Conservative Parties Quotes

One thing I have frankly decided is that when it comes to political reform we have two conservative parties in British politics. Both the Labour and Conservative parties have constantly and repeatedly failed to honour promises they have made about reforming, cleaning, modernising our clapped-out system.

It is impossible for any political party of "Labor" to reach power without concessions to the Right--to the middle class--at the expense of basic principles. "Labor" (or "Socialist") parties lose their identity and eventually are found to differ only on minor points from the "conservative" contenders for power. Labor Partyism is class-collaboration in the political field and it is just as disastrous for the workers as class-collaboration has been in the economic field

It is an interesting situation here because the conservative and progressive party are both conservative! They would ordinarily represent the people who would want to return, perhaps not to the militarism of prewar days but to many of the economic and social customs of pre-war days but, under the influence of our early occupation period, they passed a number of rather liberal social security laws and gave rights to trade unions, etc. At present they are trying to rescind the right to strike. I don't think anything has really crystallized in this country as yet. One sees much shifting back and forth and there are possibilities for much more.

It was obvious after the '97 election that as long as there were two small-c conservative parties trying to destroy each other, the Liberals would win every election.

The conservatives have already accepted a large part of the collectivist creed-a creed that has governed policy for so long that many of its institutions have come to be accepted as a matter of course and have become a source of pride to "conservative" parties who created them. Here the believer in freedom cannot but conflict with the conservative and take an essentially radical position, directed against popular prejudices, entrenched positions, and firmly established privileges. Follies and abuses are no better for having long been established principles of folly.

I have said before, you don't expect conservative parties to believe in much, but you do expect them to believe in thrift.

My claim has always been that defeatism pervaded the conservative parties in the 1930s and that it was the defining characteristic of Menzies and his first period as prime minister.

Europe’s conservative parties, like Republicans in the United States, have for the most part, turned into shrill apostles of austerity at almost any social cost.