The Age of Balfour & Baldwin 1902-1940

This is the third volume chronologically in the "History of the Conservative Party" under the control of a distinguished editorial bard comprising John Barnes, Lord Blake, Lord Boyle of Handsworth and Chris Cook. When complete, the four volumes will fill a major gap in the present literature of British political history.

The Age of Balfour and Baldwin covers the years from 1902 to 1940. It opens at a time of drifting and disintegration, as pressure on Balfour for change from both inside and outside the Conservative Party builds up to the events of 1911. It goes on to analyse the Conservative revival under Boar Law, and examines the impact of the First World War and coalition. Dr Ramsden traces the emergence of the New Conservatism under Baldwin and its role in the interwar years. The book closes with a study of the party under Chamberlain.

But the book is not primarily a study of national political history; this is the background against which Dr Ramsden explores the development of party ideology and party organisation both at the centre and in the constituencies. Among the major themes he examines are: Conservative attitudes towards social policy; to economics, business and industry; to the Empire and to foreign affairs; the process of decision making at national and constituency level; and the general dynamics of the part - who the activists were, and how they worked.

Dr Ramsden has made extensive use of unpublished material in his book, including the private papers of all the party leaders of the time and a large number of their leading supporters. He uses party publications to show the face that the party turned to the outside world, while the records of national and regional party organisations reveal thew processes of party decision-making from the inside; and he has examined minutes, reports and accounts of a large number of constituency parties to see how far decisions in the centre in fact represented the views of ordinary Conservatives in the localities.

From this wide range of sources Dr Ramsden shows the Conservative Party in the round, giving a social picture as well as an analysis of a living organism as it worked and changed. His book sheds new light on many of the historical events and personalities of the time: Artur Balfour emerges as a less successful leader than has often been thought, and Bonar Law is restored to his rightful place as one of the great leaders in party history. A new understanding of Conservative opposition to Home Rule before 1914, and to Lloyd George after 1918, is gained when these problems are seen from the party's point of view. And by setting Baldwin's 'New Conservatism' of 1924-5 in its full party context (social and organisational as well as political), Conservative participation in the National government of the 1930s emerges as a natural development of existing processes rather than a sudden reversal of course.

This balanced and penetrating account of the Conservative party as it adjusted to the demands of the twentieth century fills a major gap in our understanding of modern history and politics. It will be welcomed as such by students and academics; but the general reader with a wish to discover the roots of postwar British politics will also find it of absorbing interest.