The Conservative Party After 1964

Abstract

One of the most persistent and striking themes of this book has been the adaptability and electoral success of the Conservative Party since the late nineteenth century. The history of the party since 1964 re-emphasises both these characteristics. There have been three significant aspects of the modern party. Firstly, the continuing electoral success of the party; the election of 1964 was narrowly lost after thirteen years of uninterrupted power and although the party lost the 1966 election more convincingly, it surprisingly won in 1970. It lost the February 1974 election in terms of seats and was defeated in the October election of the same year, but it was to be faced by a Labour government with an absolute majority in the Commons for only a brief period. The 1979 and 1983 elections were complete success stories for the Conservatives. Secondly, power in the party remained firmly in the hands of the party in Parliament, although there were to be important innovations in the method of selecting the party leader. Thirdly, the ideological changes in modern Conservatism enabled the party to succeed electorally and to set and indeed dominate the political agenda of British politics in the laterpart of this period.