The Conservative Party and Johnsonian Conservatism
| Author | Tim Heppell |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2041905820933368 |
JUNE 2020 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 15
Boris Johnson has won a landslide victory – and control of his party
– but what is his political philosophy? Tim Heppell examines the
evidence and finds that the Prime Minister represents a new brand of
populist Conservatism.
The General Election of December
2019 was the fourth successive
General Election in which the
Conservatives were comfortably the
largest party in Parliament. The gap between
themselves and the Labour Party was 49 seats
at the General Election of 2010; 99 seats at
the General Election of 2015; and 55 seats
at the General Election of 2017. However,
none of these victories put the Conservatives
in a position of real governing autonomy.
Between 2010 and 2015 they governed in
coalition with the Liberal Democrats; between
2015 and 2017 they governed with a small
parliamentary majority of 12; and between
2017 and 2019 they governed as a minority
administration and were reliant upon a
condence and supply arrangement with the
Democratic Unionist Party.
The parliamentary arithmetic since 2010
The Conservative
Party and Johnsonian
Conservatism
has clearly been a constraint upon the
Conservatives. Although David Cameron irted
with themes such as liberal Conservatism, or
the now largely forgotten Big Society agenda,
his ability to advance a Conservative-only
vision was limited by the demands of coalition
government between 2010 and 2015. Any
aspirations that he had for developing a
distinctive Cameronite agenda, once he had
a small majority after May 2015, was snued
out by the result of the European Union
referendum of June 2016. In the Theresa May
era and the early part of the Boris Johnson
era – or the era of Brexit parliamentary
logjam – the Conservatives were simply
incapable of providing a clear governing
© Press Association
To continue reading
Request your trial