An Assessment of the Significance of the 1947 Industrial Charter in Shaping One Nation Conservatism

Abstract

Following the Conservatives’ heavy defeat in the 1945 election, The Industrial Charter (1947) arguably demonstrated the Conservative Party had reconciled itself with a shift to the left in British politics. The Charter provided the basis for what would become the Postwar consensus, accepting the mixed economy, the advocacy of industrial partnership, social reform and achieving full employment in a free enterprise system. Although the degree of consensus is disputed within the existing literature, the Conservative governments of 1951-64 would utilize these concepts in their approach to economic, industrial relations and trade union policy, satirically labelled as “Butskellism” after Labour and Conservative Chancellors, Hugh Gaitskell and Richard “Rab” Butler respectively. This approach was later defended by those in the Conservative Party who would identify themselves as One Nation Conservatives opposing the Party’s adoption of Thatcherism in 1979. Contemporary depictions of One Nation Conservatism invoke notions of a more moderate, paternalistic and pragmatic Conservative Party when contrasted with the currently hegemonic and arguably ideologically led Thatcherite doctrine. This article explores the conceptional analysis of One Nation Conservatism, determining that One Nation Conservatism should be considered a product of its time, confined within the Conservative governments of 1951-64. This article will then examine the significance of The Industrial Charter on One Nation Conservatism as a political doctrine and demonstrate that The Industrial Charter asserted the Conservative Party’s compulsion to transform as a means of preventing an existential crisis and set the course for a decisive change of approach. In addition, those Conservatives who opposed Thatcherism, would coalesce around the ideas expressed in the Charter and subsequent writings published by the Party. This article then seeks to conclude that The Industrial Charter provided the platform for the Conservative’s approach to policy in the postwar period and remains a crucial milestone in the development of One Nation Conservatism.

Keywords

• Conservative Party
• ideology
• One Nation
• industrial relations