Where is the Conservative Party on the left-right spectrum?
Originating back to the 16th century, the oldest party in Europe and the largest party in parliament, the Conservative party, also known as ‘The Tories’, has always been linked to tradition, individualism, economic freedom, self-reliance, respect for the church and the royal family, reserving and protecting. Due to the connotations mentioned above, as well as the party’s strong beliefs on personal property and free market one would put the Conservative party on centre-right on the left-right spectrum with no hesitation. Associating political parties according to a specific ideology would certainly simplify the chaotic world of politics however; it is often that parties’ ideologies change as the leadership changes; when looking at parties’ history we may notice that they have shared both “left” and “right” ideals according to their current leader and the circumstances at the time. This essay will examine how leadership has affected the Conservative Party’s position in the …show more content…
They believe in equality on opportunity but not of result; the unequal distribution of wealth is because of unequal distribution of ability among people [Jones and Norton, 2014 p.72-73]. Nevertheless, right wingers believe that inequality is necessary to maintain incentives to make the economy work [Nicklin, 2010]. Traditionally, the Conservative Party is considered to be the biggest centre-right party with currently 316 seats, accompanied by other right parties such as the DUP and UKIP (possibly the most far right party in the UK). Ideology-wise, it seems that the Conservative Party and the ‘right’ ideals go hand in hand, but sometimes those kinds of associations are blurred out when examining history and the reality. Actions do speak louder than words after
Originating back to the 16th century, the oldest party in Europe and the largest party in parliament, the Conservative party, also known as ‘The Tories’, has always been linked to tradition, individualism, economic freedom, self-reliance, respect for the church and the royal family, reserving and protecting. Due to the connotations mentioned above, as well as the party’s strong beliefs on personal property and free market one would put the Conservative party on centre-right on the left-right spectrum with no hesitation. Associating political parties according to a specific ideology would certainly simplify the chaotic world of politics however; it is often that parties’ ideologies change as the leadership changes; when looking at parties’ history we may notice that they have shared both “left” and “right” ideals according to their current leader and the circumstances at the time. This essay will examine how leadership has affected the Conservative Party’s position in the …show more content…
They believe in equality on opportunity but not of result; the unequal distribution of wealth is because of unequal distribution of ability among people [Jones and Norton, 2014 p.72-73]. Nevertheless, right wingers believe that inequality is necessary to maintain incentives to make the economy work [Nicklin, 2010]. Traditionally, the Conservative Party is considered to be the biggest centre-right party with currently 316 seats, accompanied by other right parties such as the DUP and UKIP (possibly the most far right party in the UK). Ideology-wise, it seems that the Conservative Party and the ‘right’ ideals go hand in hand, but sometimes those kinds of associations are blurred out when examining history and the reality. Actions do speak louder than words after