A history of Conservative politics since 1830 PDF
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A History of Conservative Politics since 1830 Second Edition John Charmley A History of Conservative Politics since 1830 John Charmley is Professor of Modern History and Head of the School of History at the University of East Anglia. His previous publications include Chamberlainand the Lost Peace (1990) and Churchill: The End of Glory(1993). This page intentionally left blank A History of Conservative Politics since 1830 Second Edition John Charmley British Studies Series General Editor:Jeremy Black © John Charmley 1996,2008 All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First edition A History of Conservative Politics 1900–1996published in 1996 Second edition published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St.Martin’s Press,LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States,United Kingdom and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13:978–0–333–92974–2 hardback ISBN-10:0–333–92974–8 hardback ISBN-13:978–0–333–92973–5 paperback ISBN-10:0–333–92973–X paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.Logging,pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 Printed and bound in China To Rachael This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements viii 1. The Conservative Tradition 1 2. Stanley and the Protectionists 16 3. Derby’s Conservatives 31 4. Disraeli on Top 47 5. Balfour in Trouble 68 6. The Unknown Bonar Law 86 7. Scalped by Baldwin 101 8. Chamberlain in Charge 118 9. Churchill’s Consensus 133 10. The New Model Tory Party? 146 11. A Conservative Consensus? 159 12. Decline and Fall 176 13. From Heath to Thatcher 190 14. The Iron Lady 209 15. High Tide and After 224 16. After the Ball was Over 243 17. No Direction Home? 254 Notes and References 276 Bibliography 289 Index 295 vii Acknowledgements The first version of this book appeared in 1996 as A History of Conservative Politics 1900–1996. This book updates the material in that volume, but takes the story back to Peel and forward to David Cameron, and in that sense (as well as others) is quite a different version; there are many reasons for this, including the exponential expansion of books on the Conservative Party over the past 10 years; whatever the electorate might think, the party continues to fascinate historians. I remain grateful to those whose comments informed the first version, my old colleague, Professor Geoffrey Searle, Andrew Roberts, and the now, alas, late Alan Clark. I should also like to thank two current MPs, Keith Simpson and Richard Bacon, at whose side I learned a great deal about Conservative politics. I am extremely grateful to Felicity Noble and Sonya Barker at Palgrave Macmillan for bearing with me whilst this volume was completed. I would like to thank one of Palgrave Macmillan’s anony- mous readers for his advice, which has saved this volume from some of the more egregious errors of its predecessor. I am grateful to my secre- tary at the University of East Anglia, Judy Sparks, for her help in getting the book ready. On a more personal level, and at a professional one, I am very grateful to my son, Gerard, who not only read the whole volume with a critical eye, but provided much of the material on which the final chapter is based. To my wife, Rachael, without whose encouragement and care this volume could not have been complete, my gratitude is beyond the power of words to express. Harleston, Norfolk 1 The Conservative Tradition The Conservative Party exists to conserve; it is the party of the status quo. Unfortunately for it and its adherents all things change – ‘the flower withereth and the grass fadeth’. In another world perhaps these things are restored and made new, but in this world the process of change poses a fundamental challenge to Conservatism as a political force. Many of those who vote Conservative do so because of an instinc- tive distaste for the consequences of change, but for a Conservative Party some accommodation with this process is inevitable – if only to ensure political survival. There is, then, a tension between instinctive Conservatism and expediency. Because of this, all Conservative leaders have faced charges of opportunism and betrayal; but historians have generally judged them by their success in adapting to change. Since the Conservative Party has existed for nearly 200 years, during which time Britain has changed beyond recognition, historians are agreed that theParty has been a great success; visceral Conservatives are less easily convinced. Even in 2005, after three successive election defeats, there were those in the Party who argued that its sufferings were due to its failure to abide by traditional values. This ‘Tory Taliban’ tendency, as one wag called it, has existed in every age, and its song has ever been the same: it harkens back to some bygone golden age, and calls its party to repentance and reformation of life. It might be unkind to point out that in the last golden glow of aristocratic rule, before the country went to the dogs, the Conservatives were, for the most part, in opposition, and that it was only with the advent of democracy that they came to dominate British politics; this always puzzled Marxists, since it ran counter to their theoretical model, but since 1989 those remaining disciples have had other things to distract them from this little local difficulty. The twentieth century dominance of the Conservative party has created a misleading historiography, best expressed in Lord Blake’s highly readable and influential history of it.1Robert Blake wrote with elegance and a focus that can only be admired by lesser lights. He knew the importance of having a strong narrative line, and his History of the Conservative Party, in its many editions, told a good story. In so far as it had a hero, it was Sir Robert Peel, whose moderate, judicious, sensible conservatism was a model to be emulated; that this version of 1
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