ABSTRACT
Historically, rural representation depended on the personal influence of individuals who transcended the different scales of the state. This chapter explores the characteristics of rural Conservatism in more detail. The collapse of the Liberal party after the First World War left the Conservatives with a virtual electoral monopoly in most of rural Britain. The clearest correspondence between Conservative ideology and the discourses of rurality reproduced by the local rural elites of the mid twentieth century is found in the Conservative commitment to property rights. The key component in the Conservative discourse of rurality was the conflation of Conservatism, ruralism and British, or at least English, national identity. The association of rurality and national identity has ancient origins. It can be identified in classical literature and the poetry of mediaeval England, and is also prevalent in many national cultures.
