The Strange Death of Tory England The Strange Death of Tory England The Strange Death of Tory England is a book of political commentary by the journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft, published in 2005. In the run-up to the United Kingdom general election of 2005, Wheatcroft looks at the journey of the British Conservative Party, from being the country's most successful political party of the 20th century to its wilderness of a long period in opposition, by way of Margaret Thatcher's heyday and her fall from power and the quite different style of John Major. The book begins with the Conservative leadership contest of 1963, following the resignation
2001 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election MPs Labour picked up in their disastrous 1983 campaign. Howard announced he was to resign the leadership, but first he would attempt to reform the electoral system to reduce the role for the rank-and-file party membership (he failed in this). In the subsequent leadership election, David Cameron was elected as Conservative Party leader: although he had failed in his own campaign, commentators have since argued that Portillo's run in 2001 created the conditions under which his reformist agenda was able to succeed four years later. By this point, however, Portillo himself had retired from Parliament, frustrated with party politics. Cameron