Baldwin and a United Nation

Abstract

Stanley Baldwin, the Conservative Party leader from 1923 to 1937, has been credited with the first use of the term “one nation” as a tenet of Conservative politics. But it is unlikely that he intended to invent a new phrase, and he was not a source for the modern conception of “One Nation Conservatism”. Nevertheless, during the severe difficulties of inter-war Britain and fears for the Conservative Party’s future, Baldwin did create a distinctive politics which emphasised national cohesion and Conservative classlessness. Unlike the later advocates of One Nation Conservatism, this did not turn on social and economic policies, but on political principles and moral values. It had two purposes: chiefly to help hold the political nation together, but also to shape its divisions to the advantage of the Conservative party.