The Conservatives have had the worst election result in their history. After a term of instability, infighting and ultimately a total rejection by the people, there are questions about the future direction of the party. Perhaps, the answer is in the past. The most successful party in the history of Western democracy has faced many challenges in its history and has come back from being severely behind its procedures.
Most will look to the 1997 election, some will look at the difficulty the party had getting back into a majority government following the 1906 blowout defeat to the Liberals. I think the most interesting time to look at, would be the 1832 general election, the previous worst election in the history of the Conservative Party.
The party before the 1832 election
In this condensed version of history, its important to state this time in politics was incredibly fresh, and revolutionary in terms of defining the ideas and principles of which dictated the party choice. The Tory party was in effect the Pittite party, with the protegé of Pitt: Spencer Perceval, Robert Jenkinson (2nd Lord Liverpool) and George Canning, taking over the party, with up and comers such as Robert Peel, and the Duke of Wellington becoming involved in politics following the Napoleonic wars becoming highly admired members of the party. From this moment, there were many splits in the party. Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereigh) was initially instrumental with Liverpool and developing Liberal Toryism, but when Castlereigh died, Canning became at the forefront of the left of the party, with members such as William Huskinson, William Lamb (Viscount Melbourne), Frederick Robinson (Viscount Goderich) and Henry Temple (Viscount Palmerston) being key backers of Canning.
This coalition of ideas within the party was held together by Liverpool. In 1827, Liverpool suffered a stroke which resulted in him being forced to resign as Prime Minister. He died a year later. This caused the issues Liverpool was able to bury to surface, as Peel and Wellington would not serve in Canning’s ministry, in part because Canning supported Catholic Emancipation, which Canning’s ministry was weak. We don’t truly know the extent of the impact it had on Canning’s ministry, as after 119 days, he sadly died. Following him, Goderich became Prime Minister, but he was so weak that after a month, the King told him that he was going to find a replacement, which lasted 3 months. Goderich is the only Prime Minister ever not to face Parliament. Following this, the right took over, with Wellington becoming Prime Minister and Peel being his very powerful deputy. This fragmentation cost the Tories a lot. Those who backed Canning defected to the Whig’s and the party became dominant by those who resisted the changes that the people wanted, and the people became disaffected with them.
The main defining issues of this government were resisting election reform and Catholic emancipation. Both of these issues lost the Conservatives their credibility. The latter one is a complicated issue: their resistance to Catholic emancipation was popular with the voting class as many of them wanted to keep a protestant voting base. Even though the political lineage of the party came from Pitt the Younger, who believed in Catholic emancipation, the split meant that the vast majority of Tory MP’s, and the government, as anti-Catholic emancipation. But yet they passed it. After Daniel O’Connell, an Irish Catholic, won a seat in 1828, but could not sit in Parliament, it forced the government to make a decision, and they decided to U-turn and pass the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act. This caused the Tory base to cry betrayal. Robert Peel decided to have a by-election as his seat was very against this bill, and he lost meaning he ended up having to be quickly put back in Parliament via a Rotten Borough.
When it comes to electoral reform, the Conservatives were against it strongly and did not fold. This created a lot of tension between the Tories and the general public, which is evident by Nottingham Castle, owned by Tory peer and harsh critic of electoral reform the Duke of Newcastle, was burned and destroyed. The party ended up giving up the seals of office, and the Whig’s took over in 1830. After a significant amount of debate, the Whigs called a general election and won a majority for the first time in decades. They ended up forcing the Great Reform Act through Parliament in 1832, threatening to make more Whig Lords, getting rid of the Tory majority there, when the House would not pass the bill. After it passed, the Whigs went back to the polls, and the Tories were destroyed, only winning 147 seats.
The party after the 1832 election
Following this election, the party was not in a good state. Robert Peel took over the leadership of the party, with Wellington becoming leader of the House of Lords. The identity and idea of what the party would be, and how it would deal with the changes made in the Great Reform Act. Peel decided to increase the infrastructure of the party, setting up institutions like the Carlton Club, and increasing party harmony. In 1834, the party became the Conservative Party, as a way to modernise and change the party’s ideals towards other issues.
The party was thrown a lifeline, in 1834 the King controversially decided to change the government (the last time this would happen) and Peel took office with pretty much no control of the House. As a result, he decided to call an election. This is when Peel revolutionised British elections by publishing the Tamworth Manifesto. Though each seat campaign was different and MP’s were elected on a more personal than party basis, it set out clear ideas of what Conservatism was, accepting the Great Reform Act, but cautious and gradual reforms. It set out an idea of ensuring that the institutions were protected to maintain stability and order whilst passing moderate reforms, which is one of the foundations of modern British Conservatism. The impact of this election was monumental, as the party in just 2 years increased their seat by almost 100, though it was not enough for a majority.
Peel then enacted passive opposition, backing the government on issues of which there was agreement rather than others who wanted him to try to bring down the government. In 1837, they increased again by nearly 50 seats and eventually got a majority in 1841, 9 years after 1832. There are many factors as to why, much of it coming from opinions on the government, but a lot of the legwork came from Peel, increasing the institution and infrastructure of the party and a continued setting out a clear picture of what his government would look like, whilst showing his character by voting in the countries interest rather than opposing based on trying to bring down a government for party gain.
What lessons can be learned by the current Conservative party?
Robert Peel did something extraordinary following the calamity of the 1832 election, there was a humbling, a realisation of the people’s will, and how far away from the populous they were. The Tories thought they could get away with it, and they were punished. But importantly, after this, two years later, Peel simply apologised. He admitted fault and took the lessons learnt, and applied that into his thinking of what Conservatism really is, and how it should be implemented.
The next leader of the Conservative Party has an incredible task of healing the party, and the party image. It’s clear after the results that the Tories lost the election, rather than Labour who won it. So no matter who wins, they must start very simply and apologise for what happened last term. The infighting, the thinking that the rules don’t apply to them, Liz Truss’s failed government and much more. This is to start a healing process. The British people have clearly shown they’re fed up with it all, and the party needs to help the people heal after what happened, take a moment, and tell them, “I’m sorry, it was wrong, we should not have done it, and we seek forgiveness”.
The next leader brings the party back to basics. Regardless of what wing of the party takes over, there is certain things which must be fundamentally changed over the issues the Conservatives campaign over. The culture war must be put back, and the issues people care about such as their health, their children’s education, the economic opportunity for them and their families, and the security and justice in this country. These are fundamental aspects of life in this country that the party seemed to not care about, and wanted to stray away from because they did not see them as vote winners. Its important that as a party, they understand that these core issues are at the heart of the voter. Of course, immigration is an important issue which will continue to be highlighted throughout the next term, and its important to have a functional policy on that, but, the Tories need to focus on the basic issues that matter to people. Ultimately, the party seemed to get lost in a battle that most people don’t care about, forgetting the most basic principle of government, that its important to govern, and its vital to get the briefs that will affect most people rather than culture war issues that dont affect the lives of the people they’re hoping to get onside.
An important lesson by Peel, is that its vital to regain trust in those areas that it was lost. Many of the seats that have voted for Labour or Liberal Democrat are heartland Tory seats, areas such as Oxfordshire which has lost every single Tory seat. Peel quickly established trust in the areas the Tories had ignored and forgotten and had taken for granted. Labour in previous years has had to come to that sobering realisation, now the Tories have to. Whether this be from the organisation and mechanisms of the party, the party platform or the rhetoric spoken, there needs to be drastic internal reform to ensure that the party doesnt forget the people who put them there. These areas have been the backbone for the Conservatives and these areas have left them. It’s important to listen to them, and use this to establish what kind of the party the Conservatives need to be in the 2024 and beyond.