Reforming to Survive: The Tamworth Manifesto in the 21st Century

The Conservative party is in trouble. But this is not the first time.

By Peter Walker

Tamworth is not the most obvious setting for an aetiology of the modern Conservative Party: it was an industrial town to the north-east of Birmingham on the border between Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Dreaming spires and sandstone buildings perhaps present a more plausible milieu for the genesis of Toryism than cotton mills and coal pits. Of course, Tamworth had once between the capital of the Kingdom of Mercia, but it had also achieved little of note in the intervening eight hundred years. History, however, does not play by the rules of mythology.

In 1829 Robert Peel had lost his prestigious seat representing the graduates of Oxford University over his support for Catholic emancipation and was relegated to representing his childhood home, Tamworth, in provincial middle England. The Whig Prime Minister, Lord Grey, passed the Great reform Act in 1832 which risked relegating Pittites to the political wilderness as the electorate increased from about 400,000 to 650,000 and rotten boroughs were abolished. It is against this backdrop that in December 1834 King William IV called Peel to form a government; it would last just four months and was brought down by a majority coalition of Whigs and Irish radical opposition.

It is against this background that Peel issued his famous ‘Tamworth Manifesto’, which broke with the more radical conservatism of Wellington: it accepted the Reform Act of 1832 as "a final and irrevocable settlement of a great constitutional question"; promised to undertake a "careful review of institutions, civil and ecclesiastical" so that the Tories “would reform to survive” while opposing "a perpetual vortex of agitation."

Such a break with conservative tradition naturally provoked criticism from his own ranks, most notably from Disraeli who described it as ‘an attempt to construct a party without principles.’ He argues that ‘There was indeed a considerable shouting about what they called Conservative principles; but the awkward question naturally arose, what will you conserve? The prerogatives of the Crown, provided they are not exercised; the independence of the House of Lords, provided it is not asserted; the Ecclesiastical estate, provided it is regulated by a commission of laymen. Everything, in short, that is established, as long as it is a phrase and not a fact.’

Despite Disraeli’s criticism, the Conservative Party has reformed its principles to survive throughout the last two centuries. Macmillan’s Winds of Change Speech marked a necessary and successful change from the imperial policy of Churchill and Eden; the party has moved from Classical Economics to Keynesianism and then to Thatcherite Economics. For the Conservative Party conservatism has been a pragmatic policy rather than a point of unquestioned dogma and we would not be here if the latter was the case.

In 2019 the Party once gained reformed to survive; after the catastrophe of the 2017 General Election, it embraced Johnson’s brand of One Nation Conservatism. The results were emphatic: the Red Wall shattered in scenes reminiscent of Berlin in 1990; the Labour Party was reduced to their lowest tally of seats since 1935 and the Conservatives won their largest majority since 1983. Critical to this victory was winning in ex-industrial towns like Tamworth with the promise of ‘levelling-up’ Britain. This policy has been part of Conservative manifestos in some form since 2010, beginning as Osbourne’s plan for a ‘Northern powerhouse’ and the establishment of ‘Metro-Mayors’.

The contrast between the electoral zenith in 2019 and the nadir in public opinion after ‘Party-gate’ could not be starker. Shenanigans in Downing Street cannot be held solely to blame for electoral misfortunes this year; there have been 12 years of soundbites about ‘levelling-up’ but precious little action. Of course, there have been trials and tribulations; balancing government spending, Brexit, and COVID come to mind. It is, however, the duty of government not just to pinball between crises but to enact long-term pragmatic reform; that is the message of the ‘Tamworth Manifesto’. Critical to Peel’s enduring legacy was that he enacted the sort of reform promised in his manifesto; he sought to improve the lives of the working classes by removing the protectionist Corn Laws in favour of free-market economics; He removed over 1200 regressive tariffs on goods like sugar and replacing them with a fiscally responsible and comparatively progressive income tax. He also improved working conditions with the Coal Mines Act of 1842 and the Factory Act of 1842.

At the minute, the public perception of the incumbent government could not be more different to Robert Peel’s conservatism. Peel is perhaps most famous for founding the police, while Boris Johnson is the first sitting Prime Minister to be cautioned and fined by the police. Peel’s governments were characterised by progressive action to alleviate the strains of the cost of living and improve the lives of ordinary hardworking members of society; the current cost of living crisis has been met with empty words and apathy on the government benches.

Meanwhile, the phrase a ‘perpetual vortex of agitation’ has never been more aptly applied to British society. Statues are toppled or defaced; ; the monarchy meanders from crisis to crisis and Twitter drives us towards a society divided into tribal factions. The threat of secular iconoclasm looms large over British traditions. Once cherished and trusted institutions like the BBC and the Police are sorely lacking in public confidence. To blame the Conservative government for these issues would of course be erroneous, but it is the duty of this government to sail the ship of state through the stormy waters in which we now find ourselves. In particular, it is the duty of this Conservative government to conserve those things we hold must dear: the institutions and traditions which make Britain idiosyncratic and, most importantly, great.

The need for “reform to survive”, therefore, could not be more pressing; we must once again reform the Conservative Party and reject tribal populism in favour of inclusive and consensual policy: to unite the country rather than divide it. Our inspiration should be the Tory values of old: the rule of law, decorum, One Nation policies, and incessant but incremental progress towards creating a better Britain that works for everyone.

Peter Walker (Publications Editor) is a second year undergraduate reading Literae Humaniores at Merton College.