An historical study of unofficial parliamentary party groupings in the Conservative Party from 1830

Grant, Lucy

Abstract

The public face of any organisation may not necessarily reflect the entirety of an organisation. There may be a highly developed infrastructure and knowledge of this infrastructure may be necessary to understand how the organisation actually operates. There may be a formal one and there may be an informal one. Informal groups and norms may develop that impact on the organisation and serve to shape its public face. Understanding an organisation may thus entail looking beyond the public persona and examining not only its formally created component parts but also its unofficial parts.

This is especially so in the case of political parties and the Conservative Party, as the most successful party in British history, is no exception. Such groupings have existed within the Party for as long as the Party itself has been in existence and as such have come into being for a wide range of reasons. While a number have emerged simply as an excuse for a good dinner with like-minded colleagues, others have sought to shape the political agenda and affect outcomes by supporting a specific event, policy or direction of the Party. As a result, unofficial groupings have come to represent a microcosm of not only the chronology of the Conservative Party but also the wider political environment over the last century and more. Thus the introduction of tariff reform, the 1911 Parliament Act, independence for Ireland, India and the countries of Africa, both First and Second World Wars, the Suez Crisis and more recently debate concerning the future direction of Europe and indeed reform of the Party itself have all resulted in the formation of one or more unofficial grouping.

This thesis examines all these, and more, within its three broad aims which are in turn derived largely from the fact that current academic literature on the subject matter is so sparse. The first of these aims is to compile a comprehensive list of such groupings while the second is to provide a broad historical descriptive account of groupings in terms of who they are, what they do and relations between themselves and with others. The third and final aim is itself a tripartite one which undertakes further analysis in terms of, firstly, the roles these groupings fulfil within the Party together with, secondly, an evaluation of their place in history, and where relevant the consequences of this, and, lastly, the devising of a typology within which past, present and future groupings may be placed.

Citation

Grant, L. An historical study of unofficial parliamentary party groupings in the Conservative Party from 1830. (Thesis). University of Hull. https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4213074

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 25, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 22, 2023
• Keywords: Politics
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4213074
• Additional Information: Department of Politics and International Studies, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Jun 1, 2010