Falling Down
Falling Down

Author: Phil Burton-Cartledge

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1839760362

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The Fall of the Tory Party Despite winning the December 2019 General Election, the Conservative parliamentary party is a moribund organisation. It no longer speaks for, or to, the British people. Its leadership has sacrificed the long-standing commitment to the Union to 'Get Brexit Done'. And beyond this, it is an intellectual vacuum, propped up by half-baked doctrine and magical thinking. Falling Down offers an explanation for how the Tory party came to position itself on the edge of the precipice and offers a series of answers to a question seldom addressed: as the party is poised to press the self-destruct button, what kind of role and future can it have? This tipping point has been a long time coming and Burton-Cartledge offers critical analysis to this narrative. Since the era of Thatcherism, the Tories have struggled to find a popular vision for the United Kingdom. At the same time, their members have become increasingly old. Their values have not been adopted by the younger voters. The coalition between the countryside and the City interests is under pressure, and the latter is split by Brexit. The Tories are locked into a declinist spiral, and with their voters not replacing themselves the party is more dependent on a split opposition - putting into question their continued viability as the favoured vehicle of British capital.

Riding the Populist Wave
Riding the Populist Wave

Author: Tim Bale

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1009007114

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In spite of the fact that Conservative, Christian democratic and Liberal parties continue to play a crucial role in the democratic politics and governance of every Western European country, they are rarely paid the attention they deserve. This cutting-edge comparative collection, combining qualitative case studies with large-N quantitative analysis, reveals a mainstream right squeezed by the need to adapt to both 'the silent revolution' that has seen the spread of postmaterialist, liberal and cosmopolitan values and the backlash against those values – the 'silent counter-revolution' that has brought with it the rise of a myriad far right parties offering populist and nativist answers to many of the continent's thorniest political problems. What explains why some mainstream right parties seem to be coping with that challenge better than others? And does the temptation to ride the populist wave rather than resist it ultimately pose a danger to liberal democracy?

The Conservative Party
The Conservative Party

Author: Tim Bale

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2011-02-28

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 0745648584

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The Conservatives are back - but what took them so long? Why did the world's most successful political party dump Margaret Thatcher only to commit electoral suicide under John Major? Just as importantly, what stopped the Tories getting their act together until David Cameron came along? The answers are as intriguing as the questions.

Brexitland
Brexitland

Author: Maria Sobolewska

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-10-15

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1108611826

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Long-term social and demographic changes - and the conflicts they create - continue to transform British politics. In this accessible and authoritative book Sobolewska and Ford show how deep the roots of this polarisation and volatility run, drawing out decades of educational expansion and rising ethnic diversity as key drivers in the emergence of new divides within the British electorate over immigration, identity and diversity. They argue that choices made by political parties from the New Labour era onwards have mobilised these divisions into politics, first through conflicts over immigration, then through conflicts over the European Union, culminating in the 2016 EU referendum. Providing a comprehensive and far-reaching view of a country in turmoil, Brexitland explains how and why this happened, for students, researchers, and anyone who wants to better understand the remarkable political times in which we live.

One Party After Another
One Party After Another

Author: Michael Crick

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2022-02-03

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 1471192318

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'Enormously readable...excellent' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'A superb piece of thorough journalism' David Aaronovitch, The Times Nigel Farage is arguably one of the most influential British politicians of the 21st century. His campaign to take the UK out of the EU began as a minority and extreme point of view, but in June 2016 it became the official policy of the nation after a divisive referendum. In Michael Crick's brilliant new biography, One Party After Another, we find out how he did it, despite never once managing to get elected to Parliament. Farage left public school at the age of 16 to go and work in the City, but in the 1990s he was drawn into politics, joining UKIP. Ironically, it was the electoral system for the European Parliament that gave him access to a platform, and he was elected an MEP in 1999. His everyman persona, combined with a natural ability as a maverick and outspoken performer on TV, ensured that he garnered plenty of media attention. His message resonated in ways that rattled the major parties - especially the Conservatives - and suddenly the UK's membership of the EU was up for debate. Controversy was never far away, with accusations of racism against the party and various scandals. But, having helped secure the referendum, Farage was largely sidelined by the successful official Brexit campaign. When Parliament struggled to find a way to leave, Farage created the Brexit Party to ensure Britain did eventually leave the EU early in 2020. Crick's compelling new study takes the reader into the heart of Farage's story, assessing his methods, uncovering remarkable hidden details and builds to an unmissable portrait of one of the most controversial characters in modern British politics.

The Conservative Party After Brexit
The Conservative Party After Brexit

Author: Tim Bale

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2023-03-13

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1509546022

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The Conservative Party can lay convincing claim to being the world's most successful political party, not least because it is also one of the most adaptable, often appearing to do and say pretty much whatever it takes to win. But has it now taken things too far? Since the UK voted to leave the EU back in 2016, the Tories have arguably done more than simply re-shape themselves: rather, they seem to have transformed themselves from a mainstream centre-right party into a counter-intuitive combination of radical right-wing populism, free market fundamentalism, and fiscal constraint that is arguably not only inherently unstable but also poses a threat to many of the norms of both liberal democracy and economic common sense. In this compelling and persuasively argued book, Tim Bale, one of the country's foremost experts on contemporary British politics, takes us on a rollercoaster ride through the Conservatives' fortunes over the last decade. From the bombshell Brexit referendum, through to the chaotic premierships of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss, and all the way up to Rishi Sunak’s rise to power, Bale tells the fascinating tale of a party that, in just a few short years, has gone from nervous breakdown to top of the world – and back again.

The Crisis of Conservatism
The Crisis of Conservatism

Author: E.H.H. Green

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-08-10

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 1134763883

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The Crisis of Conservatism 1880-1914 offers a new interpretation of Conservative politics in the period 1880-1914 and comes to the startling conclusion that, but for the intervention of the First World War, there may well have been a 'Strange Death of Tory England.'

Britannia Unchained
Britannia Unchained

Author: Kwasi Kwarteng

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-09

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1137032243

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Britain is at a cross-roads; from the economy, to the education system, to social mobility, Britain must learn the rules of the 21st century, or face a slide into mediocrity. Brittania Unchained travels around the world, exploring the nations that are triumphing in this new age, seeking lessons Britain must implement to carve out a bright future.

The Left Case for Brexit
The Left Case for Brexit

Author: Richard Tuck

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-04-09

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1509542299

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Liberal left orthodoxy holds that Brexit is a disastrous coup, orchestrated by the hard right and fuelled by xenophobia, which will break up the Union and turn what’s left of Britain into a neoliberal dystopia. Richard Tuck’s ongoing commentary on the Brexit crisis demolishes this narrative. He argues that by opposing Brexit and throwing its lot in with a liberal constitutional order tailor-made for the interests of global capitalists, the Left has made a major error. It has tied itself into a framework designed to frustrate its own radical policies. Brexit therefore actually represents a golden opportunity for socialists to implement the kind of economic agenda they have long since advocated. Sadly, however, many of them have lost faith in the kind of popular revolution that the majoritarian British constitution is peculiarly well-placed to deliver and have succumbed instead to defeatism and the cultural politics of virtue-signalling. Another approach is, however, still possible. Combining brilliant contemporary political insights with a profound grasp of the ironies of modern history, this book is essential for anyone who wants a clear-sighted assessment of the momentous underlying issues brought to the surface by Brexit.

For the Record
For the Record

Author: David Cameron

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 1076

ISBN-13: 0062687859

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David Cameron was elected Conservative leader in 2005, promising to modernize the party following its three successive electoral defeats. He became Prime Minister in 2010, forming Britain’s first coalition government in 70 years, at a moment of economic crisis, and went on to win the first outright Conservative majority for 23 years at the 2015 general election. In For the Record, he will explain how the governments he led transformed the UK economy while implementing a modern, compassionate agenda that included reforming education and welfare, legalizing gay marriage, honoring the UK’s commitment to overseas aid and spearheading environmental policies. He will shed light on the seminal world events of his premiership—the Arab Spring; the rise of ISIS; the invasion of Ukraine; the conflicts in Libya, Iraq and Syria—as well as events at home, from the Olympic Games in 2012 to the Scottish referendum. He will provide, for the first time, his perspective on the EU referendum and his views on the future of Britain’s place in the world following Brexit. Revealing the battles and achievements of his life and career in intimate and frank detail, For the Record will be an important assessment of the significant political events of the last decade, the nature of power and the role of leadership at a time of profound global change.