ingresos suficientes para comprar casas y adoptaron con entusiasmo la invitación de Thatcher de comprar sus casas con un descuento considerable. Era más probable que los nuevos propietarios votaran por los conservadores, como esperaba Thatcher. [57] [58]
Thatcher llevó a los conservadores a otras dos victorias electorales con mayorías abrumadoras [ aclaraciones necesarias ] en 1983 y 1987 . Sus partidarios la admiraban mucho por su liderazgo en la Guerra de las Malvinas de 1982, que coincidió con un aumento dramático en su popularidad, y por políticas como otorgar el derecho a los inquilinos de la casa municipal a comprar su casa municipal con un descuento sobre el valor de mercado. . También era profundamente impopular en ciertos sectores de la sociedad debido al alto nivel de desempleo, que alcanzó su nivel más alto desde la década de 1930, alcanzando un máximo de más de 3.000.000 de personas tras sus reformas económicas y su respuesta a la huelga de los mineros . El desempleo se había duplicado entre 1979 y 1982, en gran parte debido a la batalla monetarista de Thatcher contra la inflación. [59] [60] En el momento de las elecciones generales de 1979 , la inflación había sido del 9% o menos durante el año anterior, habiendo disminuido con Callaghan y luego aumentado a más del 20% en los primeros dos años del ministerio de Thatcher, pero había vuelto a caer al 5,8% a principios de 1983 (siguió estando por debajo del 7% hasta 1990). [61] La economía británica se benefició en el primer ministerio de Thatcher por la entrada en funcionamiento de los ingresos fiscales del petróleo del Mar del Norte . [62]
El período de impopularidad de los conservadores a principios de la década de 1980 coincidió con una crisis en el Partido Laborista, que luego formó la principal oposición. El Partido Socialdemócrata (SDP) se estableció en 1981 y estaba formado por más de veinte parlamentarios laboristas separatistas, que rápidamente formaron la Alianza Liberal SDP con el Partido Liberal. A principios de 1982, la Alianza Liberal-SDP estaba por delante de los conservadores en las encuestas de opinión , pero la victoria en la Guerra de las Malvinas en junio de ese año, junto con la recuperación de la economía británica, hizo que los conservadores volvieran rápidamente a la cima de la opinión. encuestas y ganar las elecciones generales de 1983 con una mayoría aplastante, debido a un voto de oposición dividido. [59]
Thatcher ahora enfrentó, posiblemente, a su rival más serio después de las elecciones generales de 1983, cuando Michael Foot renunció como líder del Partido Laborista y fue sucedido por Neil Kinnock . Con un nuevo líder a la cabeza, los laboristas estaban claramente decididos a derrotar a los conservadores en las próximas elecciones, y durante prácticamente la totalidad del segundo ministerio de Thatcher, se veía una posibilidad muy seria, ya que el liderazgo en las encuestas de opinión constantemente veía un cambio. en el liderazgo de los conservadores a los laboristas, con la Alianza de vez en cuando raspando en el primer lugar. [63]
En el momento de las elecciones generales de junio de 1987, la economía era más fuerte, con una inflación más baja y una caída del desempleo, y Thatcher se aseguró su tercera victoria electoral consecutiva con una segunda, aunque reducida, mayoría aplastante. [64]
La introducción de la Tasa Comunitaria (conocida por sus oponentes como el impuesto de capitación ) en 1989 se cita a menudo como una contribución a su caída política. El verano de 1989 la vio caer detrás del laborismo de Neil Kinnock en las encuestas de opinión por primera vez desde 1986, y la caída de la popularidad de su partido continuó en 1990. Para la segunda mitad de ese año, las encuestas de opinión mostraban que el laborismo tenía una ventaja de hasta 16 puntos por encima de los conservadores, y se enfrentaron a 18 meses difíciles por delante si querían evitar que la ambición de Kinnock de convertirse en primer ministro se hiciera realidad. Al mismo tiempo, la economía se deslizaba hacia otra recesión . [63]
Las tensiones internas del partido llevaron a un desafío de liderazgo por parte del diputado conservador Michael Heseltine ; y, tras meses de especulaciones sobre su futuro como Primera Ministra, dimitió el 28 de noviembre de 1990, dando paso a un nuevo líder conservador con más probabilidades de ganar las próximas elecciones generales en aras de la unidad del partido. [sesenta y cinco]
John Major (1990-1997)
John Major ganó las elecciones de liderazgo del partido el 27 de noviembre de 1990 y su nombramiento supuso un impulso casi inmediato en la suerte del Partido Conservador. Una encuesta de MORI seis días antes de la renuncia de Thatcher había mostrado que los conservadores estaban 11 puntos por detrás del laborismo, pero en dos meses los conservadores habían regresado a la cima de las encuestas de opinión con una pequeña ventaja. [63]
Debían celebrarse elecciones generales en los próximos dieciocho meses y la economía del Reino Unido entraba en recesión , pero 1991 fue un año de incertidumbre electoral, ya que los conservadores y los laboristas intercambiaron regularmente lugares en la cima de las encuestas de opinión, y Major se resistió a la respuesta de Neil Kinnock. numerosas convocatorias de elecciones inmediatas. [63]
La elección finalmente se celebró el 9 de abril de 1992 y los conservadores obtuvieron una cuarta victoria electoral consecutiva, a pesar de que la economía todavía estaba en recesión y la mayoría de las encuestas habían pronosticado una estrecha victoria laborista o un parlamento colgado . Se consideró que la vigorosa campaña de Major, en particular su afirmación de que el Reino Unido tendría precios e impuestos más altos bajo un gobierno laborista, fue crucial para su victoria electoral (en la que se convirtió en el primer primer ministro, y a partir de 2015, en atraer 14 millones de votos en una elección general), al igual que una campaña de alto perfil del periódico The Sun contra el líder laborista Neil Kinnock, quien renunció a raíz de las elecciones para ser reemplazado por John Smith . El Partido Conservador también se refirió al tema de la inmigración, afirmando que bajo el Laborismo, la inmigración aumentaría enormemente. [66]
La economía del Reino Unido estaba profundamente en recesión en esta etapa y permaneció así hasta finales de año. La libra esterlina fue expulsada del Mecanismo de Tipo de Cambio Europeo el 16 de septiembre de 1992, un día a partir de entonces denominado Miércoles Negro .
Poco después, aproximadamente un millón de cabezas de familia enfrentaron la recuperación de sus hogares durante una recesión que vio un fuerte aumento en el desempleo, llevándolo a cerca de 3.000.000 de personas. Posteriormente, el partido perdió gran parte de su reputación de buena administración financiera, aunque el fin de la recesión se declaró en abril de 1993 [67], lo que trajo la recuperación económica y una caída del desempleo.
De 1994 a 1997, Major privatizó British Rail , dividiéndola en franquicias que serían administradas por el sector privado . Su éxito es objeto de acalorados debates , con un gran aumento en el número de pasajeros y la inversión en la red equilibrada por las preocupaciones sobre el nivel de la subvención. Las tarifas de tren cuestan más que con British Rail . [69]
El partido estuvo plagado de divisiones internas y luchas internas, principalmente por el papel del Reino Unido en la Unión Europea . El ala euroescéptica del partido , representada por diputados como John Redwood , se opuso a una mayor integración de la UE, mientras que el ala proeuropea del partido, representada por personas como el canciller de Hacienda Kenneth Clarke , apoyó ampliamente. La cuestión de la creación de una moneda única europea también avivó las tensiones, que continuarían acosando al partido hasta principios de la década de 2000 ". [70]
Major también tuvo que sobrevivir a un desafío de liderazgo en 1995 por parte del Secretario de Estado de Gales, el mencionado John Redwood. Major sobrevivió, pero Redwood recibió 89 votos de los parlamentarios, así como el respaldo del periódico Sun , que describió la elección entre "Redwood o Deadwood". Esto socavó aún más la influencia de Major en el Partido Conservador. [71]
El gobierno conservador también fue acusado cada vez más en los medios de " sordidez ". Su apoyo alcanzó su punto más bajo a finales de 1994, tras la repentina muerte del líder del Partido Laborista John Smith y la elección de Tony Blair como su sucesor, cuando el Partido Laborista tenía hasta el 60% de los votos en las encuestas de opinión y tenía una ventaja de unos 30. apunta por delante de los conservadores. La ventaja laborista se redujo gradualmente durante los dos años siguientes, ya que los conservadores ganaron algo de crédito por la fuerte recuperación económica y la caída del desempleo. Pero a medida que se acercaban las elecciones generales de 1997 , a pesar de su destacada campaña New Labor, New Danger , todavía parecía seguro que los laboristas ganarían. [63]
Una eficaz campaña de oposición del Partido Laborista culminó con una aplastante derrota de los conservadores en 1997, que fue la mayor victoria parlamentaria de la historia del laborismo y la peor derrota de los conservadores desde las elecciones generales de 1906, 91 años antes. Las elecciones generales de 1997 dejaron al Partido Conservador como un partido exclusivo de Inglaterra, con todos los escaños escoceses y galeses que se perdieron, y no se ganó ni un solo escaño nuevo en ninguna parte.
Desierto político (1997-2005)
William Hague
John Major dimitió como líder del partido después de que los conservadores fueran fuertemente derrotados en un deslizamiento de tierra y fue sucedido por William Hague . Aunque Hague era un orador fuerte, una encuesta de Gallup para The Daily Telegraph encontró que dos tercios de los votantes lo consideraban "un poco valiente", [72] para titulares como su afirmación de que bebió 14 pintas de cerveza en un un solo día en su juventud. También fue criticado por asistir al Carnaval de Notting Hill y por usar una gorra de béisbol en público en lo que fueron vistos como malos intentos de atraer a los votantes más jóvenes. [73] Poco antes de las elecciones generales de 2001 , Hague fue muy difamado por un discurso en el que predijo que un gobierno laborista reelegido convertiría el Reino Unido en una "tierra extranjera". [74] La BBC también informó que el par conservador John Lord Taylor criticó a Hague por no quitarle el látigo a John Townend , un diputado conservador, después de que este último pronunció un discurso en el que dijo que los británicos se estaban convirtiendo en "una raza mestiza", aunque Hague rechazó las opiniones de Townend. [75]
Las elecciones generales de 2001 resultaron en una ganancia neta de sólo un escaño para el Partido Conservador, pocos meses después de que las protestas de combustible de septiembre de 2000 hubieran visto a los conservadores tomar brevemente una pequeña ventaja sobre los laboristas en las encuestas de opinión. [63]
Habiéndose fijado en privado un objetivo de 209 escaños, [ cita requerida ] igualando el desempeño laborista en 1983 —un objetivo que no alcanzó por 43— William Hague renunció poco después.
Iain Duncan Smith y Michael Howard
En 2001 Iain Duncan Smith (a menudo conocido como IDS o simplemente: "Duncan Smith") fue elegido líder del Partido Conservador. Aunque Duncan Smith era un euroescéptico fuerte , el tema no definió su liderazgo, aunque durante su mandato, Europa dejó de ser un tema de división en el partido, ya que se unió detrás de los llamados a un referéndum sobre la Constitución de la Unión Europea propuesta .
Sin embargo, antes de que pudiera llevar al partido a unas elecciones generales, Duncan Smith perdió la votación por una moción de censura de los parlamentarios que sintieron que el partido no volvería al gobierno bajo su liderazgo. Esto fue a pesar de que el apoyo de los conservadores igualaba al del laborismo en los meses previos a su salida del liderazgo. [63]
Michael Howard luego se presentó a la dirección sin oposición el 6 de noviembre de 2003.
Bajo el liderazgo de Howard en las elecciones generales de 2005 , el Partido Conservador aumentó su porcentaje total de votos en alrededor de 0,7% (hasta 32,4%) y, más significativamente, su número de escaños parlamentarios en 33 (hasta 198 escaños). Esta ganancia acompañó a una gran disminución en el voto laborista, y la elección redujo la mayoría laborista de 167 a 68 y su participación en los votos al 35,2%. [76] La campaña, basada en el lema " ¿Estás pensando en lo que estamos pensando? ", Fue diseñada por el encuestador australiano Lynton Crosby . Al día siguiente de las elecciones, el 6 de mayo, Howard anunció que no creía que fuera correcto continuar como líder después de la derrota en las elecciones generales, y también dijo que sería demasiado mayor para llevar al partido a otra campaña y, por lo tanto, daría un paso abajo después de dar tiempo al partido para enmendar sus reglas de elección de liderazgo.
David Cameron (2005-2016)
David Cameron ganó las elecciones de liderazgo de 2005 . Cameron derrotó a su rival más cercano, David Davis , por un margen de más de dos a uno, obteniendo 134,446 votos contra 64,398. Luego anunció su intención de reformar y realinear a los conservadores, diciendo que necesitaban cambiar la forma en que se veían, sentían, pensaban y se comportaban, defendiendo una postura más de centroderecha en oposición a su reciente plataforma incondicional de derecha. [77] Aunque las opiniones de Cameron están probablemente a la izquierda de los miembros del partido y buscó hacer que la marca conservadora sea más atractiva para los votantes jóvenes y socialmente liberales, [78] también ha expresado su admiración por Margaret Thatcher , describiéndose a sí mismo como " gran admirador de Thatcher ", aunque se pregunta si eso lo convierte en un" Thatcherita ". Durante la mayor parte de 2006 y la primera mitad de 2007, las encuestas mostraron ventajas sobre el laborismo para los conservadores. [79]
Las encuestas se volvieron más volátiles en el verano de 2007 con la adhesión de Gordon Brown como primer ministro, aunque las encuestas dieron a los conservadores una ventaja después de octubre de ese año y, en mayo de 2008, con la economía del Reino Unido deslizándose hacia su primera recesión desde 1992 . Los conservadores obtuvieron el control de la alcaldía de Londres por primera vez en mayo de 2008 después de que Boris Johnson derrotara al titular laborista, Ken Livingstone . [80]
La ventaja de los conservadores en las encuestas de opinión había permanecido casi ininterrumpida durante casi tres años cuando Gran Bretaña finalmente acudió a las urnas el 6 de mayo de 2010, aunque desde el cambio de 2010 la mayoría de las encuestas habían mostrado que la ventaja de los conservadores tenía menos de 10 puntos de ancho. La elección resultó en un parlamento colgado con los conservadores teniendo la mayoría de los escaños (306) pero quedando veinte escaños por debajo de la mayoría general. Luego de la renuncia de Gordon Brown como primer ministro y líder del Partido Laborista cinco días después, David Cameron fue nombrado nuevo primer ministro del país y los conservadores ingresaron al gobierno en coalición con los liberales demócratas , el primer gobierno de coalición de posguerra . [81]
En mayo de 2014, los conservadores fueron derrotados en las elecciones parlamentarias europeas , quedando en tercer lugar detrás del Partido de la Independencia del Reino Unido y el Laborismo. El UKIP terminó con 24 eurodiputados, 20 laboristas y conservadores 19. El resultado fue descrito por el líder del UKIP, Nigel Farage, como "desastroso" para Cameron y los líderes de los otros partidos principales. [82]
En septiembre de 2014, el lado unionista, defendido por el Partido Laborista, así como por el Partido Conservador y los Demócratas Liberales, ganó en el referéndum de Independencia de Escocia por un 55% de No a un 45% de Sí en la pregunta "¿Debería Escocia ser un país independiente?". Esto puede verse como una victoria para el sindicalismo británico , una parte fundamental de la ideología conservadora tradicional, y también para David Cameron como primer ministro en ejercicio.
En las elecciones generales de 2015 , los conservadores obtuvieron la mayoría de escaños en la Cámara de los Comunes y formaron un gobierno mayoritario con David Cameron. El partido aumentó su porcentaje de votos a nivel nacional, convirtiéndose en el primer partido en el poder en hacerlo desde 1900. El resultado fue inesperado y superó incluso las expectativas de la dirección del partido, ya que la mayoría de las encuestas habían predicho un parlamento colgado. [83] [84] Esta fue también la primera elección general desde 1992 en la que los conservadores habían ganado una mayoría total, aunque el porcentaje de votos del 36,9% fue menor que los cuatro gobiernos de mayoría conservadora anteriores bajo Thatcher y Major. [85] En marzo de 2017, el partido recibió una multa de 70.000 libras esterlinas, la multa más grande de este tipo en la historia política británica, después de que una investigación de la Comisión Electoral descubrió "fallas significativas" del partido para informar sobre los gastos de la campaña electoral de 2015 . [86]
En la mañana del viernes 24 de junio de 2016, Cameron anunció su intención de dimitir como Primer Ministro, después de que no logró convencer al público británico de permanecer en la Unión Europea , y posteriormente se anunció la elección del liderazgo del Partido Conservador con Theresa May , Michael Gove , Stephen Crabb , Liam Fox y Andrea Leadsom confirmaron como los contendientes oficiales para ser su sucesor con Boris Johnson descartándose del proceso. [87] Después de que Crabb se retiró, Fox y luego Gove fueron eliminados en votaciones sucesivas por los parlamentarios conservadores, dejando a Leadsom y May como los candidatos finales que se presentarán ante la membresía más amplia del Partido Conservador. [88] Leadsom se retiró posteriormente del concurso el 11 de julio. [89]
Theresa May (2016-2019)
El 11 de julio de 2016, Theresa May se convirtió en líder del Partido Conservador con efecto inmediato tras la retirada de la elección de liderazgo de su único oponente restante, Andrea Leadsom . Nombrado Primer Ministro del Reino Unido el 13 de julio de 2016, May prometió una reforma social y una perspectiva política más centrista para el Partido Conservador y su gobierno. [90] En un discurso después de su nombramiento, May enfatizó el término unionista en el nombre del partido, recordando a todos "el precioso, precioso vínculo entre Inglaterra, Escocia, Gales e Irlanda del Norte". [91] May se considera conservadora de una sola nación . [92]
Los primeros nombramientos de May en el gabinete fueron interpretados como "centristas y conciliadores", un esfuerzo por reunir al partido tras la votación del Reino Unido para abandonar la Unión Europea , y como "un giro a la derecha" según The Guardian . [93]
May nombró al exalcalde de Londres Boris Johnson como secretario de Relaciones Exteriores , a la exsecretaria de Estado de Energía y Cambio Climático a Amber Rudd como secretaria del Interior , y al exsecretario del Interior en la sombra, David Davis, a la recién creada oficina del secretario del Brexit . [94] Liam Fox y Philip Hammond , quienes anteriormente se habían desempeñado como Secretario de Estado de Defensa (Fox de 2010 a 2011 y Hammond de 2011 a 2014), fueron nombrados para la oficina recién creada de Secretario de Comercio Internacional y como Canciller de la Hacienda respectivamente. [95] [96] Reemplazando a Michael Gove , Elizabeth Truss fue nombrada Secretaria de Justicia, la "primera mujer canciller en los mil años de historia del papel". [97] Andrea Leadsom , quien fue ministra de Energía y principal competidora de May para el líder del partido, fue nombrada secretaria de Medio Ambiente. [98] Sin embargo, la exsecretaria de Irlanda del Norte, Theresa Villiers, renunció al gabinete después de que May le ofreciera un puesto diferente, que no pertenecía al gabinete, que era, dijo, "uno que yo sentía que no podía asumir". [99] Casi la mitad del primer ministerio de mayo fueron mujeres. [100]
En su primer discurso, May hizo la promesa de combatir la "injusticia candente" en la sociedad británica y crear una unión "entre todos nuestros ciudadanos" y prometió ser una defensora de la "familia de la clase trabajadora común" y no solo de " privilegiados "en el Reino Unido. [101]
En abril de 2017, el Gabinete acordó celebrar elecciones generales el 8 de junio. [102] Durante la campaña resultante, Theresa May pidió al electorado que "fortaleciera mi mano" en las negociaciones del Brexit , prometió "un liderazgo fuerte y estable en el interés nacional" y advirtió sobre una "coalición de caos" bajo Jeremy Corbyn.
Contrariamente a las encuestas de opinión en ese momento, la elección resultó en un parlamento colgado , con el Partido Conservador con 317 escaños en la Cámara de los Comunes, pero sin una mayoría general. El Partido Unionista Democrático sugirió que podría proporcionar un acuerdo de confianza y suministro en función de las negociaciones. [103] El 9 de junio de 2017, May anunció su intención de formar un nuevo gobierno minoritario con el apoyo del DUP, [104] que finalizó el 26 de junio. [105]
El 8 de enero de 2018, May anunció su primera reorganización importante del gabinete, manteniendo en su lugar a la mayoría de los ministros, pero promoviendo a otros. [106]
En mayo de 2018, el Partido Conservador fue acusado de no tomar medidas contra la islamofobia que supuestamente estaba sucediendo en el partido . [107]
En febrero de 2019, tres parlamentarias conservadoras, Heidi Allen , Sarah Wollaston y Anna Soubry , desertaron del partido para unirse al Grupo Independiente , una asociación política de parlamentarios pro-UE fundada por siete exmiembros del Partido Laborista. Los parlamentarios dijeron que las razones de su partida fueron su oposición al manejo del Brexit por parte del partido, lo que vieron como la toma del partido conservador por parlamentarios de `` derecha, ... de línea dura anti-UE '' y la falta de preocupación por parte de los parlamentarios. el Partido Conservador para los "más vulnerables de la sociedad". [108] [109]
May anunció su renuncia al liderazgo del Partido Conservador el 24 de mayo de 2019, con la intención de dejar el cargo el 7 de junio. Sin embargo, siguió siendo Primera Ministra hasta que el partido eligió un sucesor. [110]
Theresa May dimitió como Primera Ministra el 24 de julio de 2019 después de que su sucesor, Boris Johnson , fuera elegido el 23 de julio de 2019. Permaneció como miembro del Parlamento por la circunscripción parlamentaria de Maidenhead y ganó la reelección para un nuevo mandato como diputada en las elecciones generales de diciembre .
Boris Johnson (2019-presente)
En julio de 2019, el exsecretario de Relaciones Exteriores y alcalde de Londres, Boris Johnson, derrotó al secretario de Relaciones Exteriores Jeremy Hunt , con el 66% de los votos en la votación final de los miembros del Partido Conservador, para convertirse en líder del Partido Conservador. [111] Se convirtió en Primer Ministro al día siguiente.
Johnson perdió su mayoría de trabajo en la Cámara de los Comunes el 3 de septiembre de 2019 cuando el exministro de Justicia Phillip Lee cruzó la sala durante el discurso de Johnson para unirse a los Demócratas Liberales , y luego explicó que creía que el Partido Conservador había sido "infectado con las enfermedades gemelas del populismo". y nacionalismo inglés ". [112] [113] El mismo día, el ex ministro de Hacienda, Philip Hammond, anunció que "defendería a su partido" contra los "recién llegados ", percibidos por algunos como una referencia al asesor de Johnson, Dominic Cummings . [114] Más tarde ese mismo día, 21 diputados conservadores hicieron que se retirara el látigo conservador después de votar con la Oposición para otorgar a la Cámara de los Comunes el control sobre su documento de orden, lo que llevó a Johnson a convertirse en el primer Primer Ministro en perder su primer voto de los Comunes. [115]
Las votaciones posteriores en los Comunes llevaron a la aprobación de la Ley Benn , que el primer ministro Johnson denominó controvertidamente la "Ley de rendición". [116] La ley requería que el Primer Ministro solicitara una prórroga formal del artículo 50 si el Parlamento no había aprobado un nuevo acuerdo de retirada antes del 19 de octubre de 2019. Después de haber acordado un acuerdo de retirada revisado (WA) con la Unión Europea el 17 de octubre , [117] el Gobierno presentó una moción ante la Cámara de los Comunes en una rara Sábado sentado el 19 de octubre. Esta moción solicitó aprobación para el WA revisado, de modo que la Ley Benn se hubiera cumplido y no se requeriría legalmente ninguna extensión al Artículo 50. Se aprobó una enmienda a la moción, reteniendo la aprobación formal del WA hasta que el Parlamento hubiera aprobado toda la legislación necesaria. La semana siguiente, se presentó el Proyecto de Ley de Acuerdo de Retirada (WAB) completo . Pasó una segunda lectura, pero la moción de programa del proyecto de ley presentada por el Gobierno fue rechazada. Esto significaba que no había garantía de que la legislación se aprobara a tiempo para permitir que el Reino Unido se retirara legalmente de la Unión Europea (UE) el 31 de octubre. Johnson se había retirado de la UE para esta fecha "sin peros ni tal vez", una promesa clave durante su campaña por el liderazgo del Partido Conservador . [118]
Johnson inmediatamente detuvo la WAB y luego pidió que se llevaran a cabo elecciones generales. Dejó en claro su opinión de que el Parlamento estaba "... negándose a entregar el Brexit. Es imposible aprobar la legislación. Es hora, francamente, de que la oposición tenga el valor de someterse al juicio de nuestro jefe colectivo, que es el Reino Unido". " [119] Después de no conseguir el apoyo necesario de dos tercios de todos los diputados para convocar elecciones de conformidad con las disposiciones de la Ley de parlamentos de duración determinada , el Gobierno indicó su intención de aprobar un proyecto de ley breve que requiere solo una mayoría simple de votos para celebrar tal elección. La ley de elecciones generales parlamentarias anticipadas se aprobó el 29 de octubre de 2019 y especificaba que se celebrarían elecciones generales el 12 de diciembre de 2019. Esta elección dio como resultado que los conservadores de Johnson obtuvieran una mayoría de 80 escaños en la Cámara de los Comunes, una mejora significativa en su resultado de 2017, y de hecho la mayoría más grande del Partido desde 1987 , bajo Thatcher. [120] El partido ganó varios distritos electorales, especialmente en el norte de Inglaterra, pero también en Midlands y North Wales (a menudo llamado Labour's Red Wall ), que el partido nunca había ganado antes o no había producido una mayoría conservadora en varias décadas. Estos resultados provocaron observaciones de varios analistas políticos tanto en el Reino Unido como en el extranjero de que los conservadores bajo Johnson habían ampliado su atractivo para los votantes de la clase trabajadora, particularmente entre aquellos que habían votado por el Brexit . [121] [122] Habiendo estado previamente divididos sobre el tema de la membresía británica de la Unión Europea desde el cargo de primer ministro de John Major , los conservadores han adoptado una clara línea pro-Brexit bajo Johnson.
Desde las elecciones, varios activistas de extrema derecha afirman haberse unido a los conservadores, lo que generó preocupaciones sobre el entrismo . [123] [124]
Políticas
Economic policy
The Conservative Party believes that free markets and individual achievement are the primary factors behind economic prosperity. A leading economic theory advocated by Conservatives is supply-side economics, this theory holds that reduced income tax rates increase GDP growth and thereby generate the same or more revenue for the government from the smaller tax on the extra growth. This belief is reflected, in part, by the advocacy of tax cuts. The party has recently focused on the social market economy in Britain, promoting a free market for competition with social balance to create fairness. This has included curbs on the banking sector, enterprise zones to revive regions in Britain and grand infrastructure projects such as high-speed rail.[125][126]
One concrete economic policy of recent years has been opposition to the European single currency, the euro. With the growing Euroscepticism within his party, John Major negotiated a British opt-out in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, which enabled the UK to stay within the European Union without adopting the single currency. However, several members of Major's cabinet, such as Kenneth Clarke, were personally supportive of EMU participation. Following Major's resignation after the 1997 election defeat, all subsequent Conservative leaders have positioned the party firmly against the adoption of the euro.
Following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election, the Conservative Party opposed Labour's decision to grant the Bank of England independent control of interest rates—on the grounds that it would be a prelude to the abolition of the pound sterling and acceptance of the European single currency, and also expressed concern over the removal of monetary policy from democratic control. However, Bank independence was popular amongst the financial community as it helped to keep inflation low.[127] The Conservatives accepted Labour's policy in early 2000.[128]
Since returning to power, the 50% top rate of income tax was reduced to 45% by the Cameron-Clegg coalition.[129] Alongside a reduction in tax and commitments to keep taxation low, the Conservative Party has significantly reduced government spending, through the austerity programme which commenced in 2010. This program became increasing unpopular and as a result, during the 2019 election campaign, now incumbent Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled an end to austerity with promises to restore 20,000 police officers from those previously cut and increase public investment in the NHS, amongst other anti-austerity promises.
Social policy
Since the election of David Cameron as party leader, the Conservative Party has distanced itself from association with social conservatism. Socially conservative policies such as tax incentives for married couples and the belief that benefits for those out of work should be reduced may have played a role in the party's electoral decline in the 1990s and early 2000s, and so the party has attempted to seek a new direction. The introduction of equal marriage rights for LGBT+ individuals in 2010 can be said to have represented a shift away from social conservatism, though the extent to which this policy truly represented a more 'liberal' Conservative party has been challenged.[130]
Since 1997, debate has occurred within the party between 'modernisers' such as Alan Duncan,[131] who believe that the Conservatives should modify their public stances on social issues, and 'traditionalists' such as Liam Fox[132][133] and Owen Paterson,[134] who believe that the party should remain faithful to its traditional conservative platform. William Hague and Michael Howard campaigned on traditionalist grounds in the 2001 and 2005 general elections respectively, and 2001 also saw the election of traditionalist Iain Duncan Smith as party leader. In the current parliament, modernising forces are represented by MPs such as Neil O'Brien, who has argued that the party needs to renew its policies and image, and is said to be inspired by Macron's centrist politics.[135] Ruth Davidson is also seen as a reforming figure, as is the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Kemi Badenoch. Many of the original 'traditionalists' remain influential, though Ian Duncan Smith's influence in terms of Commons contributions has waned.[136] Many 'traditionalist' backbenchers such as Christopher Chope, Peter Bone and Jacob Rees-Mogg command significant media attention for their use of fillibustering and frequent interjections, and so remain influential forces in the Commons, though they cannot be taken to represent all 'traditionalist' Conservatives.
The party has strongly criticised Labour's "state multiculturalism".[137] Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said in 2008 that state multiculturalism policies had created a "terrible" legacy of "cultural despair" and dislocation, which has encouraged support for "extremists" on both sides of the debate.[138] David Cameron responded to Grieve's comments by agreeing that policies of "state multiculturalism" that treat social groups as distinct, for example policies that "treat British Muslims as Muslims, rather than as British citizens", are wrong. However, he expressed support for the premise of multiculturalism on the whole, arguing that it was "absolutely right" to encourage society to integrate more "to build a strong British identity for the future".[138]
Official statistics showed that EU and non-EU mass immigration, together with asylum seeker applications, all increased substantially during Cameron's term in office.[139][140][141] However, this was not solely as a result of intentional government policy – during this period, there were significant refugee flows into the UK and an increased level of asylum applications due to conflict and persecution in a number of other states.[142] Some political and media discourses at the time suggested that this increase in immigration and reception of refugees and asylum seekers caused significant strain on other areas of social policy through overburdening the NHS and the welfare state – these discourses were influential, but have not been empirically or decisively proven to be true.[143] In 2019, Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that the government would enact stricter immigration reforms by cracking down on illegal immigration and scrapping freedom of movement with the European Union following the completion of Brexit. These reforms also included introducing more stringent measures for migrating to the UK such as requiring that immigrants speak English, have skilled job offers, and meet minimum salary requirements, as well as persuading businesses to hire British workers over outsourcing to low-skilled immigrants.[144]
Foreign policy
For much of the 20th century, the Conservative Party took a broadly Atlanticist stance in relations with the United States, favouring close ties with the United States and similarly aligned nations such as Canada, Australia and Japan. The Conservatives have generally favoured a diverse range of international alliances, ranging from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the Commonwealth of Nations.
Close US-British relations have been an element of Conservative foreign policy since World War II. Winston Churchill during his 1951–1955 post-war premiership built up a strong relationship with the Eisenhower Administration in the United States. Harold Macmillan demonstrated a similarly close relationship with the Democratic administration of John F. Kennedy. Though the US–British relationship in foreign affairs has often been termed a 'Special Relationship', a term coined by Winston Churchill, this has often been observed most clearly where leaders in each country are of a similar political stripe. The former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher built a close relationship with the American President Ronald Reagan in his opposition to the former Soviet Union, but John Major was less successful in his personal contacts with George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.[citation needed] Out of power and perceived as largely irrelevant by American politicians, Conservative leaders Hague, Duncan-Smith, and Howard each struggled to forge personal relationships with presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. However, the Republican 2008 presidential candidate, John McCain, spoke at the 2006 Conservative Party Conference.[145]
The Conservatives have proposed a Pan-African Free Trade Area, which it says could help entrepreneurial dynamism of African people.[146] The Conservatives pledged to increase aid spending to 0.7% of national income by 2013.[146] They met this pledge in 2014, when spending on aid reached 0.72% of GDP and the commitment was enshrined in UK law in 2015.[147]
David Cameron had sought to distance himself from former US President Bush and his neoconservative foreign policy, calling for a "rebalancing" of US-UK ties[148] and met Barack Obama during his 2008 European tour. Despite traditional links between the UK Conservatives and US Republicans, and between centre-left Labour and the Democrats, London Mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative, endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 election.[149] However, since his ascension to becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has developed a close relationship with Republican President Donald Trump, with both British and American media commentators drawing physical and ideological comparisons between the two leaders.[150][151][152] This has also been described as a reestablishing of the Special Relationship with the United States following Britain's withdraw from the European Union, as well as returning to the links between the Conservatives and Republican Party.[153]
Beyond relations with the United States, the Commonwealth and the EU, the Conservative Party has generally supported a pro free-trade foreign policy within the mainstream of international affairs. The degree to which Conservative Governments have supported interventionist or non-interventionist presidents in the US has often varied with the personal relations between the US president and the British prime minister.
Although stances have changed with successive leadership, the modern Conservative Party generally supports cooperation and maintaining friendly relations with the State of Israel. Historic Conservative statesmen such as Arthur Balfour and Winston Churchill supported the idea of national home for the Jewish people. Under Margaret Thatcher Conservative support for Israel was seen to crystallize.[154][155] Support for Israel has increased under the leaderships of Theresa May and Boris Johnson, with prominent Conservative figures within the May and Johnson ministries such as Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid strongly endorsing Israel. In 2016, Theresa May publicly rebutted statements made by US Secretary of State John Kerry over the composition of the Israeli government, which some commentators saw as a closer alignment to the stance of the incoming Trump administration.[156][157] In 2018, the party pledged to proscribe all wings of the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah and this was adopted as a UK-wide policy in 2019.[158][159] In 2019, the Conservative government under Boris Johnson announced plans to stop the influence of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on local politics which included prohibiting local councils in the United Kingdom from boycotting Israeli products.[160][161][162]
The Conservatives maintain a continuous stance of staying neutral on matters relating to Kashmir.
Defence policy
Afghanistan
Since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the Conservative Party has supported the coalition military action in Afghanistan. The Conservative Party believes that success in Afghanistan is defined in terms of the Afghans achieving the capability to maintain their own internal and external security.[163] They have repeatedly criticised the former Labour Government for failing to equip British Forces adequately in the earlier days on the campaign—especially highlighting the shortage of helicopters for British Forces resulting from Gordon Brown's £1.4bn cut to the helicopter budget in 2004.[164]
Strategic Defence and Security Review
The Conservative Party believes that in the 21st century defence and security are interlinked. It has pledged to break away from holding a traditional Strategic Defence Review and have committed to carrying out a more comprehensive Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) immediately upon coming into office. This review will include both defence and homeland security related matters. The Labour Government last conducted a review in 1998. To prevent a long gap in the future it also pledged to hold regular defence reviews every 4–5 years, and if necessary will put this requirement into legislation. Party officials claim that the SDSR will be a major improvement, and will ensure that Britain maintains generic and flexible capability to adapt to any changing threats. It will be a cross-departmental review that will begin with foreign policy priorities and will bring together all the levers of domestic national security policy with overseas interests and defence priorities.[165]
As well as an SDSR, the Conservative Party pledged in 2010 to undertake a fundamental and far-reaching review of the procurement process and how defence equipment is provided in Britain. It pledged to reform the procurement process, compile a Green Paper on Sovereignty Capability, and publish another Defence Industrial Strategy following on from the Defence Industrial Strategy in 2005. The Conservative Party has said that there will be four aims for British defence procurement: to provide the best possible equipment at the best possible price; to streamline the procurement process to ensure the speedy delivery of equipment to the front line; to support our industry jobs at home by increasing defence exports; to provide defence procurement that underpins strategic relationships abroad and; to provide predictability to the defence industry.
The Conservative Party also pledged to increase Britain's share of the global defence market as Government policy.
NATO
The Conservative Party upholds the view that NATO remains and should remain the most important security alliance for the United Kingdom.[166]
It has advocated for the creation of a fairer funding mechanism for NATO's expeditionary operations and called for all NATO countries to meet their required defence spending 2% of GDP. As well as this, some Conservatives believe that there is scope for expanding NATO's Article V to include new 21st Century threats such as cybersecurity.
European defence
The Conservative Party aims to build enhanced bilateral defence relations with key European partners and believes that it is in Britain's national interest to cooperate fully with all its European neighbours. It has pledged to ensure that any EU military capability must supplement and not supplant British national defence and NATO, and that it is not in the British interest to hand over security to any supranational body.[167]
The Conservatives see it as a priority to encourage all members of the European Union to do more in terms of a commitment to European security at home and abroad.
Regarding the defence role of the European Union, the Conservatives pledged to re-examine some of Britain's EU Defence commitments to determine their practicality and utility; specifically, to reassess UK participation provisions like Permanent Structured Cooperation, the European Defence Agency and EU Battlegroups to determine if there is any value in Britain's participation.
Nuclear weapons
The Conservatives support the UK's possession of nuclear weapons through the Trident nuclear missile programme.[167]
Health policy
In 1945, the Conservatives declared support for universal healthcare.[168] Since entering office in 2010, they have introduced the Health and Social Care Act, constituting the biggest reformation that the NHS has ever undertaken. However, there has been much criticism and protest about the 2010 government's actions on the NHS, focussing on budget cuts and privatisation of services. After a 2013 union protest said by police to have been one of the largest protests seen in Manchester, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said that austerity was having a devastating effect, with 21,000 NHS jobs lost over the previous three months alone, and that "The NHS is one of Britain's finest achievements and we will not allow ministers to destroy, through cuts and privatisation, what has taken generations to build." The Department of Health responded that there was "absolutely no government policy to privatise NHS services".[169]
Drug policies
Views on drug legality and policing vary greatly within the Conservative Party. Some Conservative politicians such as Alan Duncan and Crispin Blunt take the libertarian approach that individual freedom and economic freedom of industry and trade should be respected. Other Conservative politicians, despite being economically liberal, are in favour of full prohibition of the ownership and trade of many drugs. Other Conservatives are in the middle ground, favouring stances such as looser regulation and decriminalisation of some drugs. Legalisation of cannabis for medical uses is favoured by some Conservative politicians, including Boris Johnson.[170]
Education and research
In education, the Conservatives have pledged to review the National Curriculum, and introduce the English Baccalaureate. The restoration of discipline was also highlighted, as they want it to be easier for pupils to be searched for contraband items, the granting of anonymity to teachers accused by pupils, and the banning of expelled pupils being returned to schools via appeal panels.
In Higher education, the Conservatives have increased tuition fees to £9,250 per year, however have ensured that this will not be paid by anyone until they are earning over £25,000. The Scottish Conservatives also support the re-introduction of tuition fees in Scotland. In 2016 the Conservative government extended student loan access in England to postgraduate students to help improve access to education.[171]
Within the EU, the UK is one of the largest recipients of research funding in the European Union, receiving £7 billion between 2007 and 2015, which is invested in universities and research-intensive businesses.[172] Following the vote to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May guaranteed that the Conservative government would protect funding for existing research and development projects in the UK.[173]
In autumn 2017 the Conservatives decided to introduce the T Level qualification aimed at improving the teaching and administration of technical education.[174]
Family policy
As prime minister, David Cameron wanted to 'support family life in Britain' and put families at the centre of domestic social policymaking.[175] He stated in 2014 that there was 'no better place to start' in the Conservative mission of 'building society from the bottom up' than the family, which was responsible for individual welfare and well-being long before the welfare state came into play.[175] He also argued that 'family and politics are inextricably linked'.[175] Both Cameron and Theresa May have aimed at helping families achieve a work-home balance and have previously proposed to offer all parents 12 months parental leave, to be shared by parents as they choose.[176] This policy is now in place, offering 50 weeks total parental leave, of which 37 weeks are paid leave, which can be shared between both parents.[177]
Other policies have included doubling the free hours of childcare for working parents of three and four-year-olds from 15 hours to 30 hours a week during term-time, although parents can reduce the number of hours per week to 22 and spread across 52 weeks of the year. However, numerous childcare providers have argued that this policy is unworkable, as it means that they do not receive enough compensation from the government to make up for the lost childcare fees, and so their businesses are no longer financially viable.[178] The government also introduced a policy to fund 15 hours a week of free education and childcare for 2-year-olds in England if parents are receiving certain state benefits or the child has a SEN statement or diagnosis, worth £2,500 a year per child.[179][180]
Jobs and welfare policy
One of the Conservatives' key policy goals in 2010 was to reduce the number of people in the UK claiming state benefits, and increase the number of people in the workforce. Between 2010 and 2014, all claimants of Incapacity Benefit were moved onto a new benefit scheme, Employment and Support Allowance, which was then subsumed into the Universal Credit system alongside other welfare benefits in 2018.[181][182] The Universal Credit system has come under immense scrutiny since its introduction. Shortly after her appointment to the Department for Work and Pensions, Secretary of State Amber Rudd acknowledged there were 'real problems' with the Universal Credit system, especially the wait times for initial payments and the housing payments aspect of the combined benefits.[183] Rudd pledged specifically to review and address the uneven impact of Universal Credit implementation on economically disadvantaged women, which had been the subject of numerous reports by the Radio 4 You and Yours programme and others.[183][184]
Until 1999, Conservatives opposed the creation of a national minimum wage, as they believed it would cost jobs, and businesses would be reluctant to start business in the UK from fear of high labour costs.[185] However the party have since pledged support and in the July 2015 budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced a National Living Wage of £9/hour, to be introduced by 2020, for those aged 25 and over.[186] The National Minimum Wage in 2012 was £6.19 for over-21 year olds, so the proposed rises in National Living Wage by 2020 will represent a significantly higher pay for many.[187] However, the National Living Wage varies significantly by age, and there is evidence that up to 200,000 eligible individuals are not actually receiving the pay that they should be under the National Living Wage scheme.[188] The party support, and have implemented, the restoration of the link between pensions and earnings, and seek to raise retirement age from 65 to 67 by 2028.[189]
Energy and climate change policy
David Cameron brought several 'green' issues to the forefront of his 2010 campaign. These included proposals designed to impose a tax on workplace car parking spaces, a halt to airport growth, a tax on cars with exceptionally poor petrol mileage, and restrictions on car advertising. Many of these policies were implemented in the Coalition—including the 'Green Deal'.[190]
Justice, crime and security policy
In 2010, the Conservatives campaigned to cut the perceived bureaucracy of the modern police force and pledged greater legal protection to people convicted of defending themselves against intruders.
The party has also campaigned for the creation of a UK Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act 1998, but this was vetoed by their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats. Some Conservatives, particularly within the socially conservative Cornerstone Group, support the re-introduction of the death penalty.
The Conservatives’ 2017 manifesto pledged to create a national infrastructure police force, subsuming the existing British Transport Police; Civil Nuclear Constabulary; and Ministry of Defence Police in order to “to improve the protection of critical infrastructure such as nuclear sites, railways and the strategic road network". However, this has not yet occurred.[191]
European Union policy
No subject has proved more divisive in the Conservative Party in recent history than the role of the United Kingdom within the European Union. Though the principal architect of the UK's entry into the European Communities (which became the European Union) was Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, and both Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan favoured some form of European union, the bulk of contemporary Conservative opinion is opposed to closer economic and particularly political union with the EU. This is a noticeable shift in British politics, as in the 1960s and 1970s the Conservatives were more pro-Europe than the Labour Party: for example, in the 1971 House of Commons vote on whether the UK should join the European Economic Community, only 39 of the then 330 Conservative MPs were opposed to membership.[192][193] Divisions on Europe came to the fore under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) and were cited by several ministers resigning, including Geoffrey Howe, the Deputy Prime Minister, whose resignation triggered the challenge that ended Thatcher's leadership. Under Thatcher's successor, John Major (1990–1997), the slow process of integration within the EU forced party tensions to the surface. A core of Eurosceptic MPs under Major used the small Conservative majority in Parliament to oppose Government policy on the Maastricht Treaty. By doing so they undermined Major's ability to govern.
The Conservative Party has members with varying opinions of the EU, with pro-European Conservatives joining the affiliate Conservative Group for Europe, while some Eurosceptics left the party to join the United Kingdom Independence Party. Whilst the vast majority of Conservatives in recent decades have been Eurosceptics, views among this group regarding the UK's relationship with the EU have been polarised between moderate, soft Eurosceptics who support continued British membership but oppose further harmonisation of regulations affecting business and accept participation in a multi-speed Europe, and a more radical, economically libertarian faction who oppose policy initiatives from Brussels, support the rolling back of integration measures from the Maastricht Treaty onwards, and have become increasingly supportive of a complete withdrawal.[192] Under current EU practices, the degree to which a Conservative Government could implement policy change regarding the EU would depend directly on the willingness of other EU member states to agree to such policies.
In 2009 the Conservative Party actively campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty, which it believes would give away too much sovereignty to Brussels. Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that, should the treaty be in force by the time of an incoming Conservative government, he would "not let matters rest there".[194] However, on 14 June 2009 the shadow Business Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, said in an interview to the BBC that the Conservative Party would not reopen negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty if the Irish backed it in a new referendum,[195] which they did on 2 October 2009.
The Conservative Party pledged an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union after a renegotiation. The referendum took place on 23 June 2016, and resulted in a vote to leave the European Union – a policy commonly referred to as Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May signed the notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which officially began Britain's withdrawal from the EU, on 28 March 2017, and at 12:20 on 29 March 2017, the UK ambassador Tim Barrow delivered the notice to EU president Donald Tusk, officially triggering what was intended to be a two-year process of leaving the European Union.
Following the election of Boris Johnson as leader, the Conservative Party became a strong supporter of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. On 3 September 2019 the Conservative group in the House of Commons withdrew its whip from twenty-one MPs who voted in favour of the so-called Benn-Burton Act, preventing the UK to leave the EU with no deal.
In the 2019 general election the Conservative Party adopted a clear pro-Brexit platform. Following the election, the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act was passed; the United Kingdom finally withdrew from the European Union on 31 January 2020.
British Union policy
The Conservatives staunchly support the maintenance of the United Kingdom, and oppose the independence of any of the countries of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland from it. They have had a mixed history on support for Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolution.
In 1968, Edward Heath issued his 'Perth declaration', in support of a Scottish assembly, in the wake of growing nationalism. However, the cause went unanswered during his turbulent premiership, and under Margaret Thatcher and John Major's leadership, the Conservatives vehemently opposed devolution, and campaigned against it in the 1997 devolution referendum. Following the Scottish Parliament's establishment in 1999, they have vowed to support its continued existence, and along with Labour and the Liberal Democrats, they supported the Scotland Bill (2011), granting further devolution of power. They campaigned alongside Labour and the Liberal Democrats against full Scottish Independence in the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum.
In Wales, the Conservatives campaigned against devolution in the 1997 referendum, however likewise as with Scotland, they have vowed to maintain the Senedd's continued existence, and in 2011 supported the further devolution of power.
In Northern Ireland, the Conservatives suspended the parliament in 1973 in the wake of the growing Troubles, and made unsuccessful attempts to re-establish it in the same year, and in 1982. They supported the Belfast Agreement negotiated by the Blair government in 1998, and in 2009, negotiated an electoral pact with the declining Ulster Unionist Party, whom it had previously been allied to before 1973 and informally during the John Major's tenure as Prime Minister. The pact was abandoned for the 2015 general election, where the Northern Ireland Conservatives ran their own candidates.
On 4 October 2016, the Democratic Unionist Party's leader Arlene Foster and MPs held a champagne reception at the Conservative Party conference, marking what some have described as an "informal coalition" or an "understanding" between the two parties to account for the Conservatives' narrow majority in the House of Commons.[196][197] Since then, the DUP has generally supported Conservative legislation.[198]
The party opposed Labour's attempts to devolve power to the northern regions of England in 2004. It declared support for a commission into the West Lothian question, as to whether or not only English MPs should be able to vote on issues solely affecting English matters following the Scottish Independence Referendum.
Constitutional policy
Traditionally the Conservative Party has supported the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom and its traditional Westminster system of politics. The party opposed many of Tony Blair's reforms, such as the removal of the hereditary peers,[199] the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, and the 2009 creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, a function formerly carried out by the House of Lords.
Until 2001, most members of the party opposed an elected House of Lords; however opinion was later split, shown in the vote on the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012, when 80 backbenchers voted for an 80% elected upper chamber, and 110 did not.[citation needed]
There was also a split on whether to introduce a British Bill of Rights that would replace the Human Rights Act 1998; David Cameron expressed support, but party grandee Ken Clarke described it as "xenophobic and legal nonsense".[200]
In 2019, the Conservatives' manifesto committed to a broad constitutional review in a line which read “after Brexit we also need to look at the broader aspects of our constitution: the relationship between the government, parliament and the courts".[201] Following the party's significant election victory, it remains unclear what this may mean.
Organización
Party structure
The Conservative Party comprises the voluntary party, parliamentary party (sometimes called the political party) and the professional party.
Members of the public join the party by becoming part of a local constituency Conservative Association.[202] The country is also divided into regions, with each region containing a number of areas, both having a similar structure to constituency associations. The National Conservative Convention sets the voluntary party's direction. It is composed of all association chairs, officers from areas and regions, and 42 representatives and the Conservative Women's Organisation.[203] The Convention meets twice a year. Its Annual General Meeting is usually held at Spring Forum, with another meeting usually held at the Conservative Party Conference. In the organisation of the Conservative Party, constituency associations dominate selection of local candidates, and some associations have organised open parliamentary primaries.
The 1922 Committee consists of backbench MPs, meeting weekly while parliament is sitting. Frontbench MPs have an open invitation to attend. The 1922 Committee plays a crucial role in the selection of party leaders. All Conservative MPs are members of the 1922 Committee by default. There are 20 executive members of the committee, agreed by consensus among backbench MPs.
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) is effectively head of the Professional Party and leads financing, organisation of elections and drafting of policy.
The Conservative Party Board is the party's ultimate decision making body, responsible for all operational matters (including fundraising, membership and candidates) and is made up of representatives from each (voluntary, political and professional) section of the Party.[203] The Party Board meets about once a month and works closely with CCHQ, elected representatives and the voluntary membership mainly through a number of management sub-committees (such as membership, candidates and conferences).
Membership
Membership peaked in the mid-1950s at approximately 3 million, before declining steadily through the second half of the 20th century.[206] Despite an initial boost shortly after David Cameron's election as leader in December 2005, membership resumed its decline in 2006 to a lower level than when he was elected. In 2010, the Conservative Party had about 177,000 members according to activist Tim Montgomerie,[207] and in 2013 membership was estimated by the party itself at 134,000.[208] The membership fee for the Conservative Party is £25, or £5 if the member is under the age of 23. From April 2013 until the 2015 general election people could join Team2015 without being Party members, and take part in political campaigning for the party. At the 2018 Conservative Spring Forum, Party Chairman Brandon Lewis announced that the party's membership stood at 124,000.[209]
In 2013 the Conservative Party lost an estimated 35-40% of its membership due to the Same Sex Marriage Bill.[210][211]
Prospective parliamentary candidates
Associations select their constituency's candidates.[202][212] Some associations have organised open parliamentary primaries. A constituency Association must choose a candidate using the rules approved by, and (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) from a list established by, the Committee on Candidates of the Board of the Conservative Party.[213] Prospective candidates apply to the Conservative Central Office to be included on the approved list of candidates, some candidates will be given the option of applying for any seat they choose, while others may be restricted to certain constituencies.[214][215] A Conservative MP can only be deselected at a special general meeting of the local Conservative association, which can only be organised if backed by a petition of more than fifty members.[214]
Young Conservatives
From 1998 to 2015, the Conservative Party maintained a youth wing for members under 30 called Conservative Future, with branches at both universities and at parliamentary constituency level. By 2006, the group had become the largest political organisation on British university campuses.[216] The organisation was closed in 2015 after allegations that bullying by Mark Clarke had caused the suicide of Elliot Johnson, a 21-year-old party activist.
Conferences
The major annual party events are the Spring Forum and the Conservative Party Conference, which takes place in Autumn in alternately Manchester or Birmingham. This is when the National Conservative Convention holds meetings.
Funding
In the first decade of the 21st century, half the party's funding came from a cluster of just fifty "donor groups", and a third of it from only fifteen.[217] In the year after the 2010 general election, half the Tories' funding came from the financial sector.[218]
For 2013, the Conservative Party had an income of £25.4 million, of which £749,000 came from membership subscriptions.[219]
In 2015, according to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission, the party had an income of about £41.8 million and expenditures of about £41 million.[220]
Construction businesses, including the Wates Group and JCB, have also been significant donors to the party, contributing £430,000 and £8.1m respectively between 2007 and 2017.[221]
International organisations
The Conservative Party is a member of a number of international organisations, most notably the International Democrat Union which unites right-wing parties including the United States Republican Party, the Liberal Party of Australia, the Indian Bharatiya Janata Party, the Conservative Party of Canada and the South Korean United Future Party.
At a European level, the Conservatives are members of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), which unites conservative parties in opposition to a federal European Union, through which the Conservatives have ties to the Ulster Unionist Party and the governing parties of Israel and Turkey, Likud and the Justice and Development Party respectively. In the European Parliament, the Conservative Party's MEPs sit in the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR Group), which is affiliated to the ACRE. Party leader David Cameron pushed the foundation of the ECR, which was launched in 2009, along with the Czech Civic Democratic Party and the Polish Law and Justice, before which the Conservative Party's MEPs sat in the European Democrats, which had become a subgroup of the European People's Party in the 1990s. Since the 2014 European election, the ECR Group has been the third-largest group, with the largest members being the Conservatives (nineteen MEPs), Law and Justice (eighteen MEPs), the Liberal Conservative Reformers (five MEPs), and the Danish People's Party and New Flemish Alliance (four MEPs each). In June 2009, The Conservatives required a further four partners apart from the Polish and Czech supports to qualify for official fraction status in the parliament; the rules state that a European parliamentary caucus requires at least 25 MEPs from at least seven of the 27 EU member states.[222] In forming the caucus, the party broke with two decades of co-operation by the UK's Conservative Party with the mainstream European Christian Democrats and conservatives in the European parliament, the European People's Party (EPP). It did so on the grounds that it is dominated by European federalists and supporters of the Lisbon treaty, which the Conservatives were generally highly critical of.[222]
Logo
When Sir Christopher Lawson was appointed as a marketing director at Conservative Central Office in 1981, he was surprised find to that, apart from a few diverse symbols, there was no logo to represent the party. He developed a design based on the Olympic flame in the colours of the Union Jack,[223] which was intended to represent leadership, striving to win, dedication, and a sense of community.[224] Despite opposition from some traditionalists in the party, the emblem was adopted for the 1983 general election.[223] In 1989, the party's director of communications, Brendan Bruce, decided to conduct some market research into the public reaction to the logo. The results were that recognition of the symbol was low and that people found it old fashioned and uninspiring. It was decided to redesign the existing logo, rather than adopt an entirely new one which might be interpreted as signalling a change of the party's ethos. Using a design company headed by Michael Peters, an image of a hand carrying a torch was developed, which referenced the Statue of Liberty.[225]
In 2006, there was a rebranding exercise to emphasise the Conservatives' commitment to environmentalism; a project costing £40,000 resulted in a sketched silhouette of an oak tree, a national symbol, which was said to represent "strength, endurance, renewal and growth". However, there was criticism from within the party; former chairman Norman Tebbit remarked on national radio that the new green logo resembled "a bunch of broccoli". It had been intended to unveil the emblem at the party conference, but a leak to the press resulted in it being launched a week earlier.[226] A change from green to the traditional Conservative blue colour appeared in 2007,[227] followed by a version with the Union Jack superimposed in 2010.[228] An alternative version featuring the colours of the Rainbow flag was unveiled for an LGBT event at the 2009 conference in Manchester.[229]
Facciones del partido
The Conservative Party has a variety of internal factions or ideologies, including one-nation conservatism,[230][231] liberal conservatism,[232] social conservatism, Thatcherism, traditional conservatism, neoconservatism,[233][234] Euroscepticism,[235] pro-Europeanism,[235] Christian democracy,[236][237] localism and green conservatism.
Traditionalist Conservatives
This socially conservative right-wing grouping is currently associated with the Cornerstone Group (or Faith, Flag and Family), and is the oldest tradition within the Conservative Party, closely associated with High Toryism. The name stems from its support for three British social institutions (though the Church is an English institution): the Church of England, the unitary British state and the family. To this end, it emphasises the country's Anglican heritage, oppose any transfer of power away from the United Kingdom—either downwards to the nations and regions or upwards to the European Union—and seek to place greater emphasis on traditional family structures to repair what it sees as a broken society in the UK. It is a strong advocate of marriage and believes the Conservative Party should back the institution with tax breaks and have opposed the alleged assaults on both traditional family structures and fatherhood.
Most oppose high levels of immigration and support the lowering of the current 24‑week abortion limit. Some members in the past have expressed support for capital punishment. Prominent MPs from this wing of the party include Andrew Rosindell, Nadine Dorries, Edward Leigh and Jacob Rees-Mogg—the latter two being prominent Roman Catholics, notable in a faction marked out by its support for the established Church of England. The conservative English philosopher Roger Scruton is a representative of the intellectual wing of the traditionalist group: his writings rarely touch on economics and instead focus on conservative perspectives concerning political, social, cultural and moral issues.[citation needed]
One-nation Conservatives
One-nation conservatism was the party's dominant ideology in the 20th century until the rise of Thatcherism in the 1970s. It has included in its ranks Conservative Prime Ministers such as Stanley Baldwin, Harold Macmillan and Edward Heath.[238] One Nation Conservatives in the contemporary party include Malcolm Rifkind and Damian Green. The name itself comes from a famous phrase of Disraeli. Ideologically, One Nation Conservatism identifies itself with a broad liberal conservative stance. They are often associated with the Tory Reform Group and the Bow Group.
Adherents of One-Nation Conservatism believe in social cohesion and support social institutions that maintain harmony between different interest groups, classes, and—more recently—different races or religions. These institutions have typically included the welfare state, the BBC, and local government. One Nation Conservatives often invoke Edmund Burke and his emphasis on civil society ("little platoons") as the foundations of society, as well as his opposition to radical politics of all types. The Red Tory theory of Phillip Blond is a strand of the One Nation school of thought. Prominent Red Tories include former Cabinet Ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Eric Pickles and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Jesse Norman.[239] There is a difference of opinion among supporters regarding the European Union. Some support it perhaps stemming from an extension of the cohesion principle to the international level, though others are strongly against the EU (such as Peter Tapsell).
Free-market Conservatives
The second main grouping in the Conservative Party is the "free-market wing" of economic liberals who achieved dominance after the election of Margaret Thatcher as party leader in 1975. Their goal was to reduce the role of the government in the economy and to this end, they supported cuts in direct taxation, the privatisation of nationalised industries and a reduction in the size and scope of the welfare state. Supporters of the "free-market wing" have been labelled as "Thatcherites". The group has disparate views of social policy: Thatcher herself was socially conservative and a practising Anglican but the free-market wing in the Conservative Party harbour a range of social opinions from the civil libertarian views of Michael Portillo, Daniel Hannan, and David Davis to the traditional conservatism of former party leaders William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith. The Thatcherite wing is also associated with the concept of a "classless society".[240]
Whilst a number of party members are pro-European, some free-marketeers are Eurosceptic, perceiving most EU regulations as interference in the free market and/or a threat to British sovereignty. EU centralisation also conflicts with the localist ideals that have grown in prominence within the party in recent years. Rare Thatcherite Europhiles included Leon Brittan. Many take inspiration from Thatcher's Bruges speech in 1988, in which she declared that "we have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed at a European level". A number of free-market Conservatives have signed the Better Off Out pledge to leave the EU.[241] Thatcherites and economic liberals in the party tend to support Atlanticism, something exhibited between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Thatcher herself claimed philosophical inspiration from the works of Burke and Friedrich Hayek for her defence of liberal economics. Groups associated with this tradition include the No Turning Back Group and Conservative Way Forward, whilst Enoch Powell and Keith Joseph are usually cited as early influences in the movement.[242] Some free-market supporters and Christian democrats within the party tend to advocate the social market economy, which supports free markets alongside social and environmental responsibility, as well a welfare state. Keith Joseph was the first to introduce the model idea into British politics, writing the publication: Why Britain needs a Social Market Economy.
Relationships between the factions
Sometimes two groupings have united to oppose the third. Both Thatcherite and Traditionalist Conservatives rebelled over Europe (and in particular Maastricht) during John Major's premiership; and Traditionalist and One Nation MPs united to inflict Margaret Thatcher's only major defeat in Parliament, over Sunday trading.
Not all Conservative MPs can be easily placed within one of the above groupings. For example, John Major was the ostensibly "Thatcherite" candidate during the 1990 leadership election, but he consistently promoted One-Nation Conservatives to the higher reaches of his cabinet during his time as Prime Minister. These included Kenneth Clarke as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Michael Heseltine as Deputy Prime Minister.[243]
Campañas y desempeño electoral
National campaigning within the Conservative Party is fundamentally managed by the CCHQ campaigning team, which is part of its central office [244] However, it also delegates local responsibility to Conservative associations in the area, usually to a team of Conservative activists and volunteers [244] in that area, but campaigns are still deployed from and thus managed by CCHQ National campaigning sometimes occurs in-house by volunteers and staff at CCHQ in Westminster [245]CCHQ maintains responsibility overall for campaigning in the Conservative Party, and targeting voters[citation needed]
The Voter Communications Department is line-managed by the Conservative Director of Communications who upholds overall responsibility, though she has many staff supporting her, and the whole of CCHQ at election time, her department being one of the most predominant at this time, including Project Managers, Executive Assistants, Politicians, and Volunteers.[246] The Conservative Party also has regional call centres and VoteSource do-it-from-home accounts.
UK-wide elections
UK general elections
This chart shows the electoral performance of the Conservative Party in each general election since 1835.[247][248]
For results of the Tories, the party's predecessor, see here.
Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | ± | Share | ||||
1835 | Robert Peel | 261,269 | 40.8% | 273 / 658 | 98 | 41.5% | 2nd | Whig |
1837 | 379,694 | 48.3% | 314 / 658 | 41 | 47.7% | 2nd | Whig | |
1841 | 379,694 | 56.9% | 367 / 658 | 53 | 55.8% | 1st | Conservative | |
1847 | Earl of Derby | 205,481 | 42.7% | 325 / 656 Includes Peelites | 42 | 49.5% | 1st | Whig |
1852 | 311,481 | 41.9% | 330 / 654 Includes Peelites | 5 | 50.5% | 1st | Conservative | |
1857 | 239,712 | 34.0% | 264 / 654 | 66 | 40.4% | 2nd | Whig | |
1859 | 193,232 | 34.3% | 298 / 654 | 34 | 45.6% | 2nd | Whig | |
1865 | 346,035 | 40.5% | 289 / 658 | 9 | 43.9% | 2nd | Liberal | |
1868[fn 1] | Benjamin Disraeli | 903,318 | 38.4% | 271 / 658 | 18 | 41.2% | 2nd | Liberal |
1874 | 1,091,708 | 44.3% | 350 / 652 | 79 | 53.7% | 1st | Conservative | |
1880 | 1,462,351 | 42.5% | 237 / 652 | 113 | 36.3% | 2nd | Liberal | |
1885[fn 2] | Marquess of Salisbury | 2,020,927 | 43.5% | 247 / 670 | 10 | 36.9% | 2nd | Liberal minority |
1886 | 1,520,886 | 51.1% | 317 / 670 | 70 | 47.3% | 1st | Conservative–Liberal Unionist | |
1892 | 2,159,150 | 47.0% | 268 / 670 | 49 | 40.0% | 2nd | Liberal | |
1895 | 1,894,772 | 49.0% | 340 / 670 | 72 | 50.7% | 1st | Conservative–Liberal Unionist | |
1900 | 1,767,958 | 50.3% | 335 / 670 | 5 | 50.0% | 1st | Conservative–Liberal Unionist | |
1906 | Arthur Balfour | 2,422,071 | 43.4% | 131 / 670 | 204 | 19.6% | 2nd | Liberal |
January 1910 | 3,104,407 | 46.8% | 240 / 670 | 109 | 35.8% | 2nd | Liberal minority | |
December 1910 | 2,420,169 | 46.6% | 235 / 670 | 5 | 35.1% | 2nd | Liberal minority | |
Merged with Liberal Unionist Party in 1912 to become the Conservative and Unionist Party | ||||||||
1918[fn 3] | Bonar Law | 3,472,738 | 33.3% | 379 / 707 332 elected with Coupon | 108 | 53.6% | 1st | Coalition Liberal–Conservative |
1922 | 5,294,465 | 38.5% | 344 / 615 | 35 | 55.9% | 1st | Conservative | |
1923 | Stanley Baldwin | 5,286,159 | 38.0% | 258 / 625 | 86 | 41.3% | 1st | Labour minority |
1924 | 7,418,983 | 46.8% | 412 / 615 | 124 | 67.0% | 1st | Conservative | |
1929[fn 4] | 8,252,527 | 38.1% | 260 / 615 | 152 | 42.3% | 2nd | Labour minority | |
1931 | 11,377,022 | 55.0% | 470 / 615 | 210 | 76.4% | 1st | Conservative–Liberal–National Labour | |
1935 | 10,025,083 | 47.8% | 386 / 615 | 83 | 62.8% | 1st | Conservative–Liberal National–National Labour | |
1945 | Winston Churchill | 8,716,211 | 36.2% | 197 / 640 | 189 | 30.8% | 2nd | Labour |
1950 | 11,507,061 | 40.0% | 282 / 625 | 85 | 45.1% | 2nd | Labour | |
1951 | 13,724,418 | 48.0% | 302 / 625 | 20 | 48.3% | 1st | Conservative–National Liberal | |
1955 | Anthony Eden | 13,310,891 | 49.7% | 324 / 630 | 22 | 51.4% | 1st | Conservative–National Liberal |
1959 | Harold Macmillan | 13,750,875 | 49.4% | 345 / 630 | 21 | 54.8% | 1st | Conservative–National Liberal |
1964 | Alec Douglas-Home | 12,002,642 | 43.4% | 298 / 630 | 47 | 47.3% | 2nd | Labour |
1966 | Edward Heath | 11,418,455 | 41.9% | 250 / 630 | 48 | 39.7% | 2nd | Labour |
1970[fn 5] | 13,145,123 | 46.4% | 330 / 630 | 80 | 52.4% | 1st | Conservative | |
February 1974 | 11,872,180 | 37.9% | 297 / 635 | 33 | 46.8% | 2nd | Labour minority | |
October 1974 | 10,462,565 | 35.8% | 277 / 635 | 20 | 43.6% | 2nd | Labour | |
1979 | Margaret Thatcher | 13,697,923 | 43.9% | 339 / 635 | 62 | 53.4% | 1st | Conservative |
1983 | 13,012,316 | 42.4% | 397 / 650 | 38 | 61.1% | 1st | Conservative | |
1987 | 13,760,935 | 42.2% | 376 / 650 | 21 | 57.8% | 1st | Conservative | |
1992 | John Major | 14,093,007 | 41.9% | 336 / 651 | 40 | 51.6% | 1st | Conservative |
1997 | 9,600,943 | 30.7% | 165 / 659 | 171 | 25.0% | 2nd | Labour | |
2001 | William Hague | 8,357,615 | 31.7% | 166 / 659 | 1 | 25.2% | 2nd | Labour |
2005 | Michael Howard | 8,785,941 | 32.4% | 198 / 646 | 32 | 30.7% | 2nd | Labour |
2010 | David Cameron | 10,704,647 | 36.1% | 306 / 650 | 108 | 47.1% | 1st | Conservative–Liberal Democrats |
2015 | 11,334,920 | 36.9% | 330 / 650 | 24 | 50.8% | 1st | Conservative | |
2017 | Theresa May | 13,632,914 | 42.3% | 317 / 650 | 13 | 48.8% | 1st | Conservative minority with DUP confidence and supply |
2019 | Boris Johnson | 13,966,451 | 43.6% | 365 / 650 | 48 | 56.2% | 1st | Conservative |
- Note
- ^ The first election held under the Reform Act 1867.
- ^ The first election held under the Representation of the People Act 1884 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.
- ^ The first election held under the Representation of the People Act 1918 in which all men over 21, and most women over the age of 30 could vote, and therefore a much larger electorate.
- ^ The first election held under the Representation of the People Act 1928 which gave all women aged over 21 the vote.
- ^ Franchise extended to all 18- to 20-year-olds under the Representation of the People Act 1969.
European Parliament elections
Election | Party Group | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | ± | Share | ||||||
1979 | ED | Margaret Thatcher | 6,508,492 | 48.4 | 60 / 81 | 75.0% | 1st | |||
1984 | EPP | 5,426,866 | 38.8 | 45 / 81 | 15 | 55.6% | 1st | |||
1989 | 5,331,077 | 34.7 | 32 / 81 | 13 | 39.5% | 2nd | ||||
1994 | John Major | 4,274,122 | 26.8 | 18 / 87 | 13 | 20.7% | 2nd | |||
1999[fn 1] | EPP-ED | William Hague | 3,578,218 | 35.8 | 36 / 87 | 18 | 41.4% | 1st | ||
2004 | Michael Howard | 4,397,087 | 26.7 | 27 / 78 | 8 | 34.6% | 1st | |||
2009[fn 2] | ECR | David Cameron | 4,281,286 | 27.7 | 26 / 72 | 1 | 36.1% | 1st | ||
2014 | 3,792,549 | 23.1 | 19 / 73 | 7 | 26.0% | 3rd | ||||
2019 | Theresa May | 1,512,809 | 8.8 | 4 / 73 | 15 | 5.5% | 5th |
- Note
- ^ Electoral system changed from first past the post to proportional representation.
- ^ Includes 82,892 votes and 1 seat gained from the UCUNF alliance
Police and Crime Commissioner elections
Election | Leader | Votes | Commissioners | Position | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | ± | Share | |||
2012 | David Cameron | 1,480,323 | 27.6% | 16 / 41 | 34.8% | 1st | |
2016 | 2,601,560 | 29.3% | 20 / 40 | 4 | 50.0% | 1st | |
2021 | Boris Johnson | 20 / 40 (currently) |
Devolved assembly elections
Scottish Parliament elections
Election | Leader | Votes (Constituency) | Votes (List) | Seats | Position | Government | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | Share | No. | ± | Share | ||||
1999 | David McLetchie | 364,225 | 15.6% | 359,109 | 15.4% | 18 / 129 | 14.0% | 3rd | Labour–Liberal Democrats | |
2003 | 318,279 | 16.6% | 296,929 | 15.6% | 18 / 129 | 0 | 14.0% | 3rd | Labour–Liberal Democrats | |
2007 | Annabel Goldie | 334,743 | 16.6% | 284,005 | 13.9% | 17 / 129 | 1 | 13.4% | 3rd | Scottish National minority |
2011 | 276,652 | 13.9% | 245,967 | 12.4% | 15 / 129 | 2 | 11.6% | 3rd | Scottish National | |
2016 | Ruth Davidson | 501,844 | 22.0% | 524,222 | 22.9% | 31 / 129 | 16 | 24.0% | 2nd | Scottish National minority |
2021 | Douglas Ross | 592,526 | 21.9% | 637,131 | 23.5% | 31 / 129 | 0 | 24.0% | 2nd | Scottish National minority |
Senedd elections
Election | Leader | Votes (Constituency) | Votes (List) | Seats | Position | Government | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | Share | No. | ± | Share | ||||
1999 | Rod Richards | 162,133 | 15.8% | 168,206 | 16.5% | 9 / 60 | 15.0% | 3rd | Labour–Liberal Democrats | |
2003 | Nick Bourne | 169,832 | 19.9% | 162,725 | 19.2% | 11 / 60 | 2 | 18.3% | 3rd | Labour |
2007 | 218,739 | 22.4% | 209,153 | 21.4% | 12 / 60 | 1 | 20.0% | 3rd | Labour–Plaid Cymru | |
2011 | 237,388 | 25.0% | 213,773 | 22.5% | 14 / 60 | 2 | 23.3% | 2nd | Labour | |
2016 | Andrew R. T. Davies | 215,597 | 21.1% | 190,846 | 18.8% | 11 / 60 | 3 | 18.3% | 3rd | Labour minority |
2021 | 289,802 | 26.1% | 278,560 | 25.1% | 16 / 60 | 5 | 26.7% | 2nd | Labour minority |
Northern Ireland devolved elections
Prior to 1973, the Ulster Unionist Party acted as the de facto Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party. The UUP's results may be seen here.
Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | ± | Share | ||||
Elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 | ||||||||
1996 | Barbara Finney | 3,595 | 0.48 | 0 / 110 | 0.0% | 12th | Dissolution | |
Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 | ||||||||
1998 | Unknown | 1,835 | 0.23 | 0 / 108 | 0 | 0.0% | 14th | UUP–Sinn Féin |
2003 | Unknown | 1,604 | 0.20 | 0 / 108 | 0 | 0.0% | 14th | Dissolution |
2007 | Unknown | 3,457 | 0.50 | 0 / 108 | 0 | 0.0% | 10th | DUP–Sinn Féin |
2011 | Unknown | Did not contest election | DUP–Sinn Féin | |||||
2016 | Alan Dunlop | 2,554 | 0.40 | 0 / 108 | 0 | 0.0% | 11th | DUP–Sinn Féin |
2017 | 2,399 | 0.30 | 0 / 108 | 0 | 0.0% | 10th | Dissolution |
London Mayoral elections
Election | Leader | Candidate | Votes (1st pref.) | Votes (run-off) | Position | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | Share | ||||
2000 | William Hague | Steven Norris | 464,434 | 27.1% | 564,137 | 42.1% | 2nd |
2004 | Michael Howard | 542,423 | 29.1% | 667,180 | 44.6% | 2nd | |
2008 | David Cameron | Boris Johnson | 1,043,761 | 43.2% | 1,168,738 | 53.2% | 1st |
2012 | 971,931 | 44.0% | 1,054,811 | 51.5% | 1st | ||
2016 | Zac Goldsmith | 909,755 | 35.0% | 994,614 | 43.2% | 2nd | |
2021 | Boris Johnson | Shaun Bailey | 893,051 | 35.3% | 977,601 | 44.8% | 2nd |
London Assembly elections
Election | Leader | Assembly Leader | Votes (Constituency) | Votes (List) | Seats | Position | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Share | No. | Share | No. | + | Share | ||||
2000 | William Hague | Eric Ollerenshaw | 526,422 | 33.2% | 481,053 | 29.0% | 9 / 25 | 36.0% | 1st | |
2004 | Michael Howard | Bob Neill | 562,047 | 31.2% | 533,696 | 28.5% | 9 / 25 | 0 | 36.0% | 1st |
2008 | David Cameron | Richard Barnes | 900,569 | 37.4% | 835,535 | 34.1% | 11 / 25 | 2 | 44.0% | 1st |
2012 | James Cleverly | 722,280 | 32.7% | 708,528 | 32.0% | 9 / 25 | 2 | 36.0% | 2nd | |
2016 | Gareth Bacon | 812,415 | 31.1% | 764,230 | 29.2% | 8 / 25 | 1 | 32.0% | 2nd | |
2021 | Boris Johnson | Susan Hall | 833,021 | 32.0% | 795,081 | 30.7% | 9 / 25 | 1 | 36.0% | 2nd |
Combined authority elections
Year | Leader | Mayoralties won | Change |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Theresa May | 4 / 6 | |
2018 | 0 / 1 | ||
2019 | 0 / 1 | ||
2021 | Boris Johnson | 2 / 7 | 2 |
Grupos asociados
Ideological groups
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Interest groups
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Think tanks
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Alliances
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Party structures
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Ver también
- List of Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- List of UK Conservative Party general election manifestos
- List of political parties in the United Kingdom
- Racism in the UK Conservative Party
Notas
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- ^ Leala Padmanabhan, ''Conservative' or 'Tory': What's in a name? Archived 20 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine' (08/04/15) on BBC News
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- ^ Graham D. Goodlad, "The 'Crisis' of Edwardian Conservatism," Modern History Review (1998) 9#4 pp 10–13.
- ^ Jeremy Smith, "Bluff, Bluster and Brinkmanship: Andrew Bonar Law and the Third Home Rule Bill." Historical Journal 36#1 (1993): 161–178.
- ^ J. A. R. Marriott, Modern England, 1885–1945 (4th ed. 1949) pp 375–432 online free
- ^ Keohane, Nigel (2010). The Party of Patriotism: The Conservative Party and the First World War. Ashgate.
- ^ Jarvis, David (1992). "Mrs. Maggs and Betty: The Conservative Appeal to Women Voters in the 1920s". Twentieth Century British History. 5 (2): 129–52. doi:10.1093/tcbh/5.2.129.
- ^ a b Bogdanor, Vernon (1983). Multi-Party Politics and the Constitution. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Marriott, Modern England, 1885–1945 (4th ed. 1949) pp 504–66. online free
- ^ Alfred F. Havighurst, Modern England, 1901–1984 (2nd ed. 1987) online free to borrow
- ^ a b Matthew Francis, "A Crusade to Enfranchise the Many': Thatcherism and the 'Property-Owning Democracy." Twentieth Century British History (2011)
- ^ Zweiniger-Bargileowska, Ina. "Rationing, austerity and the Conservative party recovery after 1945." Historical Journal (1994) 37#1 pp. 173–97.
- ^ Kynaston, David (2007). Austerity Britain: 1945–1951. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 238–41. ISBN 978-0-7475-7985-4.
- ^ Dutton, D. J. (2004). "Fyfe, David Patrick Maxwell, Earl of Kilmuir (1900–1967) Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 4 August 2007 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ^ Blake, Robert. The Conservative Party from Peel to Major (1997) pp. 260–64.
- ^ Toye, Richard. "From 'Consensus' to 'Common Ground': The Rhetoric of the Postwar Settlement and its Collapse," Journal of Contemporary History (2013) 48#1 pp. 3–23.
- ^ The Economist, 'Mr Butskell's Dilemma', 13 February 1954.
- ^ Morgan, Kenneth O. (2001). Britain Since 1945: The People's Peace: The People's Peace. Oxford UP. pp. 114–15. ISBN 9780191587993. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ The Labour Party in Crisis by Paul Whiteley
- ^ Graham Goodlad, "Thirteen Wasted Years: "Do the Conservative governments of 1951–64 deserve this label" Modern History Review (2001) 13#2 pp 2–5.
- ^ Kynaston, David (2013). Modernity Britain: Opening the Box 1957–1959. London: Bloomsbury. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-7475-8893-1.
- ^ Thorpe, D.R. (2010). Supermac.
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- ^ "1970: Heath's surprise victory". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ "1974 Oct : Wilson makes it four". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ "1979: Thatcher wins Tory landslide". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, "The British General Election of 1979", Macmillan, 1979, p. 154.
- ^ David Dutton, British Politics Since 1945: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Consensus (2nd ed. Blackwell, 1997).
- ^ Aled Davies, "'Right to Buy': The Development of a Conservative Housing Policy, 1945–1980." Contemporary British History 27.4 (2013): 421–44.
- ^ "Stephen Farrall, et al. "Thatcherite Ideology, Housing Tenure, and Crime: The Socio-Spatial Consequences of the Right to Buy for Domestic Property Crime." British Journal of Criminology (2015)". Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ^ a b "1983: Thatcher triumphs again". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ Stephanie Flanders. "Were 364 economists all wrong?". BBC News. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
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- ^ "1987: Thatcher's third victory". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
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- ^ "1992: Tories win again against odds". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ "1993: Recession over – it's official". BBC News. 26 April 1993. Archived from the original on 16 September 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
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- King, Anthony, ed. British Political Opinion 1937–2000: The Gallup Polls (2001)
- Lawrence, Jon. Electing Our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair (Oxford University Press, 2009) excerpt and text search Archived 3 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- McKenzie, R. T., and A. Silver. Angels in Marble: Working-class Conservatives in Urban England (1968)
- Mowat, Charles Loch. Britain between the Wars, 1918–1940 (1955) 694 pp;
- Norton, Bruce F. Politics in Britain (2007) textbook
- Parry, J. P. "Disraeli and England," Historical Journal 43#3 (2000), pp. 699–728 in JSTOR Archived 9 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Paterson, David (2001). Liberalism and Conservatism, 1846–1905.
- Powell, David. British Politics, 1910–1935: The Crisis of the Party System (2004)
- Roberts, Andrew. Churchill: Walking with Destiny (2018), a fully detailed biography.
- Reitan, Earl Aaron. The Thatcher Revolution: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, and the Transformation of Modern Britain, 1979–2001 (2003) Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-2203-2
- Searle, G. R. A New England?: Peace and War 1886–1918 (2005) 976pp broad survey
- Seldon, Anthony and Stuart Ball, eds. Conservative Century: The Conservative Party since 1900 (1994) 896pp; essays by experts Contents Archived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- Shannon, Richard. The Age of Disraeli, 1868-1881: The Rise of Tory Democracy (A History of the Conservative Party Series) (1992)
- Shannon, Richard. The Age of Salisbury, 1881-1902: Unionism and Empire (A History of the Conservative Party) (1996)
- Snowdon, Peter. Back from the Brink: The Extraordinary Fall and Rise of the Conservative Party (2010) HarperPress ISBN 978-0-00-730884-2
- Taylor, A. J. P. English History, 1914–1945 (1965), a standard political history of the era
- Thackeray, David. "Home and Politics: Women and Conservative Activism in Early Twentieth‐Century Britain," Journal of British Studies (2010) 49#4 pp. 826–48.
- Windscheffel, Alex. "Men or Measures? Conservative Party Politics, 1815–1951," Historical Journal Vol. 45, No. 4 (December 2002), pp. 937–51 in JSTOR Archived 15 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine
Historiography
- Crowson, N. J., ed. The Longman Companion to the Conservative Party Since 1830 (2001); chronologies; relations with women, minorities, trade unions, EU, Ireland, social reform and empire.
- Harrison, Brian. "Margaret Thatcher's Impact on Historical Writing", in William Roger Louis, ed., Irrepressible Adventures with Britannia: Personalities, Politics, and Culture in Britain (London, 2013), 307–21.
- Kowol, Kit. "Renaissance on the Right? New Directions in the History of the Post-War Conservative Party." Twentieth Century British History 27#2 (2016): 290–304. online Archived 21 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- Porter, Bernard. "'Though Not an Historian Myself…'Margaret Thatcher and the Historians." Twentieth Century British History 5#2 (1994): 246–56.
- Turner, John. "The British Conservative Party in the Twentieth Century: from Beginning to End?." Contemporary European History 8#2 (1999): 275–87.
enlaces externos
- Official website
- Conservatives.tv
- Conservatives in Northern Ireland Archived 3 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Conservatives in Scotland
- Constitution of the Conservative Party
- conservative-party.net – Conservative website directory
- Guardian Politics – Special Report: Conservative Party
- The Thatcher legacy 1979–2009 – International conference
- Conservative Party (UK) at Curlie