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What Were The Strengths Of British Conservatism

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What Were The Strengths Of British Conservatism
What were the strengths of British Conservatism that it could recover from so quickly from Labour’s post-war landslide to dominate British politics after 1951?

In this essay I aim to explain some of the strengths that British conservatism had that helped it recover quickly from labours post-war landslide to dominate British politics after 1951. In 1945 it was apparent that the Conservatives would not recover from their defeat post-war. I shall argue that one of the reasons why the conservatives recovered so well was their attachment to pragmatic values, a predominantly conservative facet that allowed them to confidently create a ‘new conservatism’ . This adaptability has been the reason for conservative resurgence. Secondly, the party’s …show more content…
It is important to remember than one of the tactics that labour used to propel its party was its ability to demonise the Conservative party. The Labour camp was successful in creating an image in the minds of the public that likened the conservative camp with its pre-war history of economic and social inefficiency. However, in the favour of labour, they were successful in instilling ideas of collectivism and full employment with their voters. However, it was this industrial charter that managed to counteract this force. The main reason for this was the rhetoric. The rhetoric was especially poignant considering the Cold war. The sort of language that epitomised the period was understood with words like bureaucracy, state control, restriction and big state. This language was heavily likened to socialism, and it was this recognition that allowed the conservative to re-brand itself in a fashion that diametrically opposed socialist values (at least through its communicative methods). Instead, the conservative party employed language which connoted themes of progressiveness, freedom and material prosperity. Consider the following; a quote from the introduction of the Charter. Consider the following two quotes and the connotations which spring to mind. ‘ The (Labour) Government totally misconceive wherein lies the greatness …show more content…
This was also in direct opposition to Labourite socialist values. On the one hand, we had socialist speakers talking of their affection of the working class. Consider the following excerpt: the people are ‘still as proud as ever of being working class. Against this rock…all the tinsel tuppeny-half penny ideas filters through television, all the snobbery and smug complacency associated with a tory-directed affluent society beat in vain…men and women still believe that it is better to live in a real community than to set before themselves the idea of rising out of their class, spurning their great ancestry and kicking away the ladder’ (Michael foot, MP, 1960). This is an example of labours anti affluence rhetoric, which to the expanding middle class, and to those who are welcoming the idea of individual responsibility towards earned rewards, will inevitably be dissatisfied with this anti affluence narrative. During an era, where the conservative narrative in some way has motivated people to look for an affluent lifestyle symbolised by the television set, the Socialist rhetoric of labour shackled the aspirational mood of members of the public. In fact, this narrative Labour had employed worked in favour of the conservatives, in that it was received to the dissatisfaction of members of the public. In the future of socialism, Crosland makes the following remarks: ‘The labour party…would be
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