Vox Populi - 1967 Conservative Leadership Process

[Lumine]

October 1967 - Quintin Hogg steps down after a landslide defeat

The landslide defeat of the Tories in 1967 had shaken the party pretty badly, particularly as they had expected to make gains into the election and had instead faced obliteration in the scale of 1906 and 1945. Hogg knew full well he couldn't justify remaining leader after two election defeats, and announced his resignation to coincide with the upcoming party conference in October. Having never decided to reform the process to choose a leader despite some interest in the idea the party will go through an informal process once again, this time corrected to listen more to the views of the Party Conference rather than the somewhat discredited Shadow Cabinet.

More concerning for the party was the loss of several of its prospective candidates. Lord Home and Rab Butler had retired from the frontlines, Maudling had become a hated figure for his scandals and Edward Heath, Julian Amery and Peter Thorneycroft (all seen as the likely candidates) lost their seats in the Labour landslide. Some serious thought was given to the idea of installing the still popular Selwyn Lloyd as leader for a few years as the party recovered from the defeat, but Lloyd himself shut down all talk in said direction by arguing the party needed to jump towards the next generation and choose a younger leader. With both the "magic circle" of party grandees and the Hogg supporters discredited, it was left to two younger men to attempt to rally the party, both representing a huge break with the past:

The Candidates:

Enoch Powell: Straight from the Tory right is known maverick and powerful orator Enoch Powell, Shadow Foreign Secretary since the election defeat. An unusual character, the outspoken Powell rallies against the post-war consensus and the "aristocratic" perception of the party, arguing for a radical pro-free market economic policy (while appealing to the working class on unions and welfare policy), anti-immigration policies, staunch opposition to joining the EEC, a more nationalist foreign policy (taking an anti-US line on issues such as Vietnam) and a move towards more social-liberal policies.

Iain Macleod: Tory intellectual and a powerful speaker,  the champion of the "progressive" Tory left, Shadow Home Secretary Iain Macleod runs as the candidate of modernization, arguing the Conservatives need to become a modern party more in touch with society. Macleod runs on a platform of social liberal policies, a pro EEC stance, a more compassionate economic policy (strongly pro fiscal responsibility, but advocating for equality policies), a more Atlanticist foreign stance, and an overall reformist approach to Government and society, casting Callaghan's Labour as a regressive party.

[MAINEiac4434]

Powell for the lulz.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Macleod (not voting for Mr. Rivers of Blood no matter how much I like his economic and EEC policies).

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Enoch here, Enoch there, we want Enoch everywhere!

[Blair]

Powell is the type of politician who always does well on fantasy elections so I went for Macleod

[Intell]

Powell for the lulz.

[Phony Moderate]

They'll be a chorus of execration if Powell wins.

[Lumine]

Conservative Leadership Process, 1967:

Enoch Powell, the new face of Conservatism

Quintin Hogg's resignation in the middle of a deep crisis in the Conservative Party to an unusual contest. With a large number of prospective and experienced candidates out of parliament and the proposed scheme to make Selwyn Lloyd "Acting Leader" collapsing after Lloyd's own insistence of "moving to the next generation", the party looked to two younger and credible former ministers as the possible leaders as Conference season began: Shadow Home Secretary Iain Macleod, champion of the Tory left and a firm believer in the need for the Conservatives to move to the center and modernize; and Shadow Foreign Secretary Enoch Powell, the unorthodox champion of the resurgent Tory right, determined to reform the party into a more viable and populist force.

If Macleod rallied the Shadow Cabinet and a sizable number of MP's Powell had the constituency associations and a similarly large group of MP's behind him (with Airey Neave as a particularly efficient campaign manager). It was evident therefore that the leadership would come to their performance at the conference speeches, and both men, brilliant orators prepared to go all-out on the hunt. Macleod went first, rallying his supporters to the cry of a more modern Britain and acting (as some put it) as the "conscience" of the party. Momentum behind him it was then that Powell had gone and delivered a speech that was seen just as brilliant as Hogg's performance in 1963. Avoiding a potential landmine by softening some of his classical references, the so called "Empire" speech sought to address the new nature of Britain in a post-imperial world, taking a strong stance against mass immigrations and the EEC.

Powell had lit the conference on fire, and seemingly struck a chord with a large part of the electorate as well. Soon it became clear that a strong majority supported Powell as the man to radically reform the party and return it to power, and eventually the conference acclaimed Powell as the next Conservative Party leader. Still, his once strong friendship to Iain Macleod had been broken by Powell's rhetoric, leading Macleod and many of the One Nation Tories to refuse serving on the Shadow Cabinet. In response Powell promoted the most promising young figures of the right, and prepared to take the fight to Labour and James Callaghan:

Conservative Leader: Enoch Powell
Deputy Conservative Leader: Geoffrey Rippon
Shadow Chancellor: Keith Joseph
Shadow Home Secretary: Airey Neave
Shadow Foreign Secretary: Edward DuCann

But was Powell capable of bringing Labour down after such a landslide?