People and Key Dates

History Week

We recently ran a History Week on the Blue Blog. This featured contributors from across the Party, including a number of leading historians and leading Conservative politicians.

Below is the complete list of contributors:

Monday 31st August
Alistair Cooke - Welcome to Conservative History Week
Nick Gibb - The importance of promoting and studying history in schools
Lord Cope - Creating the first national campaign headquarters

Tuesday 1st September
David Willetts - Disraeli's lasting legacy
Lord Hurd - Robert Peel: Founder of the Party and champion of the national interest

Wednesday 2nd September
Lord Norton - How the famous 1922 Committee was formed
Dr Stuart Ball - The Fall of the Lloyd George Coalition, 1922
Alistair Cooke - On this day... 2nd September 1939 - how peace ended

Thursday 3rd September
Michael Dobbs - Winston Churchill and the lessons of history
Andrew Roberts - 'Winston is back!'
D. R Thorpe - Macmillan - a psychologically interesting Prime Minister

Friday 4th September
Philip Ziegler - The rise and fall of Edward Heath
Lord Hurd - Choose your weapons - a lesson from history
Eric Pickles - Conservative Party Chairmen through history

Saturday 5th September
Jeremy McIlwaine - Margaret Thatcher's journey to the House of Commons
Lord Howe - How Thatcher's government rectified Labour's economic mess
Iain Dale - Looking back at the "The Thatcher Years"

Sunday 6th September
Philip Brown - Opening up Conservative history to a new generation
Sir Malcolm Rifkind – A modest Prime Minister with a desire to serve
Lord Blackwell - The legacy of John Major's final years

Monday 7th September
Tim Montgomerie - Championing social justice through the centuries
David Cameron - The past, present and future of the Conservative Party

Key Dates

Below is a selection of articles written by the Conservative Party's Historian, Alistair Cooke OBE, for the Blue Blog.

The pieces chart some of the key dates in our history:

• 22nd February 1806 - William Pitt the Younger is buried
• 10th March 1832 - The beginning of the modern Conservative Party
• 18th December 1834 - The Tamworth Manifesto is published
• 17th November 1883 - The Primrose League is founded
• 29th January 1886 - Salisbury's first Government ends and Unionism is born
• 3rd March 1905 - The Ulster Unionist Council is launched
• 11th November 1918 - World War One ends
• 14th December 1918 - Lloyd George wins a landslide election victory
• 28th November 1919 - The first female MP takes her seat
• 21st January 1924 - The end of Stanley Baldwin's first government
• 4th November 1924 - Baldwin is appointed Prime Minister for the second time
• 7th February 1974 - Ted Heath calls a snap election
• 28th March 1979 - Thatcher wins a crucial vote in the Commons
• 11th April 1979 - Margaret Thatcher's election manifesto is launched
• 20th April 1979 - The first week of the General Election campaign ends
• 27th April 1979 - The General Election campaign enters its third week
• 3rd May 1979 - Britain gives Margaret Thatcher her mandate
• 4th May 1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister
• 29th December 1986 - Harold Macmillan dies