Conservatives in Birmingham Book

The experience of the Conservative Party in Birmingham provides a fruitful way of understanding both the history, and the future, of Conservatism. For it is in Birmingham that the Conservatives forged a coalition between its rural traditions and urban revival, an alliance that was the basis of success for the Conservative Party in the twentieth century. This coalition was the work of two men: Disraeli, who commmitted the party to the elevation of the condition of the people and whose message of social reform is at the heart of Conservative renewal today; and Joseph Chamberlain, the great Liberal Unionist leader, whose programme of civic renewal transformed Birmingham in the nineteeth century. David Willetts shows how the return of Conservatives to Birmingham means that the Party has set a direction which is true to its roots and right for its future.Read More