Tag Archives: Conservatives

Fewer and older: consequences of the decline in party membership in the UK

There has been a long term decline in membership of the mainstream political parties in the UK. In the mid 1950s membership of the Conservative Party stood at around 3 million while the Labour Party had around 1 million members. By the time of … Continue reading

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Will the student vote be decisive in Lincoln?

This article first appeared in The Lincolnshire Echo, Thursday April 30 edition.   Earlier this week the general election candidates for Lincoln put their case to an audience of students at a hustings held at Bishop Grosseteste University. They will … Continue reading

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Will there be more? David Cameron must walk a fine line to prevent further defections to UKIP

There is an axiom in politics that, when managing their own party, Prime Ministers need to accommodate three groups of MPs: those who are Ministers; those who want to be Ministers; and those who have been Ministers, but are now … Continue reading

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Big C and small c conservatism

Almost without exception, at some point early in each academic year, in one of my first year lectures I will make reference to someone being ‘conservative with a small c’. Until recently I assumed that everyone knew exactly what I … Continue reading

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Is he frit? Nigel Farage and the Newark By-election

When Margaret Thatcher taunted the then Labour leader, Michael Foot, that he was ‘frightened, frit’ by the prospect of a general election in 1983, Labour went on to suffer their worst general election result since 1935.The Conservative Party will be … Continue reading

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