Evaluate the view that the Conservative Party is internally divided

Question 1

Introduction - Themes

Answer 1

Europe
The Leadership
Economics

Question 2

Introduction - Argument

Answer 2

The Conservative Party have struggled with unification throughout their 13 years in power, there is currently a battle between New Right Conservatives and One Nation Conservatives

Question 3

Europe - Disagree - Point

Answer 3

The Brexit Referendum in 2016 bitterly divided the party. However, once the verdict came that 52% had voted to leave there was a cleanse of the party - so they united around Brexit

Question 4

Europe - Disagree - Examples

Answer 4

The changes of leadership illustrate the cleanse - Theresa May, who was a ‘Remainer’ was replaced by Boris Johnson who is an avid Eurosceptic
Boris Johnson was able to unite the party around ‘Get Brexit Done.’ In September 2021, he expelled 21 ‘Remainer MPs’ from the party after they did not support his no-deal prevention bill

Question 5

Europe - Agree - Point

Answer 5

Despite many ‘Remainers’ having left the party, a new split has emerged between those who want a ‘hard’ Brexit and those who want a ‘soft’ Brexit

Question 6

Europe - Agree - Examples

Answer 6

The Conservatives are still massively divided over what to do with Northern Ireland - 22 MPs voted against the Windsor Framework
The Retained EU Law is incredibly controversial, and the Conservative MPs cannot agree on whether to retain EU laws or whether to completely rewrite them all

Question 7

Leadership - Disagree - Point

Answer 7

There were problems within the party after the resignation of both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, however, Rishi Sunak had been Prime Minister for 7 moths and the party had been able to support his leadership

Question 8

Leadership - Disagree - Examples

Answer 8

During the October 2022 leadership race, the only candidate that stood was Penny Mordaunt and she had to drop out after not getting enough support
Since Sunak the issues with CCR seem to have subsided and there have been few MPs speaking out against him

Question 9

Leadership - Agree - Point

Answer 9

It cannot be ignored that the Conservatives had two leadership races within two months - the resignation of both Truss and Johnson had massively effects on the unity of the party

Question 10

Leadership - Agree - Examples

Answer 10

In the lead up to the resignation of Johnson, even members of cabinet were speaking out against the Party gate scandal, including Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid
Liz Truss only remained in power for 44 days before she was forced to resign

Question 11

Economy - Disagree - Point

Answer 11

The Conservatives have been able to untied and pass important legislation recently which has helped with the cost of living crisis that the UK is currently facing

Question 12

Economy - Disagree - Examples

Answer 12

The Conservatives have introduced a Cost of Living Payment which is given to low income households and pensioners as well as trying to help with the cost of energy
The government announced in November 2022 that the National Minimum Wage was going to increase to help with the cost of living

Question 13

Economy - Agree - Point

Answer 13

The leadership race between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak was really a race between the New Right economic policy or One Nation economic policy - the Conservatives are evidently split about which to adopt

Question 14

Economy - Agree - Examples

Answer 14

Liz Truss supports Thatcherite policies - promoting business and low taxes. These are all policies which she campaigned for and many within the Conservative party supported
Rishi Sunak argues that taxes and social welfare need to increase. He has had massive opposition from the Conservative Growth Group for trying to enforce this