The Conservative Nation since 1974

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Conservative Nation since 1974

AU - Vinen, Richard

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Political Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/7/1

Y1 - 2021/7/1

N2 - Andrew Gamble's The Conservative Nation, published in 1974, is interesting when read in the light of more recent events. Though the pre-Thatcher Conservative Party is often depicted as ‘unideological’, Gamble reminds us that it was often a centre of intense intellectual ferment before 1975. Four men—Harold Macmillan, Rab Butler, Iain Macleod and Enoch Powell were particularly important to debates in the party. Of all these, Powell, seemed to cast the longest shadow in 1974, but he never had the influence that some hoped, or feared, that he would. The reasons why he failed illustrate his own idiosyncrasies, but also the difficulties of what Gamble labelled ‘the politics of support’. Seen in the light of Gamble's early work, Thatcherism can be seen as something that built on existing strata of conservatism and the changes brought by Thatcher were, in many ways, less dramatic than those that have transformed the party since 2016.

AB - Andrew Gamble's The Conservative Nation, published in 1974, is interesting when read in the light of more recent events. Though the pre-Thatcher Conservative Party is often depicted as ‘unideological’, Gamble reminds us that it was often a centre of intense intellectual ferment before 1975. Four men—Harold Macmillan, Rab Butler, Iain Macleod and Enoch Powell were particularly important to debates in the party. Of all these, Powell, seemed to cast the longest shadow in 1974, but he never had the influence that some hoped, or feared, that he would. The reasons why he failed illustrate his own idiosyncrasies, but also the difficulties of what Gamble labelled ‘the politics of support’. Seen in the light of Gamble's early work, Thatcherism can be seen as something that built on existing strata of conservatism and the changes brought by Thatcher were, in many ways, less dramatic than those that have transformed the party since 2016.

KW - Andrew Gamble

KW - Conservative Party

KW - Enoch Powell

KW - Iain Macleod

KW - Margaret Thatcher

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109914933&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/1467-923X.13034

DO - 10.1111/1467-923X.13034

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85109914933

SN - 0032-3179

VL - 92

SP - 396

EP - 403

JO - POLITICAL QUARTERLY

JF - POLITICAL QUARTERLY

IS - 3

ER -