conservatives divided over policies and ideas

Question 1

foreign policy consensus

Answer 1

-Historically divided over Europe,agree Brexit is permanent, party understands the Eurosceptic part of electorate,17.4m leave voters,are vital to the tories parliamentary majority and to holding on to ‘Red Wall’ seats like Leigh
-fundamentally united over spending 2% of GDP on the military, remaining a key member of the NATO alliance to oppose the authoritarianism of Putin’s Russia, while retaining the nuclear deterrent Trident.
-It also helps that a strong military plays well with patriotic voters: one-third of the UK electorate describe themselves as ‘patriotic’

Question 2

foreign policy divisions

Answer 2

-dividing line within the party is over the nature of Brexit,former Remainers because of pragmatism would prefer a closer trading relationship with the EU. -Eurosceptics of ERG(Mogg)no EU influence over Britain’s trading rules is tolerated.
-divided over international aid, Cameron aimed to “detoxify” the party by increasing spending on international aid to 0.7% of the nation’s GDP.
-new right opposes it and recently pressurised the Johnson government to cut international aid,cuts well-supported by small ‘c’ conservatives in the electorate and the right-wing media

Question 3

welfare consensus

Answer 3

-new right neoconservatives oppose dependency culture, universal credit offers incentives to find work and sanctions to those that don’t comply
-spending cuts to welfare e.g. £37bil 2010-19,austerity
-preference for competition in the welfare state, state schools can be run by the private sector
-NHS is ‘untouchable’,tories understand 90% of UK population relies on NHS,pledge to spend a similar amount to labour and neutralise the issue

Question 4

welfare divisions

Answer 4

-new right wing of the party opposes one nation attempt to significantly expand state control over social care,seen as a step along The Road to Serfdom
-Johnson increased NI by 1.25% Truss immediately reversed the tax-rise and social care plans.
-Johnson pledged to build 40 hospitals and employ 50,000 new nurses in the NHS “the party of the NHS.”
-The libertarians in the party believe the NHS is inefficient.Rather than expanding the NHS further, they encourage the middle-classes to use private healthcare&suggest that the NHS introduces charges for some services

Question 5

law and order consensus

Answer 5

-tories adopt a traditionalist view on crime and punishment. It unites around the pledge of 20,000 new police officers and tougher prison sentences to act as a ‘deterrent’ to criminals.
-prefer authoritarianism,fear disorder,emphasise the importance of collective rights over individual rights.
-This approach appeals to small ‘c’ conservatives in the electorate.The party tends to unify around anti-protest legislation that targets groups such as Just Stop Oil(Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Act 2022)
-unified around the principle of cutting immigration.

Question 6

law and order divisions

Answer 6

-The one nation wing of the party fears the Conservatives will be viewed by the middle classes and ethnic minority voters as the “nasty party” (Theresa May)As Cameron put it, the party must “detoxify” on law-and-order issues.Taking a more progressive approach,Theresa May reduced stop-and-search when Home Secretary.
-Libertarians in the party e.g. David Davis opposed the party’s anti-terrorist surveillance laws
(Investigatory Powers Act)as a breach of civil liberties.
-And libertarian Tories in the Commons opposed Johnson’s Covid-19 lockdown policies throughout 2020.

Question 7

economic consensus

Answer 7

-new right and one nation factions support the capitalist economic model
-both factions are open to lobbying from business organisations e.g. CBI and IOD
-both factions agree on keeping taxes low,balancing budgets and private sector management e.g. all supported royal mail privatisation

Question 8

economic divisions

Answer 8

Truss’ premiership exposed divisions, accepting the ideas of libertarian thinktanks, the new rights proposed cutting taxes and spending, and deregulating the financial services sector
-this was strongly opposed by the one nation faction who proposed tax rises,the depth of the division was so bad Truss was removed in a one nation coup
-the main dividing line is keynesianism, the one nation section favours ‘levelling up’ e.g. £96bil HS2 project, whereas the new right believe the private sector should be responsible for investment