ABSTRACT
One of the most striking features of the Conservative Party, according to Burch and Moran, has been its ability, over many years, to resolve an apparent paradox and ‘combine electoral success with social elitism’ in a democratic age.1 They draw our attention to the fact that a party that made no secret of its belief in privilege has nevertheless been able to persuade enough of the less privileged to support it to achieve greater electoral success over the last one hundred and twenty or so years than its more overtly egalitarian rivals. We shall examine three categories of party activity, namely that of parliamentarians (especially MPs), party activists (those who belong to the party) and party supporters (those who regularly vote Conservative) in order to discover who the Conservatives are, what they think and what motivates them. In the process perhaps we will see this paradox of Conservatism unravel.
