The history of the Conservative Party during the first half of the twentieth century was marked by crisis and controversy, from Joseph Chamberlain's tariff reform campaign through the Lloyd George coalition and the National Government between the wars to the defeat of 1945 and the post war recovery. This study provides a lucid account of this turbulent and formative period in the history of the most durable and adaptive force in modern British politics.

Part 1 Conservatives and Conservatism; Chapter 1 The Evolution of the Conservative Party; Chapter 2 Structure and Organisation; Chapter 3 Conservatism; Part 2 Conservative Politics; Chapter 4 The Edwardian Crisis, 1902-14; Chapter 5 War and Coalition, 1914-22; Chapter 6 The Age of Baldwin, 1922-39; Chapter 7 Disaster and Recovery, 1939-51part3 Conclusion and Assessmentpart4 Documents;