Cameron, Modernisation and Conservative Britain

Abstract

In the third year of David Cameron’s leadership, the Conservative Party looked well-placed to regain power having established a substantial and enduring opinion poll lead over Labour. This was a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of a party which in little over a decade had suffered three heavy election defeats, had five leaders and struggled to establish a coherent narrative or attractive policies. Cameron has addressed many of his Party’s recent failings but, this chapter argues, has yet to tackle effectively some of the main reasons for Conservative decline. This is particularly true in four areas — the constitution, the Union, Europe and the politics of nationhood — which were crucial elements of Conservative statecraft in the twentieth century but which have been problematic for the Party in the last three decades. The story of Conservative decline is not simply one of short-term failings but of the end of ‘Conservative Britain’ and a crisis of identity for the Party. If they are to once again become the dominant force in British politics, the Conservatives must answer the strategic questions posed by the end of Conservative Britain and rethink their identity.KeywordsConservative GovernmentLisbon TreatyConservative PartyConstitutional ReformConstitutional TreatyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.