Conference Framework Text

Taking as a case study the British Conservative Party, in the aftermath of its General Election defeat of 4 July 2024 repays major scientific interest at a time when populism is on the rise in Europe. In contrast with Giorgia Meloni’s election as head of the Italian government, the coalitions between moderates and nationalist democrats in Sweden and Finland, the breakthrough of the Vox party in Spain, and the growing appeal of France’s Rassemblement National to voters in both European and legislative elections, the British Conservative Party suffered a historic defeat to the Labour Party after 14 years in power. It managed only 121 seats in the House of Commons – an unprecedented result in the party’s history. Losing 244 seats left its main rival with a majority of nearly 170, the largest secured for 25 years. In the course of the campaign, 75 Conservative MPs, including Theresa May and Michael Gove, had already decided not to run again. In the wake of the vote, high-profile figures such as former Prime Minister Liz Truss, as well as Grant Shapps and Jacob Rees-Mogg, lost their seats.

Traditionally, the British Conservative Party had presented itself as the “natural party of government,” home to historic figures such as Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher; the party of economic competence; the party that occupied the corridors of power in the United Kingdom (UK) for two-thirds of the twentieth century, referred to as “the Conservative century.” Yet since 2010, the UK and its Conservative governments have had to navigate a series of crises: a first period of austerity up to 2016, the Brexit saga, the economic recession of 2023, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Linked to this or not, as the case may be, political turmoil abounded within the Conservative Party, rocked by recurring scandals. The most visible signs of all this turmoil were the forced resignations of Boris Johnson in the autumn of 2022, followed by Liz Truss after only 49 days in office. In the summer of 2024, in the midst of a temporary economic upturn, Rishi Sunak seized the opportunity to call an early election five months ahead of schedule – a gamble, and ultimately a losing one.

Against this backdrop, the aim of this conference is to shed light on the upheavals that left their mark on the British Conservative Party during its years in power, through the lens of the party’s infighting and its repercussions on the national stage, in an unstable international context. The conference will also consider the prospects for organizational and ideological restructuring that the current period of opposition may bring. Will the adaptability of the British Conservative Party enable it to reform, or even reinvent itself, and heading in what direction? Will a reinvented Conservative Party soon offer an alternative to Keir Starmer’s “changed Labour Party” and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK?