118 former Conservative politicians have crossed over to Reform UK. Green & Pleasant online, ‘Look Again’, Youtube 2026
If you voted Reform to get away from the Tories … five out of eight sitting Reform MPs are former Conservatives. So over half of them. ibid.
[Norman Tebbit]: ‘A Conservative believes that the first duty of government is to defend the realm.’ Alan Clark’s History of the Tory Party I: Gentlemen, BBC 1997
On the night of 1st May 1997 the Conservative Party suffered its most catastrophic electoral defeat of the century. What was it that had shattered his reputation for consistency and competence? ibid.
The Carlton Club: In 1922 it was the setting for the rebellion that founded the modern Conservative party. ibid.
In the general election that followed the Conservatives won. ibid.
Over the next 14 years he [Baldwin] was to weather constitutional crisis, world recession, and inevitably the conspiracies of colleagues. ibid.
Baldwin: ‘This is the time of year when midges come out of dirty ditches.’ ibid.
Since the Civil War they had been the King’s party. Now for their own political convenience they had connived at making the monarch disposable. ibid.
Anthony Eden was young, glamorous and intensely charismatic. ibid.
Someone found Chamberlain in tears saying, All my work is undone. ibid.
Churchill, vindicated at last, was waiting in the wings. ibid.
Chamberlain’s position was now untenable. What was to happen? Churchill would have been the popular choice in the country. Alan Clark’s History of the Tory Party II: The Rank Outsider
Within two weeks of Churchill becoming prime minister, France was on the point of surrender, and the only thing between Hitler and London was 25 miles of English Channel. ibid.
Once we were beaten by the Japanese, we lost our credibility as colonial rulers. ibid.
As well as being broke, the social order at home was disintegrating, and socialist planning was being introduced by the government. ibid.
‘Labour relations to Churchill were very very important to Churchill.’ ibid.
He [Eden] was the foreign secretary, the party darling, and Churchill’s heir apparent. ibid.
The party rallied behind its new glamorous leader for the 1955 general election campaign. ibid.
[Pathe News]: Macmillan Is Prime Minister: Mr Harold Macmillan becomes prime minister of Great Britain after Sir Anthony Eden’s surprise resignation. Alan Clark’s History of the Tory Party III: From Estate
Macmillan far more left than today’s New Labour party. ibid.
John Profumo was the war minister. He was having an affair with Christine Keeler who was simultaneously enjoying a liaison with the Russian military attache. ibid.
Alec [Douglas-Home] lost the 1964 election by the smallest of margins. ibid.
Heath grew up in Broadstairs on the south coast. ibid.
Labour won the 1966 general election with an increased majority. ibid.
He [Heath] set about getting Britain into the Community as fast as was possible. ibid.
This expansion of government spending was later demonized by Margaret Thatcher as Heath’s U-turn. ibid.
October 1974 was the absolute nadir of the party’s fortunes. ibid.
‘Ted Heath was a loser and had to go.’ iibid. Norman Tebbit
In 1975 the Tory party had lost two successive elections in its position as the natural party of government. Alan Clark’s History of the Tory Party IV: Shock Therapy
The young Margaret Thatcher decided that she would stand as leader of the opposition. ibid.
In 1979 the party’s gamble paid off, and the Conservatives went to election victory on Labour’s disastrous record. ibid.
Division grew in the country and in the government. ibid.
The Carrington resignation was the last of its kind. ibid.
In 1987 Mrs Thatcher secured her third term in office. ibid.
John Major, the last of Mrs Thatcher’s golden boys, stood against Heseltine in the second round. ibid.
Black Wednesday and its aftermath gave the Euro-sceptics confidence, and the back-bench sharks, sensing the blood of the wounded government, thrashed about in shallower and shallower waters. ibid.
John Major called a general election for May 1997. ibid.