The Conservative Party - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

The Conservative Party is the oldest and one of the most successful political parties in the democratic world. It has been, for many years, the natural party of government.
During the 20th century it was in government, alone or in coalition, for 67 years. What is the secret of the party's extraordinary longevity and electoral success?
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: www.gresham.ac...
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[@riodasperolas]

Dear Professor, I’ve watched all your series and am in no doubt that you consistently vote Conservative - except for Boris. Despite the uncovering of your preference, though, these conferences are a must watch for anyone interested in politics a lá Britannia. Congratulations both for your Art and sense of fairness.

[@charlesjtwhite]

Among the best lectures I have ever watched.

[@paulgrad5183]

Another very interesting and informative lecture by Professor Bogdanor. Invaluable for anyone interested in political science, UK politics, and even US politics.

[@eileenfitzpatrick9419]

And Irish, Christian

[@perkinscrane]

I wish this man had been my teacher at school,

[@clivemarks9261]

Ikbbbbbvvvvgyuiop

[@johnhowe50]

I would love to hear Prof Bogdanor's opionions on the lack of enthusiasm for Welsh independence as opposed to that ot Scotland's desires.

[@stephaniewilson3955]

Patience! That is a later lecture that he has promised at the start of this one.

[@anonUK]

I can answer that. You don't need a professor of the calibre of Vernon Bogdanor to work out why Wales doesn't have the independence drive of Scotland. You just need a map of Wales and its road network. Wales' economy is based on four cities: Cardiff, Liverpool, Birmingham and London. Caernarfon, Holyhead, Colwyn/ Conwy/ Llandudno and Aberystwyth are small towns, nowhere in Powys or west Wales is much bigger than a village, while Swansea, Wrexham and Newport are post-industrial holes and Rhyl is DWP Central. All road and rail links in Wales go straight to the cities mentioned above, Manchester or Bristol (which is close to Cardiff and Newport).

[@TavitianNicolas]

E. Lloyd

[@TavitianNicolas]

E9

[@cacambo589]

The cases are quite dissimilar. I'm sure you, John, could reel off many differences in Scots and Welsh cultures and histories.

[@dm0065]

I was sorry when I got to the end of this. Can't recall the last lecture I can say that about.

[@arananation]

I’m addicted to these lectures.

[@JaguarDevice]

Such fascinating lectures

[@rafalhm]

Very enjoyable. One minor correction: When speaking of the origin of the word "Tory", Prof. Bogdanor refers to the "Jacobin" -- he clearly meant to say "Jacobite".

[@benxo]

Brilliant, watching in the wake of the recent election - really interesting to learn.

[@georgecourt6385]

I love the references to William Brown and Billy Bunter - hilarious!

[@terencemagee]

Very funny! I wrote some Bessie Bunter(his sister)comic picture-strips in the 1960s,

[@benedictcowell6547]

The trouble with the peoples verdict is that it is disposed to answer questions that no one has asked.

[@mikeanagnostou4399]

Only one correction in the learned professor’s excellent lecture. He obviously misspoke when he said “Jacobins” instead of “Jacobites.” There surely could be no more diametrically and philosophically opposed as these two similarly named groups.

[@ChevalierDeAlbany]

I was about clarify this error and type something similar then noticed your comment. Thank you for addressing this. As someone who considers himself a Jacobite and Legitimist, I am indeed fundamentally opposed to Jacobinism and Republicanism.

[@mikeanagnostou4399]

@@ChevalierDeAlbanySir, are you yourself a descendant of the monarchy or the aristocracy?

[@ChevalierDeAlbany]

@@mikeanagnostou4399 Aristocracy of the Soul, my friend.

[@mikeanagnostou4399]

⁠@@ChevalierDeAlbanythat’s a beautiful sentiment.

[@ChevalierDeAlbany]

@mikeanagnostou4399 I am a member of the Royal Stuart Society, which is the oldest and largest Jacobite organisation in the UK with members around the world. The Royal Stuart Society is the continuation of the previous Jacobite groups who disbanded before the First World War.

[@annehebert510]

7:22 Did he just call the Jacobites the Jacobins?

[@freedomwatch3991]

4:00 Party politics is going to destroy the country.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

I don't know if this counts towards Prof Bogdanor's gamble as to how he voted, but I bet that in 1983 he voted for the Alliance (SDP or Liberal) depending on which constituency he lived in. Any takers that he didn't?

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

5:47 2021: With the Alba party, this splitting of the SNP has happened now! Even without independence, it got too hegemonically successful as a government party to hold together.

[@BoraCM]

It wouldn’t have been formed if Salmond had not been kicked out of the SNP.

[@zeddeka]

Err..... That comment hasn't aged well

[@erroldothegreat]

Re the format, longer is better... no pun intended

[@kaarlimakela3413]

What does MP stand for?

[@MrLordBear]

Member of parliament

[@olivernicholson9666]

Oh, Member for Oxford you shuffle and wheel You have altered your name from R. Peel to Re Peal.

[@FATHOLLYWOODB123]

The conservative party is not the oldest political party in the democratic world, the US democratic party is, by 6 years!

[@haroldofcardboard]

thats not the point

[@skeletalbassman1028]

@@haroldofcardboard uh I think it is?

[@lukeskywalker8543]

What about the Wiggs

[@djdoolittle1315]

The Tory Party ? “They’ll send you home in a cardboard box” 😷☝️🇮🇪

[@francispalmer9737]

The greed`s of the few out way`s the needs of the many. That is what conservative stands for.

[@ufotalk9434]

I doubt that its that simple

[@Philiptanzer]

Roger Scruton & Douglas Murray have an interesting conversation about conservatism here, if you're interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXq2lJiubLx9odE

[@babouchkine5179]

"Peoples that don't share my ideology are evils sociopaths " gr8t arguments m8te

[@pupilofreality]

@@ufotalk9434 sums it up pretty good from my side of the pond.

[@Dan_1348]

...and yet we get the most votes?

[@ThomasBoyd-s7k]

They dump Herbert kicki Thomas. Italy only nation hit 🎯 him politically Thomas.

[@johnnicolson467]

Boris Johnson’s place in history is already assured. Less clear is what the British prime minister will be remembered for. At first it looked like Brexit; more recently he seemed set to be the pandemic premier. Then it looked like he would be known as an International law breaker, But he might be known as the leader who lost the Union if we are lucky.

[@jawg2392]

Hope they develop new forms of incurable cancer

[@paulgavin3603]

Conservatives are the builders, Socialists the theorizers, Liberals the passers by

[@nedlightowlers5168]

Socialists built the NHS, our social safety nets and workers rights, all of which the Conservatives have sought to tear down. What have the Tories built other than private debt and mass poverty?

[@canman5060]

@@nedlightowlers5168 Socialists achieved none of those they promise to build but accumulated astonomical debts and never before seen poverty proven in every part of the globe.

[@nedlightowlers5168]

@@canman5060 Every Labour prime minister since 1945 has overseen a budget surplus. Only one Tory has in that time. As for the rest of the globe - the USSR went from a feudal backwater to the first country to put a man in space in under 50 years. Name one country where the majority of citizens were better off before socialism than after.

[@authuser676]

The only possible success of Socialism I can think of is China. China was is in such disarray in the early 20th century that Communists were able to improve conditions over what earlier conditions had been. Even so, Taiwan, ruled by the Communists' rivals, the Nationalists, achieved greater improvements than the Communists. Every other historical example of Socialism or Communism has been a failure. Venezuela is the most current example. Socialism has transformed Venezuela from an oil rich country into a country that cannot even feed itself. The Kmer Rouge in Cambodia murdered 25% of the Cambodian population in the killing fields of the 1970s. Even the Russian example cited above is mistaken. The Russian Revolution traded one autocracy for another autocracy, and the second autocracy was worse, murdering and oppressing millions of their own people. Talk to a person who lived under Communism or Socialism or read Solzhenitsyn or Hayek. I think you will find the nice ideals of Socialism crumble under conditions of reality.

[@puremercury]

@@nedlightowlers5168 Cuba, North Korea, Hungary, Czechs and Slovaks. . . Actually everywhere. The USSR was an economic backwater almost its entire existence. Its economy at its peak around 1970 was 30% the size of the U.S.'s, with the Soviets having more land area, people, and natural resources. Socialism has never worked.

[@catmonarchist8920]

25:27

[@docastrov9013]

This guy is ridiculous. He says you can't tell his politics then gives an hour long hagiography of the Tories.

[@marcoantoniochacon-clark7431]

This is so true. he uses posh, privately educated authors writing pro-Tory novels as evidence that the working masses are mainly Tories 😂

[@Dan_1348]

@@marcoantoniochacon-clark7431 You clearly didn't watch the video. If you did, you would know that he gives an exact estimate of the percentage of the working class which votes Tory.

[@malcolmw513]

I take it you didn’t watch the lecture on Labour or the Liberals.

[@ambientsoda106]

Times grows short: we are coming close to a potential tine of rule the conservatives are failing to engage Johnson, should be merited for managing tge Coronavirus event; however we need jot just ideas, but empirical projects on a grand scale fekt throughout the country! Britain lacks the reflexive foresight it needs to return Britain to a forefront of international ideology, nit as a targeted result, but rather as a result of the country's innovative capacity. I say sky scraper fans because it's easy to interpret as a landscape changing project creating both temporary and ling terms jobs; alongside freeing up genetic modifications and invited near production do that anyone can do it! Be a meat creator, organ creater, plant creator, and even make new vegetation... Another project would be a energy creation facility...a solar farm and tunnels using heat to produce electricity ..

[@nicolasplagne5577]

The prof is clearly a moderate tory pro EU but he does not see what Thatcher saw : Blair is quite a Thatcherite

[@gracchusbabeuf9868]

Even the Labour Party seems too conservative to me. I am gentle by nature, so I won't express publicly my feelings about the Tories, their voters and their party. If conservatives of all kinds and nationalities somehow perish, it would be an improvement for human kind and civilisation.

[@ThomasBoyd-s7k]

Italy help Jewish people in Italy yes set up Israel politically Thomas. Noer minghiner Italian he effectively Israel England support you Thomas.

[@fenderblues1744]

TORY'S OUT. VOTE NO CONFIDENCE IN THIS GOVERNMENT.

[@eelsemaj99]

Fender Blues at least get your grammar right when criticising the government

[@canman5060]

What is Tory's out ???

[@LeviJamesRE]

Well this comment aged really well 🤣 Not

[@dm0065]

Let's say a little prayer for Fender Blues, he's had a rough few years

[@puremercury]

When is she coming back?

[@P.H.888]

Was!!! 🕳

[@johanmuller7321]

.mn

[@starkravingnormal9305]

Biased claptrap.

[@eliwhaley4804]

lol okay?

[@sarah_fides]

"proportional representation would lead to minority rule!! >:(" -supporter of party with parliamentary majority that got less than 50% of the vote

[@rikurodriguesneto6043]

These lectures are excellent! :D

[@JoannaHammond]

The problem is, that with FPTP it does not matter if you won 80% of the vote, you can still win with basically nothing.

[@eliwhaley4804]

yes we know