British Conservatism and Trade Unionism, 1945-1964. By Peter Dorey.

Abstract

Despite the popular impression of outright hostility between trade unions and the Conservative Party, Peter Dorey argues that the two decades following the Second World War marked a significant attempt to build a more constructive relationship. ‘From 1945 to 1964’, he suggests, ‘A unique set of circumstances, ideas and individuals combined to ensure that the Conservative Party and the trade unions enjoyed their most harmonious relationship ever’ (p. 184). In the initial chapter, Dorey highlights the conciliatory tendencies of Tories and Conservatives from Disraeli through to the strife of the inter-war years (when Macmillan was a young backbencher), suggesting that this ‘presaged the voluntarist paradigm which was to prevail throughout the 1950s and early 1960s’ (p. 14). He argues that even when repressive legislation was enacted, such as the 1799–1800 Combination Acts or the 1927 Trade Disputes Act, some within the party had considerable doubts over the pragmatic benefits of such a hostile approach. Indeed, such a reading of the period somewhat diminishes the claim on the dust jacket of the book that the post-war years were radically different from anything that preceded them. Yet, even if elements of a constructive relationship can be traced to earlier eras, it was indeed the post-war years that saw the most significant attempt yet to bring the trade unions into the Conservative fold.