History of the Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party (also known as Tories) is the oldest political party in the United Kingdom, and arguably the world. The current party was first organized in the 1830s. The name "Conservative" was officially adopted, but the party is still often referred to as the Tory Party (not least because newspaper editors find it a convenient shorthand when space is limited). The Tories had been a coalition that more often than not formed the government from 1760 until the Reform Act 1832. Modernizing reformers said the traditionalistic party of "Throne, Altar and Cottage" was obsolete, but in the face of an expanding electorate 1830s-1860s it held its strength among royalists, devout Anglicans and landlords and their tenants.

Widening of the franchise in the 19th century led the party to popularise its approach, especially under Benjamin Disraeli, whose Reform Act of 1867 greatly increased the electorate. After 1886, the Conservatives allied with the part of the Liberal Party known as the Liberal Unionists who opposed their party's support for Irish Home Rule and together they held office for all but three of the following twenty years. Lord Salisbury's and Arthur Balfour's governments between 1895 and 1906 were given the name of "Unionist". The Conservative party was also known as the Unionist Party in the early 20th century.

In 1909, the Conservative Party was renamed the Conservative and Unionist Party, and in May 1912 it formally merged with the Liberal Unionists.

The First World War saw the formation of an all-party coalition government, and for four years after the armistice the Unionist party remained in coalition with the Lloyd George Liberals. Eventually, grassroots pressure forced the breakup of the Coalition, and the party regained power on its own, but after the separation of the Irish Free State in 1922 it increasingly used the name "Conservative" more than "Unionist". It again dominated the political scene in the inter-war period, from 1931 in a National Government. The main rivals the Liberals and Labour virtually collapsed. The party pursued protective tariffs, and low taxes during the depression years of the 1930s. In foreign policy it favoured peace and appeasement of Italy and Germany until 1939. In the late 1930s it supported a hurried rearmanment program o catch up with Germany. The crisis came with in 1940 as Germany defeated France and Britain and its Commonwealth stood alone against Hitler. The result was a wartime all-party coalition government with partisanship in abeyance. In the 1945 general election the party lost power in a landslide by the Labour Party.

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