ABSTRACT
The Heath government was a troubled period for the Conservative Party. 1 In 1970 victory was attained when defeat had been widely expected; this gave satisfaction, but no great sense of confidence. The fifteen years from 1964 to 1979 were the one period during which to many people Labour seemed to be the natural party of government: 'history', 'progress' and social change were thought to be working in its favour, while Conservative initiatives were assumed to be anachronistic and doomed to failure. This cultural atmosphere was not confined to an intellectual elite, but was widely diffused through all social classes. Conservative supporters were by no means immune, and this explains much of the confusion and uncertainty which characterised their response to the perplexing problems of 1970-74. Compounding this sense of swimming against the tide was the rapidity with which the Conservative government became unpopular and beleaguered. The Conservative Party found itself on the defensive, buffeted by unforeseen events. Together with the pragmatic changes of direction into which its leaders were drawn, this slowly but surely led to demoralisation and defeat.
