Why Did I Hate The Conservative Party?

In a letter to Lord Hugh Cecil, Winston Churchill said, “I am an English Liberal. I hate the Tory Party, their men, their words and their methods.” This statement encompasses Churchill’s political career during the early 1900s. Churchill followed his father into politics; Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill was a conservative politician, which motivated Churchill to join the Tory party. However, the Conservative party was moving away from what Churchill had always understood it to be. While Churchill was earning the reputation as a social reformer, the Conservatives remained resistant to change, occupied with their new tariffs. To Churchill, the party no longer seemed interested in the needs of the workingman. Churchill eventually made the risky switch to the Liberal Party. There, he was very successful
Churchill continued in father’s political legacy when he became a member of Parliament in the Conservative party in 1900. Traditionally, the Conservative party was a religious institution, associated with the Church of England and the monarchy. The party tended to favor the upper class and generally was resistant to social change. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the party began to shift its focus to more monetary matters. In Churchill’s mind, this was by no means a positive change. At the time Churchill was becoming increasingly involved with social justice issues and wanted to incite change in his party. Churchill never ceased to speak his mind and defend his beliefs, especially when addressing Parliament. Churchill demonstrated this practice in 1901 when he shared his opinion on the military budget. The war department had recently increased its military spending by fifteen percent in order to create three new army corps. Churchill thought that this effort would prove futile in the event of a European war. He