Conservative Party (UK)
centre-right to right-wing political party in the United Kingdom
The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly known as the Conservative Party and colloquially as the Tories, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It sits on the centre-right to right-wing of the left–right political spectrum. Following its defeat by the Labour Party at the 2024 general election, it is currently the second-largest party by the number of votes cast and number of seats in the House of Commons; as such it has the formal parliamentary role of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition. It encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites and traditionalist conservatives. There have been 20 Conservative prime ministers. The party meets annually during autumn, for the Conservative Party Conference.
The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party and was one of two dominant political parties in the 19th century, along with the Liberal Party. Under Benjamin Disraeli it played a preeminent role in politics at the height of the British Empire. In 1912, the Liberal Unionist Party merged with the party to form the Conservative and Unionist Party. Its rivalry with the Labour Party has shaped modern British politics for the last century.
“Conservative Party (UK)” enters the record as centre-right to right-wing political party in the United Kingdom. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Conservative, Party and centre-right can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Conservative Party (UK)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Conservative, Party and centre-right provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9626. VIAF identifies the subject as 154203727. The Library of Congress control number is n82011080. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024, 1834 and 1912.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Conservative Party (UK)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Conservative Party (UK) primary sources, Conservative Party (UK) archive and Conservative research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Conservative Party (UK)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Conservative Party (UK)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.