Electoral Success of Conservative Party - Essay Example

CONSERVATIVE PARTYS ELECTORAL SUCCESS By Location Introduction The British Conservative party has been influential in British politics since the 19th century. The party emerged in the 1830s after the collapse of the Tory party. However, the modern conservative party is usually perceived to have been founded by Disraeli in 1886. Notably, the conservative party has had its successes and failure in politics. A close analysis of the party’s activities reveals that it registered numerous successes in the 20th century. This has proven to be an intriguing aspect that has attracted research in a bid to identify the factors that contributed to the party’s success during that century. Political scholars exhibiting interest in this aspect have highlighted that the success of the conservative party was attributable to numerous factors that favoured the party in the 20th century. This paper will offer a critical analysis of the factors that contributed to the success of the party in the 20th century. A historical review of the party reveals that during the inter-war period, the conservative party proved to be the largest in the House of Commons. This was specifically in the period between 1918 and 1945. The party had the capacity to register majority votes as evidenced by the elections in 1921-1931 in which it emerged the second but garnered a majority vote of 8.65 million. During the 20th century, the party registered five victories and only two defeats. Interestingly, the victories were defined by massive majority votes. For example, there was a time when the party had 200 MPs margin compared to the second largest party. The success of the conservative party in the 20th century has been attributed to the proper foundation of Disraeli and Salisbury in the previous century. This historical review of the party serves to outline the party’s evident success in the 20th century. Numerous factors were critical contributors in ensuring that the party rose to its success (Pitchford 2011, p. 56). Factors Contributing to Success One of the factors that contributed to the success of the conservative party was its appealing foundation defined by impressive values as well as image. The founders of the conservative party associated it with conservative’s values which served to attract the support of many people. This led to the party’s massive social support which would later prove to be highly deep rooted and cohesive enough to bind the people. Notably, the values of any political party are key determinants of its success because supporters consider the values and the projected image before they can commit to the party. The conservative party exhibited a remarkable competency in its efforts to mobilize people from all its social classes to support it. This enables the party to convince its core support and expand its influence to other voters beyond its core support. In a bid to mobilize these people, the party relied on a resonance of stance based on relevant issues which concerned the masses. Its continued ability to achieve such mobilization throughout the 20th century was one of the critical factors that contributed to its enormous success (Erzse 2010, p. 110). The conservative party managed to gain support from the upper and upper middle classes, which were critical social classes in the British society. These classes comprised of individuals who were wealthy and elite and had the capacity to influence others. The party was strategic enough to make this social class its core support throughout the 20th century. This assured the party of unlimited resources as well as the emergence of candidates belonging to these classes. If a party managed to have the support of the upper classes in the society, the candidates emerging from the society definitely exhibited a higher level of confidence and were able to earn the support and commitment of the upper classes. This factor contributed to a strong and sophisticated organization of the conservative party. It enjoyed the benefits of being associated with people belonging to the upper classes. In terms of resources, the party was able to carry out its operations without hindrances that could be brought forth by limited resources. The upper class ensured that the party had all the relevant resources it needed (Readman 2001, p. 107). After the conclusion of the First World War, Britain pursued developments in its electoral system. Although these developments were not specified in favour of any party, they brought advantages to the conservative party. For example, the new developments included a remarkable number of new male voters, who had not been allowed to vote previously. Worth mentioning is the fact that, in the previous years, eligibility to vote was determined by the employment status and factors related to an individual’s income. However, after the war, the British accepted to adopt an inclusive electoral system. The new male voters that were included belonged to a class that did not work. To the conservative party, this had been an advantage since the number of voters had increased. In addition to the male new voters, the developments after the war allowed women to become voters. In the previous years, the conservative party had gained experience in organizing women, and therefore, transformed the inclusion of new female voters as an advantage to the party (Bryson & Heppell 2010, p. 35). They were able to appeal to women of different status. An additional factor that contributed to the success of the conservative party was the 1918 reform. The reform initiated a rectification process of an imbalance that had existed in different regions. The imbalance was caused by the extremely high electorate placing other regions at a disadvantage. However, this imbalance was rectified in accordance with new strategies of ensuring a fair redistribution. The revision of boundaries involved in this rectification process served to increase the number of seats by splitting the areas with large electorates. The conservative party was keen to obtain most of the new areas of representation. Coincidentally, the merged areas which eventually were lost belonged to the liberal party which was a competitor of the conservative party. It is estimated that the 1918 redistribution brought 34 new seats to the conservative party. This only meant that, the 1918 reforms contributed to the party’s expansion (Turner 1999, p. 280). Winning additional seats at the disadvantage of its opponents served to place the party at a better chance for success. The reforms also contributed to three additional aspects related to the nature of the franchise, which proved to be advantageous to the conservative party. One of these aspects was the idea of retaining university seats and it served as additional support for the party. The fact that proportional representation had faced rejection was the second aspect that benefited the conservative party. Thirdly, the maintenance of the vote for business premises was also critical in increasing the chances of the conservative party (Ware 2009, p. 78). Other developments within the British political systems served as blessings in disguise to the conservative party. For example, the significance of the House of Commons faded serving to block about 85 seats in Ireland. This move soon led to the disappearance of the Irish Nationalist Party and eventually gave way for an enduring treaty of Anglo-Irish signed in 1921. Notably, the numerous structural changes that occurred in the 20t century proved to give the party an impetus to present itself as a natural majority party. In the new status, the party exhibited self confidence and public expectations remarkably increased. The party positioned itself as the best party specifically for the working class. As highlighted above, the working class had the capacity to give majority support to a party and propel it to higher heights. On the contrary, the other social classes were unable to present a party with an evident majority (Ramsden & Seldon 1996, p. 170). Therefore, the position of the conservative party as the most significant for the working class attributed to its resulting success. The party’s success also resulted from short term effects presented by the change in trends in the economic and political situations. Notably, the British society was undergoing a battle between socialism and capitalism. The conservative party believed in capitalist ideologies while its opponents promoted socialism values. The adoption of capitalism had caused a measure of affluence in the society, which impressed the voters. Irrespective of the policies developed by other parties, the voters were convinced that they wanted the conservative party in power so that it could increase the affluence level. When the labour party was in power, it had to address numerous economic challenges. This presented the conservative party with a promise to deliver to the people. In 1950, the conservative party convinced the people that upon election, it would ensure that unemployment levels decreased immensely while registering economic growth. This strategy served to place the conservative party in a better position compared to its opponents (Toye 2014, p. 290). Notably, British politics exhibit some differences from those in other regions of the globe. Factors that seem insignificant in other political systems proved to be determinants of the ruling party in Britain. For example, if a party in power had addressed economic challenges, appearing during the period of rule, this factor would negatively affect the party’s position in the next elections. Therefore, if a government contributed to the rise of unemployment, it had no change of re-election. Knowing this factor well, the conservative party clearly monitored the challenge faced by the labour party, in its bid to formulate effective strategies that would place at an advantage (Conservative party, British political party 2013, p. 1). Therefore, failures of the labour party in the economic and political realms proved to be the advantages to the conservative party. Since the labour party had failed to address the emerging unemployment issues, the conservative party formulated appealing strategies of tackling the issue and placing itself in a better position. It promised the people an increased level of affluence that would ensure the economic stability. Fortunately, the promise of the conservative party to the people proved to be true. This is because after the 1951 election of a conservative prime minister, trade began to favour the country and economic tidings improved earning the party a positive reputation. This helped the party to prove that they were able to lead the society to more affluence instead of registering higher rates of unemployment (Ball 2013, p. 94). The fact that the socialists who included the labour party, plunged themselves into a dilemma in the 1950s. During this time, the socialist focused on advancing criticism of a non-existence society. For example, these socialists developed critiques of capitalist ideologies that ad served to give rise to a capitalist society. This argument would have been relevant in a different time and not the 1950s, when equilibrium in the society had been achieved. At that time, it was impossible to tell whether the British society was more inclined to the socialist of capitalist ideologies (Lynch 2000, p. 59). This made the socialist irrelevant as they tried to criticize a capitalist society that had undergone a measure of balancing to produce equilibrium. Worth noting is the fact that the conservative party had only one strong opponent namely the labour party. This served as an advantage to the party since it was easier to handle one opponent that numerous ones. Therefore, the failures of the labour party as well as its misfortunes were advantages to the conservative party. For example, the emergence of the 1930 slump occurred when the labour party was in power. It was fortunate enough for the conservative party to be in the opposition during that time (Taylor 1997, p. 207). Therefore, the party utilized that event to increase its potential success. Other factors surrounded the long term effects presented by the party’s values towards family traditions. Conclusion As described above, numerous factors explained why the conservative party proved to be highly successful in the 20th century. Although it registered two defeats, they were minimal compared to its overall success. The party’s organization, strategies and specific policies proved to be outstanding compared to those of other parties. Its close association with the upper class served as an assurance of resources throughout the year. Moreover, the party knew how to utilize emerging opportunities presented by political reforms or economic challenges to its advantage. Evidently, a combination of all the above factors explained the party’s success in that century. 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