In the 20th century, the British Conser-vative Party could claim to be the most successful electoral machine in the western world―a national party that seldom spent more than one term out of power and that adapted to change (the loss of empire, socialism, two world wars) with patrician ease. Rather than becoming a party of the embittered landed gentry, the Tories embraced the middle classes by maintaining a stance that was consistently just to the right of the centre of British politics―stressing patriotism, the family, business, lower taxes and individual freedom.
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