The Conservative Party and the Electorate

Abstract

Throughout its long history, the Conservative Party has been a formidable electoral force. Between 1832 and 1992, and not counting inter-election changes in government, the Conservatives emerged on the winning side in 18 out of 41 elections, a record unsurpassed by any other modern party (Blake, 1985). The party was the most successful in twentieth-century British politics: while it won only two of the 13 elections between 1832 and 1885 outright, it won eight of the 14 elections between 1886 and 1935, and eight of the 14 between 1945 and 1992. Conservative-led governments have presided over almost two-thirds of the years between 1900 and 1995.