Why did the Tory party's electoral fortune revive between 1874 and 1900?

Résumé du document

From 1846, the conservative party has been in minority in the commons, but at the end of the 19th century there was a conservative revival. Indeed, after 1880, the Tory party became dominant in the Victorian political life. The main actors of this revival were Disraeli, who was Prime Minister from 1874 to 1880, and then Salisbury who formed three conservative governments, between 1886 and 1902. It is necessary to point out that this electoral revival of the conservatives can seem paradoxical. Indeed, due to the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884, the number of working-class voters was higher than ever during this period and their vote should have "normally" been given to the Liberals, considering the fact that the conservative party was so far the party of the landed and propertied elite. As a result, many historians argue that the conservative paradoxical revival was not linked to assets of the Tory party but to shortcomings of the Liberals.

They think that the electoral hegemony of the conservatives between 1874 and was essentially a negative achievement due to Liberal disarray and division and to the reliance on the new distribution of seats since 1885. However, revisionist historiography shows that this revival is in fact highly correlated wit the enfranchisement of the working class and with a positive evolution of the tory party. According to Jon Lawrence, working class conservatism has too often been considered as a form of political deviance but this is a reductionist model and we need to recognize that the hegemony of a group or a party can also been the result of a specific conjuncture.

Extraits

[...] He is also the one at the origin of the idea to make Victoria Empress of India in 1876. As regards the defence of England, he really struggled for Britain to have a place on the diplomatic stage and presented the Conservative party as the party of the nation. He thought that Palmerstone's support for liberal agitation in Italy and elsewhere in Europe was threatening for Britain interests and tried to make a cooperation with the traditionally conservative European power: France and Austria, against Russian militarism and continental liberalism. [...]

[...] However, this thesis of the Liberal weakness as the source of the conservative predominance should be relativized. First, the redistribution of 1885 enfranchised about 2,5 million of agricultural labourers[1], a social group in despair because of economic downturn, whose votes was recaptured by the conservatives in 1885, which shows a skilful management of elections from the conservatives. Moreover, the liberal divisions should not be exaggerated and we can argue that what make appear the liberal party that divided is just the fact that the conservative party's organization was better. [...]

[...] All these measures led to conservative advances in many towns and among the working-class. Second, the progressive identification of the conservative party with popular culture was a key factor of its appeal for the working class. The Tories dealt with key aspect of popular culture like pub, football, racing, to distinguish them from the moral reforming of the Liberal party. They organized social events with entertainments, singing of patriotic songs, dances, and showed their sympathy for the working-class's culture and life. [...]

[...] He wanted to reassert England as a global force. He presented himself as the “Champion of national honour”[4]. He made a series of proposals to regularize the links with the colonies in order to safeguard colonial relationships. He used a lot the rhetoric of Empire and stated that Gladstone foreign policy was threatening for the greatness of Britain. Disraeli was very concerned by India because it considered it the real source of global prestige for England and wanted a firm but inspiring government for this colony. [...]

[...] As some historians argue, it is not deniable that in some extent the success of the conservative party between 1874 and 1900 was due to external conditions that favoured the Tories: the division of the Liberals and the changing in their policy, and the electoral redistribution of 1885. Firstly, there is the widespread idea that it is the liberal party's division that contributed to the conservative success. Indeed, the second and third governments of Gladstone are generally considered as disappointments after the legislative achievement of his first government. [...]