Table of Contents

Introduction: the Portrait of a Party
1: Conservatism: Principles and Temperament
2: The Public: Appeal and Support
3: The Constituency Associations: Members and Activities
4: The National Union and the Central Office: Representation and Organisation
5: The Parliamentary Party: Composition and Dissent
6: Ministers: Juniors and the Cabinet
7: Leaders: Authority and Crises
Conclusion: Effectiveness and Nature
Appendix 1: Conservative Party office-holders 1918-1945
Appendix 2: The economic and social analysis of Conservative electoral support
Appendix 3: The regional analysis of Conservative electoral support
Appendix 4: Conservative Party national expenditure 1925-1945
Bibliography

Promotional Information

Winner of the Political Studies Association's Conservatives and Conservatism Specialist Group's prize for the Best Publication of 2013

About the Author

Stuart Ball was educated at Eltham College, London, and the University of St. Andrews. He has published extensively on the history of the Conservative Party and of the British Parliament during the twentieth century, including editing the two volume edition of the diaries of the Conservative MP, Cuthbert Headlam. He is the author of the essay on Stanley Baldwin in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and is Treasurer of the Parliamentary History
Trust.

Reviews

the book should inspire historians to do more research on the Partys political culture, identity, and language.
*Gary Love, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Twentieth Century British History*

This book should be essential reading for any modern politician, from the humblest constituency envelope-stuffer to the present Prime Minister.
*Ian Cawood, The Times Literary Supplement*

the fundamental importance of Ball's work ... is to demonstrate beyond all doubt that there is sufficient source material to encourage further and deeper research on the interwar Conservative Party. In fact, the book should inspire historians to do more research on the Partys political culture, identity, and language.
*Gary Love, 20th Century British History*

the most thorough history thus far of any 20th-century British political party. ... a portrait in the truest sense. It is as much a major contribution to historical method as it is to the history of 20th-century Britain.
*Dr Andrew Thorpe, Reviews in History*

This is a big and important book. Stuart Ball weaves together a narrative and a thematic approach in order not just to tell the story of the Conservative Party between the wars but to provide a guide to its anatomy and its ecology ... Ball's book can be dipped into with delight or read from start to finish
*Averil Cameron, English Historical Review*

The highly-nuanced analysis presented in Portrait of a Party is the product of its wealth of detail.
*N.C. Fleming, Parliamentary History*