Where did the Conservatives go wrong between 1997 and 2007?

The Conservative Party is one of the most influential political parties in the United Kingdom. The party is considered to occupy the right-wing of the country's parliamentary arm, with the main premise that the party promotes becoming the single UK. The Labor Party is the conservatives' main political adversary. The conservative party was built on the premise that a government must be able and capable of promoting democracy to its people. The freedom that the government needs to promote and advocate for the need to ensure that the citizens have a conducive environment to pursue their personal goals, institute a strong national defense, support free markets and stand up for individual liberty of all their citizens. As such, the set of decisions that are undertaken by the conservative party largely influence the political, legal and economic aspects of the country. Recently, the party has been facing sharp criticism for the promotion of ideas that are not in consistency with the views and needs of the majority of the populace. This paper discusses where the Conservatives went wrong between 1997 and 2007.

During 1997 to 2007, the conservative party was the official opposition within the United Kingdom. The 1997 elections go down as one of the most significant elections that were lost by the conservatives owing to the weak policies that were being promoted by the government. Notably, the Labor party won 419 seats while the Conservative party only won 165 seats, thus, translating to only 25% of the total seats in the House of Commons (Negrine, 2008, p. 350-449). The defeat is the hallmark of the series of wrong decision that has been undertaken by the party between 1997 and 2007.

First, the forced withdrawal from the European Exchange rate mechanism (ERM) in 1992 and the reaffirmation of not rescinding the decision in 1997 is one of a fatal political blunders committed by the party (Negrine, 2008, p. 350-449). During the 1997 elections, the UK was going through a process of economic recovery and economic recovery was an issue of priority for the populace. The ERM was highly regarded by the electorate as a sole means of facilitating economic restoration in the country and stabilizing the UK currency. The decision to pull out of the ERM is a leading cause of party disunity that further worked against the need to promote positive ideals of the party and popularization of the party activities. Internal party wrangles often hamper the need by the parties to support their policies and manifesto to the parties. The internal party disagreements are evidence by defections of some strong candidates such as Nicholson Emma and Howarth Alan (Negrine, 2008, p. 350-449). Additionally, the open criticism of the party by the party members has been seen as a major setback to the promotion of the party ideals. Notably, the public criticism of the party by Lamont Norman that the government is not in power but only in office is an evidence of the cracks within the government and lack of legitimacy that the party has with the electorate. Therefore, the discontent within the party is deleterious to the survival of the party and a recipe for the party receiving a protest vote from its ardent supporters.

In 1997, there are further blunders committed by the party that has been seen to be detrimental to the need to control the floor of the house by the party. Notably, lack of a vibrant public relations strategy is a decision that went wrong and further led to discontent within the party. Part of the campaign messages is called demon eyes and weeping lion are a source of ridicule by the public. Further inability by the party to have control over the national press that has been in support of the party such as The Sun also reduced the influence that the party had in promoting its ideals to the public. Politics is a game where each politic outfit competes with the other based on the policies that they intend to institute with the sole aim of addressing the challenges. Therefore, a political party must have a vibrant strategy of communicating with the public and its support base. Lack of a public relations policy and platform by the party is also a recipe for reduced support by the party (Negrine, 2008, p. 359).

The conservative party is a political institution just like the other political institutions. Therefore, the mandate of the party is to ensure that the appeal to the immediate and presents needs of the electorate and not the macro problems that some party members feel to be important to them. During the 1997 elections, the primary need of the European citizenry was the economy. The country was in deep financial shocks, and the economy needed recovery. The message that the conservative party ought to have sent to their supporters and support base was the assured that the economy was getting fixed and there would be stability realized. Instead, the conservative part decided to roll on the fame that they had in the country to win more seats in the house of commons and ascend into power. Being insensitive to the needs of voters is a fatal mistake that many voters could never forget when presented with a situation where they can vote out an incumbent government.

Conservatives had chosen to be identified by the electorate as standing up for ideals and values and not the slight and common problems that are faced by the public. Notably, the conservative party chose to stand on the right instead of shifting their position to the middle to allow for amicable resolution of the issues that are affecting the ordinary people. During elections, the electorate often wants to hear how the problem that is facing them before hand could be solved one they vote in the government into power.

The hard lien positions undertaken by the leaders of the partners have served to the detrimental to public approval ratings that were gained by the party in the course of promotion of the party ideals. Notably, there is information that the polestars affirmed that the acceptance of the party in 1999-2005 averaged 30%. 30% is a significantly low approval rating for the government that is power and the government of the incumbent. Approval ratings enable a political party to gauge the extent to which a given party is accepted by the electorate including the significant measures that ought to be undertaken to meet the needs of the electorate.

The strategy that was widely explored by the conservative group was the right wing segment and the Conservative core vote. While the conservative core vote has been reliable in voting for the conservative party, there is need to be sensitive to the needs of the electorate and package the campaign information in a fashion that is sensitive to the plight of the voters. Such as the blunders that were made by the conservative party during the 1997 and the 2001 elections (Somerville, 2007, p. 241).

The image is everything to a political party. Image enables a political party to be seen as being sensitive to the plight of the voters and the populace at large. When voters are granted an opportunity to address the fundamental issues that need to be addressed, the party has to change its tact and be viewed to be fighting for the plight of the poor without taking advantage of them. However, for the conservative party, the fixation with the party nomination rules and election of the party leader that further led to the voting of leaders who were not popular is a leading cause of discontent by the members of the public and loss of public support in the routine operations of the political party.

The electorate also has a role to play in preference to the candidates that they prefer to deliver on a given mandate within the society. In the period of 1997 to 2007, the electorate had a choice of a young and charismatic leader who could rationally think through the recession that had hit the country and propose measures that could be put in place to address the issue. The recycling of the old folk into the political system and empowering the older people to take leadership of the conservative party is known to contribute to the apathy that the public directed towards the party. After 2005, the party realized that they needed a charismatic leader who could easily identify with the needs of the populace, thus the choice of David Cameron taking over leadership of the party. A younger person is believed by the electorate to offer a fresh face and have the flexibility to attend to the legislative and developmental needs of the populace.

Towards the 2001 elections, the conservative party was the official opposition party. Like the opposition, the style of politics that was exuded by the party was combative and could not relate to other political parties easily, particularly, the Labor Party. The combative nature of the policy with no appreciation to the good deeds that are done by another political party is being viewed by some voters as immature politics. Naive politics results when an opposition party fails to recognize the positive change and development that are led by the ruling party but only dwell on the negative aspects that are evident in the functions of the ruling regime. The political style of Hague, Smith and Howard was combative and did not offer support to the right deeds of the Labor party such as the economic recovery plan after the recession that resulted in the growth of the economy. The consensus is a more mature and appealing way that a political party can utilize in winning over voters. A party that values consensus is a party that proves that it can promote national unity in the country. The objective of building consensus as detailed by Howard is in line with the views of Howard that asserted that many people see the political style of the Conservative Party with contempt.

Being sensitive to the topic issues that the electorate are having and sending political messages that are inclined to the words set by the public is also crucial for any political party. During the 1997 and 2001 elections, the logo of the Conservative party was a torch. However, after realizing the logo and the message that the logo was sending to the electorate was the extraction of energy and increased production, the logo was changed to an oak tree. An oak tree is representative of environmental conservation efforts that are pioneered by the party. Since 1995, there has been increased agitation by environmentalists to promote sustainable production methods and promote environmental conservation in many parts of the country (Clark 2012, p. 681). As such, blending the brands of the political parties with the message that is inscribed in their logo further contributes to the public having a liking for the party since the party stands up for the ideals and values of the society.

Each political party has to be run of a given agenda that relates to the specific needs of the populace. Additionally, the political party must a strategy that they can utilize in amplifying the agenda. During the rebirth of the conservative party in 2006, David Cameron is detailed to have revamped the vote blue, go green mantra that is earlier credited to William Hague. The information that was packaged by Hague did not see the media limelight owing to the incompetence of Gregor MacKay, the then press secretary of the party. Political parties need to wrap their agenda in a manner that can be quickly absorbed by the public and the media, thus, promoting the ideals of the party. Therefore, the conservative part went wrong in employing people to run the affairs of the party without consultation with the party members.

In conclusion, the Conservative Party has been in opposition in the period of 1997 to 2007 owing to mistakes that were aided by the party members. First, there were internal wrangles within the party that led to disunity within the party. The internal disagreements within the party are known to be a lead contributor to some defections in the party. Second, the right wing policies of the parties is also a wrong step that was undertaken by the party since only the party was viewed to be a hardliner on issue and non-appreciative to the development concepts promoted by rival parties. Third, the incompetence of some party staff such as the press secretary is also seen to be detrimental to the growth of the party to enable it to capture power. The incompetence of the party staff meant that the agenda that was being spelled out by the party leaders and the party members could not reach the intended audience. Finally, the need for young and vibrant leadership was needed within the party during the period to address the issues that the party was facing.

This loss of the people’s faith in the party during the period was a series of major backlash and party challenges, coupled with dwindling numbers in the representative’s house. The build-up was orchestrated by indifference in the European Union that had a lot of speculations of political uncertainty. The conservative party had a lot of ups and downs in the party, since different leaders had different ideologies and beliefs. The loss in faith led to a rise in the Labor Party popularity that was magnified by the opinion polls, thus swaying most of the undecided voters to move to the Labor party, denting a huge blow to the Conservatives.

The campaign period witnessed over that time frame was one that was characterized by the huge shift in ideologies under the then Tony Blair. This dealt a huge blow to the party, which lost its grip in the elections during that time frame, under the then Portillo.

In the 1997-2007 period of the party, William Hague was seen as the person who could take on the incumbent, Tony Blair. He had personal attributes that was applauded by most people from all spheres of the UK. A good orator, who talked out issues with passion and was liked across board. However, William, as other participants did not manage to conquer all since he sidelined some quarters of the electorates and concentrated on some. His major undoing was concentrating on the asylum seekers who were in Europe in his campaigns, a publicity gamble in the ‘fixation’ of pound claim that eroded his campaign gains. This failure was a huge blow to the conservative party that was trying to gain foothold on the Prime Ministers position in the Country, throwing the party back to the drawing board. As a result, the party leader, William Hague seeked for a resignation from steering the party after the 2001 election defeat. Thus the woes of the conservative party continued.

In 2001, there was an election carried out by the party, following the resignation of William Hague. This pitted candidates drawn from the party organs that included Michael Portillo, Kenneth Clarke, Iain Duncan Smith, David Davis, and Michael Ancram. The election saw Iain Duncan Smith be elected to lead the Conservative party, and him being a strong believer that European Union is not a good for the country. Iain, known as IDS was a believer that bringing differently nations together resulted in weakening the ideologies of the mother country, making it be associated to the rise in the political right-wing party in the UK.

Many strides were made during the period, in the build up to the 2005 general elections. With a strong political advisers on board to help streamlining the gain and foster the party's unity over the period. This team included the former competitors in the run-up to the 2001 general elections and were considered the ‘grandees’ In 2005, there was political backlash as the main campaign financier, Michael Spencer had irreconcilable differences with the party organ. This did not auger well with the electorates as that eroded some aspect of trust, thus adding to the woes of the conservative party.

This team made substantial effort to the ballot, increasing the foothold of the party in terms of elective seats garnered in the 2005 general elections. However, the defeat in securing the top-most seat meant that the party head had to step down by Howard leaving the party to seek for another party leader, on the basis of feeling that he was old, and his time was up to hang his political boots.



References

Clark, A. (2012). Political parties in the UK. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.dawsonera.com/depp/reader/protected/external/AbstractView/S9780230368682.

Negrine, R. (2008). Transformation of Political Communication. Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.myilibrary.com?id=977086.

Somerville, W. (2007). Immigration under New Labour. Bristol, UK, Policy Press.