Conservative party. History and modern policy

POLITICAL PARTIES

The British political scene is dominated by a two-party system: one party in power, the other in opposi­tion. Now they are the Conservative and the Labour Parties. The two-party system has evolved since the 18^th century when the conflicting groups within Par­liament formed opposing parties known as the Tories and Whigs.

Political parties exist to promote the interests and ideas of particular classes and groups of the society. So do the parties in Britain today.

The Conservative party emerged to defend the in­terests of big, reactionary landowners, of the cava­liers who supported the King (Charles I) in his strug­gle with Parliament, of the conservative gentry and the clergy of the Church of England. They were called Tories, an insult with a touch of racial prejudice, as the name meant Irish thief.

The other group consisted of merchants and those landowners linked with commerce and the Scottish Presbyterians who helped then to win in the civil war against the King. The latter had been called Whigga-mores, or outlaws, and this name was shortened to Whigs, a term, which lasted into the 19 century, but unlike the name Tory, is now obsolete (out of use, forgotten).

The Whigs were supporters of the Free Churches and of the expansion of trade and colonies as war brought them good profits. The land-owing Tories on the other hand had a more insular outlook and were opposed to warlike policies.

But in 1789 the French Revolution took place. As the Revolution became more popular and violent in the following years and was a dangerous example for British workers, most Whigs rallied to the side of the Tories to defend the existing order against Jacobin­ism at home. After the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 the Tories' policies were so repressive, there were so many bans (on meeting and clubs, for example) and raising of tax on all newspapers, that the Whigs saw the dan­ger of such politics. The culminate point was reached in 1819 when a meeting on Parliamentary reform drew 80000 people to St. Peter's Fields in Manchester. It was attacked by yeomanry, a bourgeois mounted force of volunteers: eleven people were killed and four hun­dred, including a hundred women, injured. This be­came known as the massacre¹ of Peterloo, a name made up to compare it ironically with the military victory at Waterloo. By the middle of the 19^th century the Tory Party was split. After 1867 the Tory Party emerged as a new, freshened party with a brighter future and as the spokesman of finance-capital. The Whigs formed the Liberal Party.

It was Benjamin Disraeli, a brilliant orator, great politician, and a man of many talents, who formed the new party of the conservatives. He completely reorganized the party, worked out the lines and programme, which it follows up to now. He succeeded in ending the unhappy quarrel between town and the country. The old force of landowners and the newly growing aristocracy among bourgeoisie in town (capitalists, landowners and financists) were all united together in the new party.

Today the Conservative Party is the party of the Right, identified with the idea of economic freedom and mainly with the idea of resistance to change. The aims of the Party are: to uphold religion, to maintain defense forces adequate for the preservation of freedom and prevention of war, to provide freedom and opportunity by supporting free enterprise and initiative against socialist system of state-trading and nationalization, to encourage wider spread of ownership of property, to improve standards of life, to promote better health, to give greater educational opportunities. The Conservative party has successfully portrayed itself as the party of patriotism. As it appeals to a «property-owning democracy* it is supported by wealthier classes, receiving much money from major business and financial institutions. It gives emphasis to the importance of law and order, and it is highly disciplined, tending no dissent¹ from the leadership publicly.

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