Strategic recovery? the conservatives under David Cameron

Under David Cameron the Conservative party recovered sufficiently to deliver a Conservative Prime Minister. Cameron achieved what three leaders before him did not: a consistent poll lead over Labour and a broadening of the Conservative message. This chapter also highlights two major limitations to the Conservative 'recovery'; (i) the size of the Conservative base has not enlarged: roughly the same proportion of people identify with the Conservatives as did so in 1997, and voters' feelings towards the Conservative party saw just a small improvement; and (ii) although many evaluations of Conservative competence were less negative by 2010, the ratings were not yet clearly positive. The Conservative lead entering the election was narrow on many key criteria, and the campaign failed to change this position. Furthermore, this article suggests that Conservative ratings became positive in 2008, as the financial crisis occurred, and narrowed as Britain emerged from recession. Although much can be attributed to the selection of a new leader, the Conservative 'recovery' was due to the broader political context, and it was also a partial recovery, at best. © The Author 2010.