Why did it take the Conservative Party so long to recover power? After a landslide defeat in 1997, why was it so slow to adapt, reposition itself and rebuild its support? How did the party leadership seek to reconstruct Conservatism and modernise its electoral appeal? This highly readable book addresses these questions through a contextualised assessment of Conservative Party politics between 1997 and 2010. By tracing the debates over strategy amongst the party elite, and scrutinising the actions of the leadership, it situates David Cameron and his 'modernising' approach in relation to that...

How do leading Conservative politicians strive to communicate with and influence the electorate? Why have some proven more effective than others in advancing their personal positions and ideological agendas? How do they seek to connect with their audience in different settings, such as the party conference, House of Commons and through the media?
This book draws analytical inspiration from the Aristotelian modes of persuasion to shine new and insightful light upon the articulation of British conservatism, examining the oratory and rhetoric of twelve key figures from Conservative Party...

The Right and the recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the 'Great Recession' that followed in its wake.
The book not only outlines events and developments but argues that the tensions and stresses between different ideas, interests and institutions were pivotal in structuring the character of political outcomes. Thus, within the US, the forms of policy pursued by Republicans and their efforts to block President Obama's agenda were for the most part shaped by the tensions...

This book is an important and timely re-assessment of the significance which the role of national identity plays in Conservative politics. It examines the challenges facing the party in its commitment to preserve the Union, in its promise to address the English Question and in its objective of using Brexit to consolidate a new Conservative nation. -- .

This book analyses the elite project behind Brexit, and considers its framework within the political traditions of English nationalism. Far from being 'Little Englanders', Brexiteers sought to lessen the rupture of leaving the European Union by suggesting a return to alliances with true friends and traditional allies in the Anglosphere. -- .