Conservative Party Policy Research Articles

Legislative Proposal to Increase Sentencing Powers for Cruelty to Nonhuman Animals: Taken with a Pinch of Salt

Environment Secretary for the British Government Michael Gove has announced his plan to increase the current maximum sentence that can be awarded to animal abuse offenders from six months to five years. In this critical analysis of the proposal, I will firstly outline the legislative proposal in terms of its aims, and then follow by providing statistics and referring to the most abhorrent cases of cruelty to demonstrate unequivocally the need for the proposal to be implemented. Following this, I will set out the positions of two major relevant stakeholders in response to the proposal: the League Against Cruel Sports, and the RSPCA. I will then proceed to commend the proposal as an important step forward for nonhuman animal welfare, especially given the increasing acknowledgement of the link between violence toward humans and toward nonhuman animals. I will then turn, however, to the two issues that I identify with the proposal and the context within which it has been introduced; firstly, that it highlights our pretension for protecting the welfare of companion animals while simultaneously contributing to the suffering of other animals that are also sentient beings; secondly, that recent Conservative party policies concerning nonhuman animals have been inimical to their welfare and, for this reason, the proposal must be taken with a pinch of salt.

The role of small ‘c’ Christianity in the Conservative Party since the 1990s

Though not dominant, the prominence of Christianity in the forming of Conservative party policy has increased since the 1990s – the touchstone organisation for this rise is the Conservative Christian Fellowship. Using interviews with mid- and elite-level actors, and policy documents, this article traces the activity of small ‘c’ Christianity in the Conservative party under the leaderships of William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, in the forming of the Centre for Social Justice and, in Cameron’s early leadership around social justice policy. It is argued that Christianity became a minor but important influence within a party undergoing a period of uncertainty after the election defeat of 1997. Key to this analysis is the understanding that parties cannot be easily changed by leaders alone; rather change in policy emerges, in part, from mid-level actors before filtering up to the leadership.

Continuity and Change in Work-family Reconciliation Policy under the Coalition Government (2010-2015)

The aim of this article is to explain the degree of continuity and change in work-family reconciliation policy under the UK Coalition government (2010 to 2015). The article first traces the development of work-family policy in the UK and its accompanying policy discourses from the 1980s onwards before moving on to assess the degree of continuity and change in this policy area since 2010. The article then reviews the policy drivers underlying this policy continuity and change so identified. It concludes that in general, work-family reconciliation policy has been resistant to the degree of austerity cuts suffered in other areas. This resistance is explained by the material conditions which demand investment in work-family reconciliation (continuing high maternal employment, the demands of the new social risks and the need for social investment in early education) coupled with a political environment which supports the policy (from the business community and the electorate, influencing in particular Conservative party policy). The areas which have seen retrenchment – namely, the direct provision of childcare services by government and benefits for poorer families – are those which do not fit with the new more residual welfare-state model constructed by the Coalition.

‘Manufacturing Capitalists’: The Wider Share Ownership Council and the Problem of ‘Popular Capitalism’, 1958–92

‘Manufacturing Capitalists’: The Wider Share Ownership Council and the Problem of ‘Popular Capitalism’, 1958–92

A Householder's Right to Kill or Injure an Intruder under the Crime and Courts Act 2013: An Australian Comparison

Section 43 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 has amended s. 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 such that a person may be acquitted in a case of self-defence in his or her own home where he or she uses disproportionate, but not grossly disproportionate, force against an intruder. This extends to circumstances where a householder intentionally kills such an intruder. This amendment, a result of Conservative Party policy, appears to be based on populist appeal and a response to certain high-profile cases. By comparison, Australian home invasion legislation imposes limitations on the rights of a householder to kill in circumstances such as a home invasion. In addition, a number of Australian jurisdictions provide for a partial defence of excessive self-defence. Section 43 provides only that the disproportionate force used by a householder be reasonable in the circumstances as the householder believed them to be. Further to this, the amendments are vague, ambiguous and likely to create significant uncertainty.

Reflections on conservative politics in the United Kingdom and the United States: still soul mates?

Introduction Chapter 1: Rights Liberty and Rights in American and British Conservatism by Daniel DiSalvo and James W. Ceaser Chapter 2: Foreign Policy New Directions in British foreign policy? by Michael Parsons Conservative US Foreign Policy by Paul McCartney Chapter 3: Religion Religion and Conservatism in the United Kingdom by Gillian Peele The Religious Right in the US : Obscured by Libertarianism? by Mark McNaught Chapter 4: Free-Market Economics The British Conservative Party and Economic Policy: From Mrs. Thatcher to David Cameron by Nigel F. B. Allington and Gillian Peele Free-Market Conservatives Faced with the Economic Crisis: The Paradox of a Revival in the United States by Sebastien Care Conclusion

The Conservative Party and Social Policy – Edited by Hugh Bochel

The Conservative Party and Social Policy – Edited by Hugh Bochel

The good, the bad and the vague: Assessing emerging Conservative drug policy

New Labour came to power promising to offer a new, evidence based approach towards drug policy. However, despite early promise, the latter years of the Labour government descended towards tabloid led criminal justice populism. During the same period, the Conservative opposition often gave contradictory messages on policy, although they increasingly appeared to veer towards a hard-line, abstinence based approach. In power they have moved quickly to produce a drugs strategy that promises a move towards a ‘recovery’ agenda. This article reviews and evaluates the evolving Conservative Party policies on drugs misuse and explores whether the strategy lives up to its ambitious rhetoric and its stated aim to follow evidence based policies. It finds a mixture of laudable aims; vague and sometimes contradictory statements; proposals that are unsupported, and sometimes contraindicated, by evidence; and policy goals that are often at risk of being undermined by a wider policy agenda that threatens to marginalize people with drug problems still further.

Book Review: Britain and Ireland: The Conservative Party and Social Policy

Book Review: Britain and Ireland: The Conservative Party and Social Policy

Hugh Bochel (ed.) (2011), The Conservative Party and Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. £23.99, pp. 326, pbk.

Hugh Bochel (ed.) (2011), The Conservative Party and Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. £23.99, pp. 326, pbk.

Neo-liberalism and continuing vocational training governance in the UK: an examination of three theoretical accounts

The paper analyses continuing vocational education and training policies in the UK in the period 1979–2010 with a focus on regulation and governance. It reviews Conservative and Labour party policies to ascertain their principal components and explore their evolution through time. More specifically, the paper reviews the paradoxical existence of three seemingly opposed accounts of recent dynamics in the management of continuing vocational training: one that sees it moving inexorably to the political right, one that emphasises the singularity of social-democratic policies and one that focuses on the difficulties of any movement, towards the political left or right. The paper concludes that while there has been a degree of convergence between right and left, differences remained in terms of their favoured institutional decision-making structures. However, Labour played a two-level game, which combined the establishment of new channels for dialogue and coordination with key stakeholders, with a limited scope for meaningful stakeholder input to policy.

Fresh start or false promise? Lessons from Tory policy reviews

As the Labour Party gears up to share early findings from its wide‐ranging policy review at the autumn party conference, author and academic Tim Bale looks for lessons in over 60 years of Conservative party policy reinvention.

Conservative Party Modernisation and David Cameron's Politics of the Family

A key feature of David Cameron's electoral appeal is his carefully cultivated image as a ‘family man’. Cameron has repeatedly stressed the importance of the family to his political views and stated his desire to see marriage rewarded through the tax system. At the same time, Cameron has presented himself as a modernising leader, keen to demonstrate that he and his party are in touch with contemporary society. Central to this effort to detoxify the Conservative brand has been an emphasis on social liberalism. The potential conflict between these two objectives reflects the division in the party between social liberals and traditionalists, which has become increasingly apparent over the past decade. This article examines Conservative party policy and rhetoric on social and moral issues since 1997, particularly gay rights and family policy. It notes that a significant divide remains in the Conservative party between social liberals and traditionalists, so in this respect Cameron's modernisation project remains far from complete.

Conservative Party policy for planning: caught between the market and local communities

Whether in power or in opposition, the planning policies of the Conservative Party are caught in a tension between the free market and local communities. On one hand, the Conservatives face developers who want to simplify the planning system, speed up decision making and make sufficient land available for economic activities. All this is likely to promote a small government, deregulatory policy agenda that is, in principle at least, distinctive. On the other hand, the Conservatives face local authorities and a Conservative electorate that are keen on conserving local amenities and the local environment and that, as a result, are also keen on promoting effective systems of local consultation and effective mechanisms of development control. The tension between the market and local communities has been recurrent in Conservative planning policy since at least the 1980s and is unlikely to disappear in the near future. The tension also means, however, that Conservative proposals tend to be relatively narrow in their scope. Keywords: Conservative Party, town planning, environment.

They Hug Hoodies, Don't They? Responsibility, Irresponsibility and Responsibilisation in Conservative Crime Policy

Abstract: After ten years of Labour government, their penal policies have been extensively examined and reviewed. Recent months have seen the resurgence in popularity of the Conservative Party, but their penal policies have not been the subject of critical analysis. This article aims to provide such a review of Conservative Party policy. It explores the published statements and documents produced on penal policy and identifies that rather than presenting a new approach, the policies mix neo‐conservative or New Right economic policies from the 1980s including the creation of a small State with marketised public services and promoting punitive criminal justice policies that have been staples of the party for more than a decade, with the deployment of neo‐liberal strategies in the social field, particularly responsibilisation. The article argues that whilst there is some mixing and matching of policies and strategies, there is an underlying neo‐conservative ideology. The social consequences of Cameron's policies are discussed, including the expansion of the criminal justice and penal system, the redefinition of the socially excluded as the ‘undeserving poor’ and the creation of a minimalist State.

A ‘chorus of execration’? Enoch Powell's ‘rivers of blood’ forty years on

ABSTRACT Enoch Powell's ‘rivers of blood’ speech, delivered forty years ago, in April 1968, had a significant impact on British politics. Commentators are divided between those who have defended Powell's remarks and those who have condemned them. Hillman evaluates the responses, and reassesses the speech. He focuses on five key issues: Powell's motives; whether the speech was racist and/or racialist; the relationship between the speech and Conservative Party policies; Powell's electoral impact; and his forecasts with regard to numbers of people with minority ethnic backgrounds within the population.

Reviews

Book reviewed in this articles: POLICY Homes for the Future: More Affordable, More Sustainable‐Housing Green Paper (2007) The Conservative Party Policy Commissions Blueprint for a Green Economy Restoring Pride in Our Public Services THINK TANK Tackling Educational Inequality Paul Marshall with Sumi Rabindrakumar and Lucy Wilkins (2007) BOOKS Fantasy Island: Waking up to the incredible economic, political and social illusions of the Blair era Larry Elliot and Dan Atkinson (2007) The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering public services through choice and competition Julian Le Grand (2007) The Islamist Ed Husain (2007)

Cameron Chameleon and the Current State of Britain's ‘Consensus’

David Cameron's election as leader of the Conservative Party has already made a significant impact upon the electoral dynamics between the three major parties in Britain. Whilst the new leader has made serious attempts to redefine his party's policy and ideological stance on a number of issues, Cameron has also been hailed, particularly by key sections of the media, as a serious contender for No. 10. As such, Cameron's leadership of the Conservatives is likely to provoke a significant degree of academic speculation about his impact, both on the Conservative Party and the wider contemporary political context in Britain. In light of this, the purpose of this article is to attempt to address both of these questions. The article begins with a brief examination of Cameron's first few months as leader of the opposition and the impact this has had upon both Conservative Party policy and ideology. This is followed by a discussion of the likely impact Cameron's leadership may have upon the relationship between the two main parties through a critique of theories of ‘consensus’. The article attempts to anticipate a likely desire amongst academics to place Cameron's transformation of the Conservatives in the context of an ongoing party consensus between Labour and the Conservatives. Whilst this part of the article is, to some extent, speculative, I will argue that there are a number of precedents to suggest that the application of a consensus theory to explain the current relationship between Labour and the Conservatives is likely to be tempting to several authors. Overall, I attempt to argue that such a view only serves to hamper, rather than help our understanding of the contemporary political scene.

Between a Soft and a Hard Place? The Conservative Party, Valence Politics and the Need for a New ‘Eurorealism’

Conservative Party policy on the EU has hardened in recent years, both in order to outflank Labour and as a reflection of an increasingly Eurosceptical membership, inside parliament and without. Yet at the same time the Tories have increasingly downplayed ‘Europe’. In the light of the apparent defeat of the EU’s Constitutional Treaty and the Labour government’s more assertive stance, this could – and perhaps should – be the precursor to the party’s return to a more pragmatic, ‘softer’ Euroscepticism which acknowledges the reality of multilevel governance but seeks to tilt it in a more liberal direction. Abandoning the attempt to turn back the clock would also dovetail with David Cameron’s broader modernisation strategy. Whether the party is ready for a ‘Eurorealism’ that sees Britain’s relationship with the EU as a ‘valence issue’ – one revolving around competence – rather than a ‘position issue’ – one which demands people take sides – is another matter. Nor will things be made any easier by Cameron’s arguably rash promise to take Tory MEPs out of the EPP-ED group in Brussels.

Sir Henry Page Croft and Conservative Backbench Campaigns for Empire, 1903-1932

Sir Henry Page Croft and Conservative Backbench Campaigns for Empire, 1903-1932* Larry L. Witherell In a demonstration that not all has been written on the politics of tariff reform and the empire, Dr Andrew Thompson argues that the characterization of tariff reform as 'a domestic political cocktail' needs balancing: tariff reform was primarily empire-minded and focused on the preferential nature of tariffs for the purpose of 'reorganizing the empire'.1 His consideration of the 'imperial strategy' is confined to the political élite within only the pre-war Tariff Reform League. Accordingly, there is a need to examine the activities of a broader range of participants and the consequential political dynamics within an extended chronological period and the need to examine the extent to which the imperial idea travelled into the ranks of the Conservative party and with what strategies the empire and imperial preference were promoted. The present article examines the strength of the imperial idea among the Conservative party backbenchers from 1903 to 1932, how their empire-first movement developed within and in relationship to the Conservative party, and how the imperial idea translated into political action, producing several ambitious organizations, and eventually contributing to the context within which the Import Duties Act and Ottawa Imperial Conference of 1932 resulted.2 [End Page 357] 1 In May 1902 Joseph Chamberlain asked 'whether the British Empire is to continue strong, powerful, and united or whether it is to fall to pieces by disruption or by tolerated secession' and urged Britain to 'raise [its] thoughts to the transcendent possibilities of a federation of the British race . . . [and] draw closer our internal relations', and 'ties of sentiment, sympathy and interest'.3 He later told an imperial conference in 1902 that the 'paramount objective is to strengthen the bonds which unite' Britain and the empire.4 In his famous May 1903 speech Chamberlain proclaimed that 'now is the time when we can mould the Empire, and . . . decide its future destinies'.5 His vision of cultural, political and strategic unity between Britain and the Dominions founded upon the economic elements of tariff reform and imperial preference was embraced by a band of young Conservatives who were anxious over the empire and for whom the imperial idea promised a new empire for a new century.6 The subsequent empire-first movement 'developed a dynamic of its own which would never quite be brought under control', and gave birth to a sectarian faction within the Conservative party which from 1903 to the 1930s produced a series of backbench organizations and campaigns to promote the empire by attempting to influence and even challenge the party's leadership and policies.7 The next three decades saw the formation of the Tariff Reform League, Confederacy, Reveille, Imperial Mission, National party and Empire Industries Association, all intimately associated with one of those bold young Conservatives, Henry Page Croft, whose back-bench campaigns kept the imperial idea in the forefront of Conservative party politics for 30 years and contributed to the context that produced the Import Duties Act and Ottawa conference of 1932.8 The Tariff Reform League (T.R.L.), the organization to advocate imperial consolidation and development of the empire, was established in July 1903 by 130 [End Page 358] Conservative backbenchers to promote the Chamberlain views. 9 Influenced by this development Croft committed himself to the cause of imperial unity, and in late 1903 he established a large T.R.L. branch in East Hertfordshire and declared there was a moral responsibility to hold the empire together and not permit the colonies 'to slip gradually from all family ties'.10 He prophetically called for British and imperial unity 'so that in time of need, when we had to fight a great war, they should once more be able to come to our aid'.11 Croft did not consider the Conservative defeat in the 1906 general election to be a defeat for the imperial idea. Croft, whose own unsuccessful campaign in Lincoln urged voters 'to look after the future of the British Empire', placed the blame on an ambiguous Conservative party policy and weak leadership.12 Anxiety over the party's inattention to the empire gave birth...