During the latter part of the 1920s the Conservative Party had been strong and (apparently) united while the Fascist movement remained weak and divided. During the early part of the 1930s this pattern was less clear-cut. Although the Conservative defeat of 1929 was not a disaster (the Conservative Party actually polled more votes than Labour) it was nevertheless an important psycho­ logical blow. The Labour Party had now emerged for the first time as the largest single party in Parliament and this, the Right believed, had been a direct result of Baldwin’s negative appeal to ‘Safety First’. What was required, according to the critics (who had been arguing a similar case for at least twenty years), was a clear commitment to a positive programme and a willingness to define and defend Conservative principles rather than to run with an antiConservative tide. Consequently, the Conservative Party was once again divided by disputes about ideology in general and the questions of tariff reform and Indian self-government in par­ ticular. And in the midst of Conservative confusion, the emergence and growth of the BUF seemed, at least for a while, to offer some kind of alternative to Baldwin and the National Government.