Why has the British Conservative Party been so unpopular for decades now?
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  Why has the British Conservative Party been so unpopular for decades now?
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Author Topic: Why has the British Conservative Party been so unpopular for decades now?  (Read 989 times)
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bronz4141
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« on: September 18, 2014, 10:41:44 AM »

In 2010, the Tory party won the election because of the coalition with the Liberal Democratic leader, Nick Clegg due to the election results showing a hung parliament after disgust with the Gordon Brown-lead Labour Party. Since 1997, when the Tory Party lost in a landslide over Tony Blair's Labour Party, the Tory party has been unpopular and fielded uninspiring leaders after John Major resigned. Why has the Tory party been so unpopular?
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Angry_Weasel
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« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2014, 10:46:34 AM »

Let's see how they do next time. I'm not an expert, but what I have learned is that tories want it "both ways" on social issues and Labour is allowed to run very moderate on economic issues because most of their agenda has already been implemented.
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Cassius
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« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2014, 11:44:48 AM »

A number of reasons, and I'll go through them individually.

1. The collapse of the party in many areas of the United Kingdom is a key reason as to why its been unable to form government on its own for many years. To use the most commonly cited example, the Tories used to win about half the seats in Scotland, by the 1980's they were winning about 10 (out of 72), in 1997 they lost all 11 of their remaining MP's there, and since then have managed to claw back the grand total of 1 seat (out of 59). Its not just Scotland of course; in Manchester, South Yorkshire and other places, where the party once could boast of a reasonable contigent of MP's, the party now has relatively few. Don't forget that the party still is strongly supported in certain areas of the country; the so-called 'home counties' being a perfect example (although even there, less so than before, and that's without factoring in the rise of UKIP). To put it simply, the Tories don't have enough support nationwide to win elections. Why is this?

2. Well, for one thing, the party has come to be identified as being the party of opposition to the interests of various areas of the United Kingdom; Scotland is the most prominent example of this (the devolution issue comes into play here as well), but large areas of the north of England, parts of inner London and Wales (although much of Wales was never Tory-friendly to begin with) can be included in this too. This, to some extent, stems from the 1980's, when certain areas of the country were subject to extreme social and economic dislocation, which can be claimed, with some justification, to have been caused by the policies of the then PM, Margaret Thatcher (who was a very polarising figure; a large percentage of the population couldn't stick her, and that included some traditional Tories). This has exacerbated the Conservative party's problems in these regions.

3. Another important factor to take into account was the shift to the centre of the Labour party under the leadership of Tony Blair, as well as (until 2010), the rise of the Liberal-Democrats. Both Blair and the Lib-Dems were successful in drawing many who had supported the Conservative party throughout the 80's and 90's away from the party. Tactical voting between supporters of the two parties helped maximise Conservative seat losses in the 1997 and 2001 elections.

4. Why were those voters drawn to 'New' Labour and the Lib-Dems? Well, its fair to say that by the late 90's, the Conservative government was pretty tired, directionless and riddled by scandal ('cash for questions' and various relevations about the private lives of certain Conservative politicians to name a few). The party's reputation for competence and efficiency in government (at least as it was viewed by much of the electorate throughout the 80's and early 90's) was shot to sh!t by the early 90's recession, the ERM debacle and splits over the question of European policy. Labour under Tony Blair offered a compelling, 'fresh' alternative for many who had previously voted Tory, and thus he scooped up many ex-Tories in the elections of 1997 and, to a lesser extent, 2001 and 2005.

5. Since 1997, the party has been wracked by infighting; over European policy, over social policy, over economic policy; in fact, over just about anything. In the aftermath of the catastrophic results of 1997, a group emerged within the party (known as the 'modernisers'), and they were highly critical of the direction of the party, arguing that it had become too right-wing and too 'old-fashioned'. They were of the view that the party needed to tone down its positions on immigration, taxation and the EU, and instead concentrate on developing itself as a more moderate alternative to the Labour government. Naturally, this was (and continues to be) poorly received by many in the party, and although the old 'modernising' faction has largely fallen out of favour (despite many key figures in the party having been 'modernisers'), the scars of the debates remain. This is illustrated vividly by the term that some like to associate with the party, the 'nasty party', which was, in fact, coined by a Conservative politician, Theresa May (the current Home Secretary). So, the party has inflicted a lot of wounds on itself.

6. Linked into this of course is the perception by much of the electorate (including, ironically, some people who actually support the Conservative party) that the Conservatives are a bunch of elitist, old-fashioned, unpleasant, sleazy, dishonest, cruel incompetents, an impression that stems from many of the factors noted on this list (as well as, for a long time, an extremely negative portrayal of the party by the media, and of course by its political opponents). Many people are somewhat reluctant to vote for the party because of this image.

So, to sum up, the policies it has implemented in government, the rise of a more electable Labour party, intra-party conflict and the negative perception of the party by many British people has led to its decline over the past two decades, both electorally and in terms of the party's rapidly shrinking membership (much of which is fairly old).
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CrabCake
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« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2014, 02:10:44 PM »

In retrospect, the upset 1992 election win was not a cause worth celebrating for Tories. Although the proceeding government is certainly more loathed by enormous swathes of the country, the Major administration shredded the messaging of Thatcher. Even though I dislike her, I can't deny Thatcher was a great politician who chose her battles wisely. The state monopolies she took on were, by and large, the hated and terribly run ones like British Telecom. She allowed the unions and miners to be scapegoats, allowed her to build an us vs them narrative between the private and public sectors. ABove all this was "popular capitalism" - see the "tell Sid ads" or "a nation of stockholders".

The 1992-1997 was where everything managed to end up pear-shaped. A steady stream of scandals, mishaps, "sleaze" and eff-ups hurt the idea that the Tories were the adults who did unpleasant things because they "had to be done". Now it seemed that things were run for the benefit of the Tory party and even that they did incompetently. His government lacked focus and its privatisations now affected services used by the vast majority (rail, electricity and a half-baked attempt by Heseltine to sell-off the Post Office). No nation of small stockholders had materialised. Instead the UK was a nation of rent-seekers and crippling bills. The dream that Thatcher had sold to the public seemed to be the epitome of wishful thinking.

(And yes, the 1992 loss allowed Labour to step and make the great cosmetic step of Clause IV removal and the ditching of the block vote; but I view this as less important).
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Kalwejt
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« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2014, 07:00:36 AM »

In 2010, the Tory party won the election because of the coalition with the Liberal Democratic leader, Nick Clegg due to the election results showing a hung parliament after disgust with the Gordon Brown-lead Labour Party. Since 1997, when the Tory Party lost in a landslide over Tony Blair's Labour Party, the Tory party has been unpopular and fielded uninspiring leaders after John Major resigned. Why has the Tory party been so unpopular?

Are you implying John Major was inspiring?
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