ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the evolution of the ideas of the major parties and contributes to date their most recent changes. Lord Hailsham has described 'Conservatism' as not so much a philosophy as an 'attitude'. Socialism asserted that capitalism 'exploited' the working masses by selling the fruits of their labour, taking the lion's share of the revenue in exchange for subsistence wages. Labour held power briefly in the 1920s and began to formulate a more pragmatic, less emotional and more coherent version of socialism. 'Blairism' was vaguely expressed and lent itself to wide interpretation, but some commentators disagreed and claimed that Blairism boasted a coherent philosophical framework and was a well worked-out 'project'. As with the Tories in 1997, Labour suffered from the fact that they had been in power for three terms and voters were tired of them. In 1999 Paddy Ashdown stood down after a distinguished period as leader of Britain's third party.
