British Conservative MPs meeting at the Carlton Club vote to break off the Coalition Government with David Lloyd George of the Liberal Party.
The Carlton Club meeting, on 19 October 1922, was a formal meeting of Members of Parliament who belonged to the Conservative Party, called to discuss whether the party should remain in government in coalition with a section of the Liberal Party under the leadership of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George. The party leadership favoured continuing, but the party rebels led by Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin argued that participation was damaging the party. The meeting voted decisively against the Coalition, which resulted in its collapse, the resignation of Austen Chamberlain as party leader, and the invitation of Law to form a Government. The Conservatives subsequently won the general election with an overall majority.
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, and also known colloquially as the Tories, Tory Party, or simply the Conservatives, is one of two main political parties and current governing party in the United Kingdom, winning the 2019 general election with an overall majority in the House of Commons. The party is generally considered to sit on the centre-right of the political spectrum, and to be ideologically conservative. As a big tent party, it encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites, liberal conservatives and conservative liberals. The party currently has 359 Members of Parliament, 258 appointed members of the House of Lords, 9 members of the London Assembly, 31 members of the Scottish Parliament, 16 members of the Welsh Parliament, 3 directly elected mayors, 30 police and crime commissioners, and approximately 7,500 local authority councillors.In 2010, the Conservatives returned to power via coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats, ending 13 years of Labour government. Following the 2015 general election, the Conservatives formed a government with a small 12-seat majority. A snap general election in 2017 resulted in the Conservatives losing their majority and governing through confidence and supply with the Democratic Unionist Party. In the 2019 general election, the Conservatives won by a landslide with an 80 seat majority.
The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party and was one of two dominant political parties in the 19th century, along with the Liberal Party. Under Benjamin Disraeli, it played a preeminent role in politics at the height of the British Empire. In 1912, the Liberal Unionist Party merged with the party to form the Conservative and Unionist Party. Following this, the Labour Party became the Conservatives' main rival. To this day, the Labour and Conservative parties constitute the two most significant parties in the UK.
While its views and policies have changed throughout its history, the party has generally adopted liberal economic policies favouring free market economics including measures such as deregulation, privatisation, and marketisation since the 1980s, although the party also historically advocated for protectionism. The party is British unionist, opposing a united Ireland, Scottish and Welsh independence, and has been critical of devolution. Historically, the party supported the continuance and maintenance of the British Empire. The party has taken various approaches towards policy on the European Union (EU). There are eurosceptic and, to an increasingly lesser extent, pro-European factions of the party. In recent years, the party has embraced a strongly eurosceptic position, with the party adopting the slogan "Get Brexit Done" following the decision to leave the EU in a referendum held under the Conservative Cameron government. On social policy, it has historically taken a more socially conservative approach including implementing Section 28 and generally maintaining Sunday blue laws. However, it is argued that its social policy has become more liberal in recent decades, perhaps evidenced by the legalisation of same-sex marriage under the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Cameron-Clegg coalition in 2014, the lifting of the ban on women in combat roles in the military in 2016 under the Cameron government and the legalisation of medical cannabis in 2018 under the second May ministry. In defence policy, it favours a strong military capability including an independent nuclear weapons programme and commitment to NATO membership.
The party's support base has historically consisted primarily of middle class voters, especially in rural and suburban areas of England. Since the EU referendum, the Conservatives have also shifted to targeting working class voters in traditionally Labour supporting areas. Its domination of British politics throughout the 20th century and its re-emergence in the 2010s has led to it being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world.The London, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish branches of the party are semi-autonomous. The Conservatives are a founding member party of both the International Democrat Union and the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.