The reconstruction of the Conservative party of Great Britain: 1945-1951

The rejection of Mr. Churchill and his party in the General Election of 1945, on the morrow of victory in Europe, astounded the world. It is the purpose of this thesis to assay the reasons why the Tories were so humiliated in 1945 and then to proceed to an examination and analysis of the prodigious efforts of the Conservative Party to apply the lessons of defeat. The success of this program of Conservative Reconstruction, in all its diversity, gave the party renewed confidence in itself and to some extent provided the electors with new reasons why they should trust the government of the country to the Conservative Party.

An addendum written in 2016 is included along with the original thesis.