Policies under Cameron: modernisation abandoned

Upon becoming Conservative leader in December 2005, David Cameron spoke passionately about the need for the Party to move on from Thatcherism. In so doing, he alluded to the need for a more compassionate and constructive Conservatism, one which was more sympathetic to the poor, and which also wanted to foster a partnership with professionals in the public sector. However, following the 2008 financial crash, the Conservative Party's policies became increasingly hostile both to welfare recipients and the public sector, whereupon the need to cut public spending was repeatedly invoked to justify major cuts in welfare provision and further marketisation or privatisation of the public sector. Regardless of Cameron's initially emollient rhetoric and allusions to One Nation Toryism, the trajectory of key Conservative policies since 2010 has remained firmly within a Thatcherite paradigm. Conservative modernisation has quietly been abandoned.

Constructing a new conservatism? Ideology and values

Following three severe election defeats, the Conservatives elected David Cameron as leader on an explicitly modernising platform. His agenda for change encompassed revitalising the party image through a concerted effort to rebrand the party, an extensive review of policy, and ideological repositioning towards the centre-ground. While these three strands are of course intertwined this chapter will focus on the latter, namely the attempt to distance the Conservatives from the legacy of Thatcherism and cultivate a new form of conservatism with wider electoral appeal. This is examined in relation to the period of opposition under Cameron’s leadership (2005-10) and during his tenure as Prime Minister as leader of the Coalition government between 2010 and 2015. The chapter argues that despite some rhetorical distancing from the Thatcher era, Cameron largely failed to alter the trajectory of contemporary conservatism, which remains essentially neo-Thatcherite. Ultimately this has undermined the modernisation project that he hoped would define his leadership, limiting the effectiveness of his rebranding strategy and shaping the policy agenda that his government has been able to pursue. While forming the Coalition provided the Conservative leader with significant freedom of manoeuvre in statecraft terms (Hayton, 2014) it conversely limited his scope to radically alter his party’s ideological core, as he increasingly needed to balance the demands of his Coalition partners with those of the right of his own party. While significant political capital was expended on the totemic issue of equal marriage for gay couples, few other issues have pushed the boundaries of conservatism beyond its Thatcherite comfort zone. In short, after a decade of Cameronite leadership the construction of a coherent new conservatism remains largely unfulfilled.

Conclusion: a limited Conservative renewal?

The conclusion evaluates the success of Cameron’s strategy of Conservative Party renewal. It argues that although the ambitious vision of Conservative modernisation was attenuated with time and the pressure of external events, some significant progress was made towards the broader goal of Party renewal. Even if the Conservative Party did not reconstruct radically its philosophy and policies, it did take steps towards a more socially liberal synthesis and did successfully diversify its candidates to present an image relevant to the twenty first century. It also re-established some of credibility as a Party with governmental competence and in 2010 and 2015 improved its electoral outreach. How long-lasting these achievements will prove is unclear. Labour’s move left under Corbyn and the weakened state of the Liberal Democrats offer Cameron space in the short-term at least to build further electoral advantage. But the EU referendum poses a renewed threat to party unity. Cameron’s period as Party leader saw some major accomplishments for a Party that had long been in the wilderness. Whether those accomplishments can be sustained will depend on how well the Conservative leadership handles divisive issues, especially the outcome of the referendum but also migration and Scotland, and on how far the Party can project a persuasive appeal into the next electoral cycle.

Continuing fault lines and new threats: European integration and the rise of UKIP

This chapter examines the difficulties that European integration has posed for the Conservatives under Cameron in the context of modernisation of the Conservative Party. It explores how two familiar problems, albeit in a new form, have reappeared and posed problems for Cameron’s modernisation project. First, the desire of EU Member States to pursue further integration has limited UK influence and second, Conservative divisions have returned with a vengeance, this time between soft Eurosceptics supporting membership of a reformed EU and hard Eurosceptics seeking fundamental renegotiation or withdrawal. The chapter also assesses an important new dimension to Conservative difficulties on the EU issue, namely the rise of UKIP. It looks at the challenge it poses and the Conservative response. The chapter concludes by considering how the EU issue may play out in the post-2015 general election period.

Introduction: the politics of Conservative renewal

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the key themes of the book. It analyses David Cameron’s strategy for rebuilding Conservative electoral appeal and the evolution of his modernisation strategy from his election as leader in 2005 to the Conservative victory in the general election of 2015. It explores the difficulties associated with modernising a political party, notably disunity over its future direction. It sets Cameron’s efforts to renew the Conservative Party against profound changes in British politics, especially declining support for the two major parties and the growing strategic influence of smaller parties such as UKIP. Finally the chapter introduces the different perspectives of the various authors and highlights their contribution to the analysis.

The evolving Conservative Party membership

In this chapter, survey data is used to profile the contemporary Conservative Party demographically and ideologically, and to investigate the members’ attitudes towards decision-making in the party. The chapter shows how the party membership has gained considerable ground over the years in terms selecting candidates and party leaders; and while the party essentially maintains its long tradition of leadership autonomy in respect of policy formulation, it is also true that the grassroots are now able and willing to exercise the various opportunities for expression of dissent on questions of strategy, organization and policy afforded by the development of new social media.

David Cameron’s leadership and party renewal

The chapter explores the relationship between David Cameron’s leadership and Conservative Party renewal. It argues that both Cameron’s leadership, and the understanding of the process of renewal have evolved since 2005. It explores the analytic problems associated with the concept of leadership and the importance of the role of followers as well as leaders. It discusses Cameron’s leadership style and the skills and personal characteristics he brought to the role, It discusses the key challenges for Cameron’s leadership and suggests that, despite his spectacular successes, Cameron continues to puzzle observers and that his leadership has encountered an unusual and intense degree of internal opposition. His historical legacy as the architect of Conservative renewal remains contested, not least because his ability to manage intra-party divisions over Europe has yet to be proved.

The parliamentary party

The chapter analyses the changing behaviour of the Conservative Party especially in the 2010-2015 Parliament. It argues that Conservative MPs displayed an increased willingness to take an independent line in the House of Commons and that this dissent within the parliamentary Conservative Party was thus more a constraint than a resource for David Cameron in these years. It details the factors which changed the face of the Conservative Party’s parliamentary cohort in 2010 and examines the personalities, factions and issues which marked the Conservative Party in this period. It examines the origins, scale and impact of changes in backbench attitudes and evaluates their significance both for the exercise of leadership in the Conservative Party and for public policy-making.

The Conservative Party and a changing electorate

The Conservative modernisation effort over the period of Cameron’s leadership needs to be placed against the backdrop of important changes in British electoral politics. These changes include voter dealignment, a growing dissatisfaction with the major parties as too similar to each other, voter volatility and a willingness to support minor parties. If the Cameron-led modernisation programme’s electoral goal was to broaden the Party’s appeal, to reach out to ethnic minority voters, younger voters, women, and voters throughout the United Kingdom then the record of accomplishment is modest. If, on the other hand, the modernisation project is understood as restoring the Party’s reputation as the party of managerial competence then it may have worked. Cameron’s modernisation approach from an electoral perspective may be best understood as pragmatic inclusiveness. In an era of when many voters are discontented but for different reasons this approach to modernisation may have helped return the Conservatives to power.