One Nation Conservatism

   A strand of Conservatism which has its origins in the Disraelian remark that ‘the Conservative party is a national party or it is nothing’. Those who uphold the tradition emphasise the need to ensure that the Conservatives appeal widely to all classes of the population and in all areas of the country. From the late 1940s to the rise of the New Right, rightwing governments in Britain recognised the need to embrace the welfare state and introduce progressive social legislation, in order to lessen the likelihood of class conflict. In the Thatcher years, the one nation tendency lost much of its former impact and by the end of the century it was the Blair administration that boldly asserted its claims to be the guardian of one nation politics, emphasising that all people of moderate goodwill could be accommodated within Tony Blair’s ‘big tent’.