`The Evolution of Conservative Party Social (Particularly Welfare) Policy
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i Warm words or real change? Examining the evolution of Conservative Party social policy since 1997 Benjamin Williams Department of Politics, April 2013 i ii Abstract This thesis seeks to address to what extent the Conservative Party has re-ignited its interest in the broad sphere of social policy since 1997, which some political commentators believe the party neglected following the demise of the ‘years of consensus’ from the mid-1970s onwards. Having experienced one of its worst ever general election defeats in 1997, the Conservative Party spent an unfamiliar thirteen years in opposition, providing an original context to this study. During its sustained exile from national office until 2010, the party reviewed the perception of its primarily economic policy agenda, and it has subsequently revised its position on various social issues from the late 1990s onwards. Following the introduction, the first four chapters provide a broad theoretical framework to the overall academic study that identifies the key ideas, theories and ideological traditions that have shaped and influenced Conservative Party policy-making since the emergence of mass democracy in the early 20th century. Links are subsequently made with key policies and attitudes that have been associated with the Conservatives while in office throughout the 20th century. The three further chapters are more policy-orientated and seek to link such ideas and ideological influences with practical policy-making while in power, with specific contemporary areas of social policy highlighted as case studies. Chapters five to seven subsequently highlight some notable social policy initiatives that the post-2010 Conservative-led government has developed in opposition and pursued in power, The Big Society, The Free Schools programme and the reform of the NHS, and they are framed within the context of David Cameron’s depiction of the ‘broken society’. Each chapter offers a rigorous concluding judgment relating to just how much ‘change’ the modern Conservative Party appears to have initiated within this particular policy sphere. In chronological terms, the thesis addresses the social policy-making agendas of recent governments in order to make comparative analysis. The administrations led by Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, dating consecutively from 1979, alongside the David Cameron-led coalition from 2010, are therefore the key periods of modern government focused upon. However, as the thesis title suggests, specific attention ii iii is given to the evolution of Conservative Party social policy development from 1997 onwards. Having made the link between ideas, ideology and theory to practical contemporary policy developments over seven rigorously constructed chapters, an attempt to reach a measured judgment is then provided. The central question of the thesis and the initial issues raised within the introductory chapter are again focused on, and the extent to which the Conservative Party has changed within this particular policy area is explicitly addressed throughout the concluding section, as well as the various social, political and electoral dimensions that emerge in the process of constructing such a conclusion. iii iv Contents Title and summary of Chapters .......................................................................................................... 1 Introduction and Methodology ............................................................................................................. 2-18 CHAPTER 1 The significance of Ideology within the Conservative Party and its influence on social policy-making.. .. 19 CHAPTER 2 The impact of the ‘New Right’ on the Conservative Party’s social policy agenda ..................................... 44 CHAPTER 3 Modern Conservatism and Social Justice in Theory .................................................................................. 80 CHAPTER 4 Modern Conservatism and Social Justice in Practice ............................................................................... 108 CHAPTER 5 The Big Society ......................................................................................................................................... 133 CHAPTER 6 Social Policy Case Studies: Addressing the ‘broken society’ and promoting greater social justice: (1)- The ‘Free Schools’ Policy .......................................................................................................................... 163 CHAPTER 7 Social Policy Case Studies: Addressing the ‘broken society’ and promoting greater social justice: (2)- Reform of the NHS .................................................................................................................................. 196 Conclusion The nature and evolution of Modern Conservative social policy ............................................................ 233 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 258 iv v List of Tables and Figures Chapter 4, p.123-25, Table 1- Public Spending in UK as a Percentage of GDP (1975-2012) Chapter 4, p.127-28, Table 2- Government spending by billions (2011 estimates) Chapter 4, p.128, Table 3- Government spending by key social policy areas as a percentage of GDP (2011 estimates) Chapter 7, p.202, Table 1- Public spending on health as a percentage of GDP in England (1993-2009) Chapter 7, p.231, Diagram One- Previous NHS Structure (pre-2010) Chapter 7, p.232, Diagram Two- David Cameron’s New NHS Bureaucracy after 2010 Acknowledgements In general terms I would like to dedicate this thesis to my close family, friends and colleagues who have been a great support while I have spent many hours, days, weeks, months and years working on it (between 2009 and 2013). In particular I would like to thank my supervision team, Dr. Kevin Hickson and Professor Jonathan Tonge, for the conscientious and supportive way in which they have assisted me and guided me in the right direction in terms of researching, writing up and practically putting together this significant piece of academic work. I would also like to thank various other colleagues in the Departments of Politics at The University of Liverpool for the regular supply of good advice and camaraderie that I have experienced during my time working on this project, as well as the various groups of undergraduate students whose seminars I have led, and which have been extremely stimulating and helpful in the development of my work. Of my fellow postgraduates, I would particularly like to thank Bill for sharing my office- space and being a regular source of academic banter, Sophie and Unn for offering friendly help and advice from when we commenced our PhD work at the same time, and Keith, for his humorous and lively interventions; all have been a great help in me getting this far. More specifically, I would also like to thank my sisters and brother for tolerating my absorption in this four-year process, and special thanks must go to my parents, Brian and Christine, who have also v vi offered me tremendous support and encouragement in pursuing this level of academic performance. I would particularly like to thank Katie, my daughter, who has also given me amazing help and assistance in allowing me to do the necessary amount of work when I have had to, along with providing me with some appropriate distraction away from the demands of academic research and enabling me to enjoy other family-based activities in the process. If this thesis represents my finest academic achievement, then my daughter represents my finest human achievement, and it is to her that this thesis is ultimately dedicated. Lastly, the thesis is also collectively dedicated to all those interesting figures over the course of history who have generated inspirational and fascinating political ideas that continue to provoke considerable debate and discussion in the contemporary world, and will certainly do so in the future. Ben Williams, April 2013 vi Warm words or real change? Examining the evolution of Conservative Party social policy since 1997. Chapter Outlines: Introduction and Methodology 1. The significance of Ideology within the Conservative Party and its influence on social policy-making 2. The Impact of the ‘New Right’ on the Conservative Party’s social policy agenda 3. Modern Conservatism and Social Justice in Theory 4. Modern Conservatism and Social Justice in Practice 5. The Big Society 6. Social Policy Case Studies- Addressing the ‘broken society’ and promoting greater social justice?: (1) The ‘Free Schools’ Policy 7. Social Policy Case Studies- Addressing the ‘broken society’ and promoting greater social justice?: (2) Reform of the NHS 8. Conclusion 1 Introduction and Methodology Background The Conservative Party’s defeat at the 1997 General Election was a resounding political rejection on an unprecedented historical scale1, and in subsequent years the party has experienced a significant period of introspection and internal analysis in relation to the direction and evolution of its policy-making agenda and its overall ideological identity. The confident aura of the Thatcher era of the 1980s, fuelled by a successful election-winning formula inspired and moulded by free-market populism along with a sense of ideological certainty instilled by the thrusting capitalist agenda of the ‘New Right’, was shattered by a shifting public mood and a gradual erosion of popular support as the 1990s progressed. Such