This book offers a new interpretation of the Conservative party’s revival and adaptation to democratic politics in the early twentieth century. We cannot appreciate the Conservatives’ unique success in British politics without exploring the dramatic cultural transformation which occurred within the party during the early decades of the century. This was a seminal period in which key features of the modern Conservative party emerged: a mass women’s organisation, a focus on addressing the voter as a consumer, targeted electioneering strategies, and the use of modern media to speak to a mass audience.

This book provides the first substantial attempt to assess the Conservatives’ adaptation to democracy across the early twentieth century from a cultural perspective and will appeal to academics and students with an interest in the history of political communication, gender and class in modern Britain.