Communication strategy, change and the British Conservative Party

Abstract

This paper asks how the British Conservative Party responded to changes in wider socio-political events and techno-cultural trends from 2010-20, under the leaderships of David Cameron (2005-16); Theresa May (2016-19); and Boris Johnson (2019- until the paper’s submission in 2021). Using secondary analysis of the author's earlier published work; and fresh analyses of evidence from news media and party-related archives (for example, ConservativeHome), the article aims to offer an indicative historical analysis of the party's development with a focus on key drivers of change, including Brexit and digital media in the context of the party’s communication strategy. Four key markers of analysis are used to focus the examination of several campaign case studies across a decade stretching from the 2010 general election period to the so called 'Brexit election' of 2019. The paper argues that, overall, across the decade, the party adapted to external factors, like Brexit and advances in digital communication; and a period of discontinuity in the party, from 2016 to 2019, contributed to punctuating the party’s wider evolution, following the fallout from the 2016 EU referendum and events in the run-up to the 2019 General Election.