Rather than seeing their party as being consistently on the wrong side of history, what do tories (and other conservatives round the world) see as their party's greatest historical achievements?
Would prefer tangible & specific answers rather than 'inspiring the lower orders to pull themselves up by their bootstraps' or 'preserving the moral foundations of the nation' or whatever. Not so interested in wars, but if that's all they've got, let's hear it. Is it mostly a 'getting out my light' situation, or perhaps being the noble brakes on change that ensure society is ready before any progress happens? I can't quite believe tories are that unambitious, what am I missing?
― ogmor, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:26 (seven years ago) link
right to buy
― frankie r. failson (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:29 (seven years ago) link
crushing the unions, creating a freer, more market-led economy
― frankie r. failson (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:30 (seven years ago) link
(and associated privatisations)
― frankie r. failson (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:31 (seven years ago) link
pulling the wool over millions of dupes' eyes
― maura, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:36 (seven years ago) link
convincing the world that they don't exist
― barry snappleton (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:39 (seven years ago) link
right to buy and unions are classic choices though of course negative/undoing actions. particularly interested in bigger/older stuff, back when they were more ambitious
― ogmor, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:49 (seven years ago) link
forced the partition of Northern Ireland?
― barry snappleton (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 09:58 (seven years ago) link
they're called conservatives for a reason, if they have big achievements they like to paint them as returns to an earlier, purer time. but I think the monetarist/Friedmanite subversion of western social democracy from the 1980s on probably is their finest hour
― barry snappleton (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 10:03 (seven years ago) link
The M25
― mahb, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 10:13 (seven years ago) link
would like to see someone make a case for enclosure or the raj
― ogmor, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 10:30 (seven years ago) link
Fall of the Berlin WallBreakup of the Soviet Union
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 10:35 (seven years ago) link
There are a lot of Conservatives (often small-c garden variety) who have convinced themselves that they love Thatcher and maybe they do love the ballooning house prices and the cheap credit and a few bits of the consumer culture but in many other ways they hate the world that she's brought about, and yet they are usually unable to articulate that. The effects of that contradiction on domestic policy are only really becoming apparent now.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 10:36 (seven years ago) link
imagine the thriving communist utopia we'd be living in now if not for the tireless efforts of western conservatives
― ogmor, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 11:05 (seven years ago) link
Didn't Disraeli do something good once? The Reform Act?
― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 11:16 (seven years ago) link
invented the phrase "one nation conservative" kind of so cheers for that Benj
― barry snappleton (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 11:18 (seven years ago) link
I'm sure, like Right to Buy, it was done so more people would vote Tory:
The Reform Act 1867 passed that August,[149] extending the franchise by 938,427—an increase of 88%—by giving the vote to male householders and male lodgers paying at least £10 for rooms. It eliminated rotten boroughs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and granted constituencies to 15 unrepresented towns, with extra representation to large municipalities such as Liverpool and Manchester.[150] This act was unpopular with the right wing of the Conservative Party, most notably Lord Cranborne (as Robert Cecil was by then known), who resigned from the government and spoke against the bill, accusing Disraeli of "a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals".[151] Cranborne, however, was unable to lead an effective rebellion against Derby and Disraeli.[152] Disraeli gained wide acclaim and became a hero to his party for the "marvellous parliamentary skill" with which he secured the passage of Reform in the Commons.[153]
― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 11:20 (seven years ago) link
it was one of a few reform acts, more a matter of seeing which way the wind was blowing and taking credit for it. obv not a lot of ppl in manchester and liverpool voted tory
― ogmor, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 11:26 (seven years ago) link
Easy-to-claim unemployment and housing benefits in the 80s nurturing indie/club/fanzine culture
― mahb, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 12:19 (seven years ago) link
maybe we need a second thread for inadvertant conservative achievements
― frankie r. failson (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 13:50 (seven years ago) link
It's another tick in the Against column for me.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 14:32 (seven years ago) link