First published in 1977, The Conservatives has been edited and designed by Lord Bulter, who has contributed much to the ethos and spirit of modern Conservatism. He has brought together a quartet of eminent modern historians, each of whom handles a significant period in the party’s and the nation’s history. Lord Bulter provides the Introduction. Professor Gash records the development of Conservatism from its origins in the reaction against the ideas and the armed threat of the revolutionary French state to the status of a party formally embodied under Sir Robert Peel. Dr Southgate discusses the whole immense period from Disraeli to Bonar Law. Professor Dilks explores the inner-war period from Baldwin to Nevile Chamberlain while Dr Ramsden concludes the study from Churchill to the policy-making year of 1965. The book is an encouragement to the party to rethink its doctrine under the inspiration of old values and in the light of the changed circumstances of modern times. The Editor points out that, owing to the development of the technical revolution, things have changed more between the period of Sir Robert Peel and 1970s than between Julius Caesar and Peel. This book will provide a hunting ground for historians and modern political readers and should be a happy vade mecum for parliamentary candidates standing in the Conservative cause, to the fortunes of which the volume is dedicated.

The Conservatives since 1945 is about how and why parties in general, and the Conservative Party in particular, make changes to the face they present to the electorate, the way they organize themselves, and the policies they come up with. This is an in-depth but comprehensive study based on original archival sources.

This lively book traces the development of American conservatism from Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Daniel Webster, through Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover, to William F. Buckley, Jr., Ronald Reagan, and William Kristol. Conservatism has assumed a variety of forms, historian Patrick Allitt argues, because it has been chiefly reactive, responding to perceived threats and challenges at different moments in the nation's history. While few Americans described themselves as conservatives before the 1930s, certain groups, beginning with the Federalists in the 1790s, can reasonably be thought of in that way. The book discusses changing ideas about what ought to be conserved, and why. Conservatives sometimes favored but at other times opposed a strong central government, sometimes criticized free-market capitalism but at other times supported it. Some denigrated democracy while others championed it. Core elements, however, have connected thinkers in a specifically American conservative tradition, in particular a skepticism about human equality and fears for the survival of civilization. Allitt brings the story of that tradition to the end of the twentieth century, examining how conservatives rose to dominance during the Cold War. Throughout the book he offers original insights into the connections between the development of conservatism and the larger history of the nation.

The Conservatives and Industrial Efficiency, 1951-1964 responds to the need for a full assessment of the Conservatives performance in this crucial period. Drawing upon a wide range of archival sources, Nick Tiratsoo and Jim Tomlinson explore the different aspects of the efficiency question. Beginning with the major issue of attempts in the 1950s to americanize British industry, the authors also discuss the Conservatives policy on ompetition, education and training, investment and research and development. This new survey reveals that the Conservatives were informed about each of these issues, yet shrank from effective reform. They were, rather, reduced to inertia by ideological dilemmas, internal party antagonisms and conflicting strategic objectives. Tiratsoo and Tomlinson conclude that 1951 - 1964 were indeed 'thirteen wasted years'. This book will be of interest to all those concerned with the post-1945 economic and political history of Britain.

What happened to economic policy during the first five years of Mrs Thatcher’s government? Most commentators have emphasised the radical changes wrought in economic theory and policy over the period from 1979. The left saw this as heralding the introduction of the social market economy and authoritarian populism, the right saw it as evangelical monetarism and a new beginning. This book, first published in 1986, challenges the notion that there was a revolution in economic policy making. It emphasises the constraints on economic policy formation and the ironies that these have thrown up with respect to the Conservatives’ attempts at changing the course of the economy. The book argues that the Thatcher government had not been able to implement a great deal of its rhetoric. This book is ideal for students of economics and politics.

This book should be of value to students of contemporary British politics.

A timely consideration of the development and content of the Conservatives' approaches to social policy and how they inform the Coalition's policies.

The history of the Conservative Party during the first half of the twentieth century was marked by crisis and controversy, from Joseph Chamberlain's tariff reform campaign through the Lloyd George coalition and the National Government between the wars to the defeat of 1945 and the post war recovery. This study provides a lucid account of this turbulent and formative period in the history of the most durable and adaptive force in modern British politics.