Conservative Party Ideology

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The UK Conservative party was founded in the 19Th century off the basis of the conservative ideology but they’re stances and actions have travelled between its right-wing positon and to the left of it. This has resulted in confusions on where the party lies on the political left-right spectrum overtime as with each change in its leadership, the party appears to considerably shift once again. The aim of this essay is to analyse where the conservative party lies in terms of recent years with reference to the conservative and socialist ideologies – and past, key Conservative leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Benjamin Disraeli.

It could be argued that the conservative party are leaning towards the right due to their belief in privatisation. …show more content…

A key belief of Edmund Burke, often credited as the founder of conservatism, is that the protection of private property should be essential for government and that was key in his criticism of the French revolutionaries as they were fundamentally against it (Aughey, Jones and Terence, 1992). This means that if the current conservative governments don’t reflect this belief in their actions then they cannot be considered a right-wing party. For example, the conservative party has shown support for the NHS which is a public healthcare service and have even pledged to increase its spending by a minimum of £8 billion (The telegraph 2017). Although this contradicts with the party’s foundations, it is also clear that the NHS is widely accepted by the electorate which is why the party has supported it. So, the conservatism party did positon itself towards the right in reference to its economic position however they have moved away from it in more recent years as societies attitude has …show more content…

19th Century Conservative prime minister developed the idea of ‘Noblesse Oblige’ (the obligation of the well off to the poor) which asserted that with the benefits of their wealth the upper class has a responsibility to the working class to be generous towards them in order for society to function harmoniously (Cole and Deighan 2012). So, although high tax rates are significant high under Conservative governments which links to socialism, it could be argued that the conservative party is still a right-wing party but is however embracing older ideas in the conservative

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