Why has the British Conservative Party been so unpopular for decades now?

[Cassius]

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).