Conservatives
Origins
The Conservative Party has its roots in the Tory Party, which first emerged in 1679. Several political groups have been called Tories since, either by choice or by opposition politicians. This includes the government of William Pitt and his successors in the early 1800’s, who were identified by others as Tories, but called themselves Independent Whigs.
In 1834, Robert Peel produced the Tamworth Manifesto, which began the transformation of the Tory Party into the Conservative Party and introduced the name. The Party split into factions in 1846, with the faction led by Derby and Benjamin Disraeli continuing to become the modern Conservative Party. The Liberal Unionist Party merged with the Conservative Party in 1912, officially forming the Conservative and Unionist Party as it is still known today.
The party's long history and many iterations mean its values and goals have varied. throughout the years - unlike many major parties in the UK, it does not display its core values on its website. However, in general Conservatives advocate for limited government intervention in people's lives and the economy, fiscal responsibility, patriotism and strong defence, and “traditional values” around family, marriage and religion. They are often cautious, or “conservative” about constitutional reform. Most recently, their 5 priorities were to Halve Inflation, Grow the Economy, Reduce Debt, Cut Waiting Lists, and Stop the Boats.
The Conservative Party is seen as a broad-church party, holding MPs and supporters across the breadth of the British right wing. This is often credited for its electoral success, as it can represent a wide range of the electorate, and change its political focus and stance rapidly. However, this can lead to political infighting, and factionalism within the party.
The party has been led by Kemi Badenoch since November 2024. She became the first Black leader of a major UK party and the fourth woman to lead the Conservatives. Badenoch was elected as the MP for Saffron Walden in 2017, and held several positions in the Johnson and Sunak governments, most noticeably as Equalities Minister and Secretary of State for Business and Trade respectively.
Election results
Prior to the 2024 General Election, The Conservative Party had been in power since 2010, winning 4 elections in this time. Two of these governments have required the support of another party, while the other two governed with an overall majority. Since 2010, the party has had 5 leaders, with greatest electoral success coming in 2019 under Boris Johnson, winning 365 seats. Their success at this election was widely attributed to their Brexit stance and the personal popularity of Boris Johnson, which led to them making substantial gains from “Red Wall” seats, constituencies in the North of England and Midlands that would usually vote Labour, and voted strongly for Leave in the EU referendum.
As was widely predicted in polling leading up the general election, the party suffered significant electoral defeat, reducing their number of MPs from 344 (down 21 from 2019 due to defections and resignations) to 121, their lowest number since they became the Conservative and Unionist Party. They won just 20% of the vote nationwide, with data suggesting many Tory voters either did not vote, or voted for alternative parties, with Reform notably receiving 14% of the national vote. Many such voters are likely to have historically voted Conservative.
While the party has received a significant defeat, they are the second largest party in parliament, so now become the Official Opposition to government.
In the recent council and mayoral elections, the Conservative Party also performed poorly, losing more than 400 councillors, and winning only one regional mayoral election.
Key voter demographics
Polling from YouGov shows that support for the party is highest amongst older people, with 43% of those over 70 expected to vote Conservative, falling steadily to be with age to less than 10% of those under 30. They are not the most popular party for any age group under 70.
Level of education also plays strongly into Conservative support, with 14% of those with a university degree supporting the party, compared to 32% of those with GCSE’s or below.
Gender plays a much smaller role in conservative support, with the largest gap within an age group being between 18-24 year old women (6% support), and 18 - 24 year old men (12%). The group most likely to vote Conservative is Women over 65 years old.
The majority of seats won at the recent election were in the South-East and East of England, predominantly in rural constituencies.
Environmental Policy
Environmental Policy within the Conservative party has fluctuated substantially over recent years. During their tenure in power, there was some positive environmental policy. This includes financial support of green energy production which catalysed investment, action to end the coal burning in energy production in the UK, a legal deadline for the sale of diesel and petrol powered vehicles, and the Environment Act 2021, which alongside policies such as the producer pays principle, sets legally binding targets for reduced emissions by 2030, and “Net Zero” emissions by 2050.
However, under Kemi Badenoch's leadership, the Conservative Party has moved away more from the cross-party climate consensus than any of the other major parties. The party has become increasingly critical of other parties' environmental plans, especially Labour's plans for significant government investment. They argue others are too ambitious, wanting to spend excessive public money at a time when finances are squeezed. Rather than presenting climate and nature action as a solution to many economic and social problems, they have presented it as competition, threatening that others' pursuit of climate positive policies will make working people poorer, and threaten their personal liberties. This rhetoric can be seen within policy stances such as support for new oil and gas fields, citing its need for energy security, rowing back the deadline for sales on diesel and petrol vehicles, and condemning ULEZ expansion.
In March 2025, Kemi broke with her own party's record in government by declaring that the legally binding target of net zero by 2050, first set into law by a Conservative government in 2019, was "impossible" without "bankrupting" the country. This shift was extended to candidate selection, with Kemi saying potential candidates who continued to support the 2050 net zero target, or who did not accept the party's new position of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, should not expect to be selected, resulting in some former MPs being blocked from standing again.
The Conservative Party’s climate and energy policy is now exclusively framed under a cost of living and growth lens, rather than an environmental one. Kemi Badenoch’s “Plan for Britain”, which acts as the party's current policy platform, shows a clean break from the 2024 manifesto. Underpinned by repealing the Climate Change Act of 2008, this includes ending the ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences and maximising extraction, ending the 2030 petrol and diesel car ban, abolishing VAT on household energy bills for three years and repealing the Energy Profits Levy.