A History of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Parties

Explores how the Scottish Conservative and Unionist parties have influenced the political landscape in Scotland between 1868 and 2021The Scottish Unionist Party was the dominant party of interwar Scotland, and while its electoral fortunes declined with the rise of the Labour and Scottish National parties during the 1960s, it remained a central force in Scottish politics after its 1965 rebranding as the Scottish Conservative Party. More recently, it experienced a modest electoral revival under the leadership of Ruth Davidson (2011-19). Yet while aspects of the party's history have received attention from historians and political scientists, it remains relatively neglected, with most publications on the subject either outofprint or outofdate. Furthermore, some of the literature is often coloured by mythology. Strikingly, there exists no uptodate, accessible singlevolume history of the party from its origins in the late 19th century until the present. Organised chronologically, this history is revealed as David Torrance focuses on party structure, relations between the Scottish and UK parties, the deployment of 'nationalist' arguments, and strategic approaches used after the 1960s to recover electorally and pursue constitutional aims such as devolution for Scotland. Drawing on archival sources, as well as pamphlets, media coverage and interviews, Torrance charts Scottish Conservative organisation, ideology, personnel and electoral performance over the past century and a half.David Torrance is a constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library. Prior to that, he was a freelance journalist, broadcaster and writer for almost 20 years.