Mass Conservatism The Conservatives and the Public since the 1880s

The Conservatives have been the most successful party in British politics since the arrival of a mass electorate following the Reform Acts of 1885 and 1918. Although identified with the elite, the Conservatives have consistently been able to mobilize a mass popular support. This has involved more than just a narrow defence of privilege and property, or negative anti-socialism. The essays in this volume explore the relationship between the Conservative Party and the mass of the British people from the 1880s to the Thatcher and Major era. Several focus on the party's sources of support and the ways in which it has sought to broaden these through shifts in policies, presentation and organization.
A second theme of the book is the response the Conservatives have found amongst the masses. Studies in this area consider the Tory appeal to particular groups in British society, both regionally and socially. Whereas histories of the Conservative Party have dealt with these issues in general terms, the essays in thisvolume draw upon fresh research of primary sources, and break new ground in an area that has been neglected for many years.

The papers that comprise this volume reveal how people are intent on preserving not only their wealth but culture too. The individual contributions identify the key arguments used to coax voters, whose natural sympathies might gravitate to the left, to vote for the Conservative Party en masse.

Chapter 1 Mass Conservatism: An Introduction, STUART BALL, IAN HOLLIDAY; Chapter 2 The Making of Scottish Unionism, 1886–1914, CATRIONA BURNESS; Chapter 3 Farmworkers and Local Conservatism in South-west Shropshire, 1916–23, NICHOLAS MANSFIELD; Chapter 4 The Conservative Party and Mass Housing, 1918–39, KEVIN MORGAN; Chapter 5 Speaking to Democracy: The Conservative Party and Mass Opinion from the 1920s to the 1950s, ANDREW TAYLOR; Chapter 6 Conservative Women and Voluntary Social Service, 1938–51, JAMES HINTON; Chapter 7 Echoes in the Wilderness: British Popular Conservatism, 1945–51, PAUL MARTIN; Chapter 8 Industrial Relations as 'Human Relations': Conservatism and Trade Unionism, 1945–64, PETER DOREY; Chapter 9 Conservative Party Activists and Immigration Policy from the Late 1940s to the Mid-1970s, N. J. CROWSON; Chapter 10 The Role of the Conservative Political Centre, 1945–98, PHILIP NORTON; Chapter 11 The Community Affairs Department, 1975–79: A Personal Record, ANDREW ROWE; Chapter 12 Thatcherism and the British People, BRENDAN EVANS;

Stuart Ball University of Leicester, Ian Holliday City University of Hong Kong, Rt Hon. William Hague