Conservative Party of Great Britain: ideology, leaders

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Great Britain is essentially an extremely conservative country, the political system that operates there is very specific, the political culture is very different from other countries. That is why the largest of the opposition parties is the Conservative Party of Great Britain. The origins of its origin are in the nineteenth century, and the activity was most clearly manifested in 1997, when the party received its current name - "Tory".

Features

From the moment of its founding, the Conservative Party of Great Britain defended the interests of the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie, both financial and industrial, which gradually emerged from the tutelage of the Liberal Party. The Conservatives even had the opportunity from time to time to form a government on their own, so this party was popular. Over the years, the British Conservative Party has also experienced triumphs. There were also turning points when their age-old political opponents, the liberal party, triumphed. For example, when Margaret Thatcher left public politics(Margaret Thatcher), the conservatives had a very bad time. They have lost their hard-won positions in government and virtually all the support of the electorate.

Margaret Thatcher

This is the most charismatic leader of the British Conservative Party, it is not in vain that she was given the title of "iron lady". At the time of her departure, a period of decline began, the party's ratings were steadily declining, the apparatus was difficult to reform, and leaders were often and unsuccessfully changed. Indeed, it was almost impossible to find Margaret Thatcher equal in strength of political thought. The Conservative Party was in decline.

A new life for her came when David Cameron became the leader, who changed not only the party members, who became somewhat younger, but even the symbols. The green of the tree - the main symbol - means a new direction that respects the ecology of the United Kingdom. Blue and green are the official colors chosen by the British Conservative Party.

Program

The main slogan is diversity and equality. The 2010 elections determined the program in its current capacity. The share of female participation is increasing, and not only ethnic, but also other minorities are represented. The election of a new Muslim Mayor of London highlights this activity.

The reform of the economic system of Great Britain is not forgotten either, the struggle is going on for the redistribution of the budget, social financing programs are being reduced, the course has been taken towards the rationality of all budget spending. The inhabitants of the country are gradually getting used to such a plan of separation of powers of power, so the protest movement is expressed very weakly, basically, the population agrees with these political principles.

Traditions

The Conservative Party of Great Britain, however, is traditionally popular among the we althy and among the aristocrats, its ranks are formed from members of the highest military, the clergy, very we althy deputies and officials. It is the conservatives who dictate the external differences between the British and the rest of humanity - this is restraint, strict good breeding and even a little mannerism.

For conservatives, membership fees are not important, the issues of composition and its formation are entirely decided by the leader of a separate community, who even has the right not to obey the annual party conference. Independence traditionally distinguishes the social movement of conservatives from other party formations. Parliamentary elections determine the course of the country for five years and the composition of the government. There are two main political parties in the country, liberals and conservatives are fighting for power with varying degrees of success.

History

Reforms in Parliament in 1832 gave impetus to the emergence of small local organizations that called themselves Tories and Conservatives, because they did not like the reforms. Then, in 1867, they united as the National Union. The first significant leader of the Conservatives was Benjamin Disraeli, whom the Tories entrusted with the party in 1846, and later became a good prime minister (1868 and 1874-1880).years). The Conservative Party of Great Britain, whose program previously suited only the aristocratic elite, was gradually changing. Since the 1870s, it has attracted most of the electorate of its opponents. Liberals and conservatives were already actively opposed in the struggle for power.

Most of the 20th century was ruled by the Conservative Party, which gave neither Labor nor Liberals power for more than one term. For almost thirty years since 1915, the Conservatives themselves formed the government (only 1924 and 1929 were an exception) or formed a coalition with Labor, forming a national government. The full name of the party sounds like a kind of association: the conservative and unionist party. The post-war period was also marked more than once by the rule of the Conservatives. Only the defeat in the parliamentary elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 forced them to go into opposition.

Achievements

Reducing the funding of certain social programs and the state's influence on economic processes, responsibility in spending public funds, standing up for traditional family values and encouraging the initiatives of private entrepreneurs - all this, being the main points of the party program, made the conservatives the most popular among the electorate. Their stay in power helped the country achieve high results in increasing the rate of economic growth, reducing inflationary processes, and increasing the income of private business. A number of state-owned companies have been privatized.

Since 2005the year when Cameron ruled the party, the country's successes were even more grandiose, the field of activity expanded and the influence of conservatives increased in all spheres of public life and politics. After the 2010 elections, the British Parliament entrusted three hundred and six mandates of the House of Commons to the Conservative Party, for which about eleven million voters voted. At the same time, Cameron formed a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party to form a government. In 2015, the Conservatives still had a majority - three hundred and two parliamentary seats.

New plans

Some of the Conservatives' new pledges in the latest UK parliamentary elections are under fire. For example, the referendum that the party intends to hold on the country's exit from the European Union, as well as the modernization of the nuclear security system. At the same time, there are other important issues on the agenda that the time dictates: a budget deficit that needs to be reduced, taxes that have increased at the upper and main levels, housing affordability, provision for pensioners and much more.

Here, too, traditions triumph since the development of the party doctrine by Chamberlain, who put forward the idea of a customs union, introduced protectionism, which forced the country to leave its place as a monopolist in world industry, and intensified competition (especially with Germany). Attempts to appease the aggression of the Nazis in those days led to the outbreak of World War II. What will happen this time is not very clear yet, but the whole world afterThe latest statements by the Conservatives are slightly alarmed, not only by the UK. The Conservatives in the fortieth year found and nominated Churchill, who headed the government and helped defeat Nazism. Is there a figure of this magnitude today? It remains only to hope. Especially when you consider that Churchill also had irreparable blunders a little later.

World leaders

In March 1946, the same Churchill, a comrade-in-arms and ally of the USSR in the great war, made a speech in the American Fulton, where it was proposed to unite all capitalist forces for the anti-Soviet bloc. For a time, the conservatives even lost power. But in 1951 they returned and stayed in power for thirteen years. In 1955, Churchill was replaced by Eden, an ally and friend of many years. However, he failed the Suez crisis and was forced to leave already in 1957.

Further, the Conservatives led Macmillan and Douglas-Home to the leadership, but they did not succeed in public policy, but in 1970 E. Heath, the head of the party since 1965, already independently formed the British government. He succeeded in a lot: joining the common market, pan-European consolidation. For this, by the way, he was severely criticized within the party, and the party itself received deep disagreements among its members: the British do not like either change or consolidation. And so, after Heath's resignation, the "iron" Margaret Thatcher became the leader of the party, who not only revived party work, but also significantly stimulated the development of the Britisheconomy.

Defeat

After Churchill, Margaret Thatcher was the strongest leader among all her predecessors. That's when the privatization of entire branches of the state industry began, trade unions were almost completely suppressed, and the conservatives won the elections confidently and by a huge margin. In 1990, Major in her place could not govern the country as successfully, because in 1992 the conservatives began to lose their popularity. In 1997, the election defeat was crushing, when the Labor Party took 418 seats in Parliament, and the Conservatives only 165.

The programs of the Conservative Party had to undergo significant changes, which happened. The leadership has rejuvenated again, the program has become similar to the liberal one. This continued until 2005, when Cameron became the leader, but the time had not yet come for independence: the actions took place in a coalition with the liberals.

Factions

Conservatives are one nation. The basis of conservatism is social cohesion with unified institutions that maintain harmony in interested groups and classes. Until recently, there were no different races and religions in this concept. Purely their own people, citizens of their own country, with deep roots, passing on traditions from generation to generation. Now this unity has grown significantly, because among the conservatives there are quite a lot of supporters of the European Union and the presence of Great Britain in it.

But no less conservatives and among the opponents of this state of affairs. Thus,formed the first group of members of the conservative party - "One Nation" with well-known politicians Tapsel, Clark, Rifkind and others. Radical politics and any kind of erosion of their own national identity are not at all close to them. Time demands patience! As well as the political preferences of the United States and the rest of Europe, for which tolerance is simply necessary for various reasons.

Free Market Wing

This faction is followers of Margaret Thatcher, conservatives with a liberalist bias. For a long time they dominated the ranks of the same party - immediately after the election of Thatcher in 1975, consistently reducing the role of the state in economic development, reducing the scale of its participation in all industries, thereby ending its existence as a social one.

Society was becoming classless, this was the main task of the political movement, the so-called Thatcherism. Among the leaders of this wing there are also many Eurosceptics who are against the rules of intervention in the free market, because they see it as a threat to British sovereignty. Reagan highly valued Thatcher's contributions to world politics. The United States really benefits from such economic liberalism, which developed its fundamental principles just in the United States.

Traditionalists

These groupings within the conservative party can be easily attributed to the most right: faith, family, flag - these are the main social institutions that the adherents of traditionalism took on the ramen. Anglicanism, state, family. This legacy resists anytransfer of power outside the country, even if it is the European Union.

Also supporters of this movement against increased immigration, against abortion and for traditional family values, including they advocate compulsory marriage, for which some tax incentives are even offered. They work least of all in the economic sphere, more often they try to solve social, moral and cultural problems.