The Conservative Party in Wales, 1945-1997

Wales is often considered to be one of the most anti-Conservative parts of Britain, with the party unable to connect with voters. The Conservative Party in Wales, 1945–1997 offers a more nuanced perspective as the first book-length study of Wales’s second political party in the decades after the Second World War. From the places where Conservatism was often successful, the book questions why it failed to find any purchase in other parts of Wales, discussing how the party communicated its policies, who its candidates were, and how the party deliberately crafted specific policies ‘for the nation’ – from introducing the first Minister for Welsh Affairs to making Welsh a compulsory subject in schools. Adopting an holistic approach to the party, the book scrutinises activists and prominent Tories at the grassroots, asking what they reveal about understudied aspects of Welsh history, particularly the lives of the Anglicised and socially conservative middle class.

The first book-length study of Wales’s second political party in the decades after World War II. 

Wales is often considered one of the most anti-Conservative parts of Great Britain, and the party is seen as unable to connect with voters. This book offers a more nuanced perspective, interrogating why the Conservatives failed to find purchase in certain parts of the country and situating the party’s approach to the nation into the broader study of the Conservative Party. Sam Blaxland discusses how the party communicated its policies, chose its candidates, and deliberately crafted specific policies “for the nation,” including introducing the first Minister for Welsh Affairs to make Welsh a compulsory subject in schools. Adopting a holistic approach to the party, the book scrutinizes activists and prominent Tories at the grassroots and considers what they reveal about understudied aspects of Welsh history, particularly the lives of the Anglicized and socially conservative middle class.