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The purpose of this study is to investigate Harley's activities in the years from 1710 to 1713, a short but extremely important period of Harley's life. Emphasis will be placed on Harley as a parliamentary and party leader and on the personal and political connections that made him successful as both.

This thesis analyses the development of provincial Toryism during the period from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the passage of the Reform Acts in 1832, examining the beliefs, organisations, and actions of local Tories particularly in some large British towns. In the early nineteenth century, the existence of two parties, Tory and Whig, became a major feature of parliamentary politics, and local political associations supporting each of them were gradually organised and became powerful and influential in urban centres. Local Tories expressed their opinions and acted together in order to support the Tory party in Parliament. They found support in different regions, and developed a recognisable network and identity in various British towns. Like parliamentary Tories, however, they were not completely coherent in their ideology nor entirely agreed in what policies to pursue. They were ‘issue-oriented’ associations, which were loosely connected with each other. They sometimes acted independently and flexibly, lacked complete unity, and were not controlled by the national party at Westminster. Taking these circumstances into consideration, this thesis attempts to reveal how national and local politics were connected, and some of the most important aspects of local Tory politics particularly in terms of identity and organisation Chapter One examines the political ideology of local Tories, by looking at the provincial Tory press published in Bristol, Colchester, and Edinburgh in particular. Chapter Two investigates Tory clubs and societies, such as the Pitt Clubs, the True Blue Clubs, the King and Constitution Clubs, the Brunswick Clubs, and the Orange Lodges, which were widely and deeply entrenched in British urban communities. Chapter Three examines Tory electoral politics in three large, open, freeman boroughs: Liverpool, Bristol, and Colchester. It analyses the political opinions and actions of the electors and non-electors and investigates the extent and the ways in which national issues impacted on these urban constituencies. Chapter Four also examines the impact of national issues on local Tory politics, but does so by presenting a case study of the involvement of local Liverpool Tories in such significant provincial political arenas as Corporation politics, mayoral elections, and public meetings. The Conclusion stresses the importance of the diverse and flexible reactions of provincial Tories to various political events occurring in the localities as well as at Westminster.

Early eighteenth-century politics were dominated by the rise to power and fall from grace of Sir Robert Walpole. This thesis examines varied responses to the Walpole regime from opposition Whig, Tory, Jacobite and pro-government writers. The discussion focuses on history plays from the period 1719-1745 and considers the role of these texts as vehicles for political comment and propaganda. Of key concern throughout the thesis is the rhetoric of patriotism. Patriot ideology pervades the texts and crosses conventional party boundaries. Alongside patriotism other themes pertinent to political commentary of the period are discussed. In chapter one, 'Ancient Britons and Liberty' texts appropriating Saxon and Celtic history are discussed in relation to contemporary concerns for maintaining the political liberty of the British nation. In chapter two, 'Kings, Ministers, Favourites and Patriot Rhetoric' plays that focus on favouritism are examined alongside contemporary criticism of Walpole as 'favourite' of the Hanoverians. In chapter three, 'Gender and Party Politics in Adaptations of Shakespeare's Histories' the updating of Shakespeare to suit contemporary taste and the impact of these alterations are reflected in a repoliticisation of the plays for party agendas. In chapter four, 'Britain, Empire and Julius Cæsar' representations of Cæsar that suggest positive interpretations of the Emperor conflict with contemporary opinion regarding his contribution to the fall of the Roman republic. Implications for Britain’s own colonial endeavour are also considered in chapter five, ‘Religion and the Ideology of Empire in Turkish History Plays'. This chapter examines plays in which the Scanderbeg history is appropriated to offer a model of British colonialism. Reflecting on Britain's past glories or, past failings, the plays discussed in this thesis offer not only comment on contemporary politics but also representations of an idealised Britishness. By demonstrating what Britons had once been these texts suggest what modem Britons should be.

The Conservative Educationalists made their first appearance on the British political stage in 1950. After twenty-five years of vigorous political activity they were well on their way to becoming the most important body of individuals seeking to influence Conservative education policy. The thesis seeks to examine and explain the progress of the views of the Conservative Educationalists over the formation and formulation of education policy in the postwar Conservative Party. An historical analysis was employed to answer the main research question and the subsidiary hypotheses. Whenever possible, primary sources were used including the private papers of Lord Boyle, Professor Brian Cox and Sir Gilbert Longden, and papers held in the official Conservative Party Archive. The thesis establishes that prior to 1970 there was a vacuum in Conservative Party thinking on the aims of education (Chapters 2-3). It shows how the ideas of a body of individuals (termed the conservative Educationalists by Lord Maude in an interview with the author) came to fill this vacuum between 1970 and 1974 (Chapter 4). This body was strongly critical of the Party's existing treatment of education and pressed the Party to fashion a conservative educational policy more in line with Conservative philosophy (Chapter 5). This loose-nexus of individuals changed over a period of time but its intellectual base (preservationist/ excellence in education) became firmly rooted. Between 1975 and 1979 the actions and prescriptions of the conservative Educationalists were instrumental in the construction of a conservative educational policy premised on the notion of excellence in education (Chapters 5-6). Elements of this policy were adopted by the Conservative Government after 1979 (Chapters 7-10). The thesis demonstrates that the contribution of the Conservative Educationalists (notably the preservationists) to the making of Conservative education policy was far greater than has previously been acknowledged.

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After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the divisions within English society found additional expression through political parties as contemporaries staked out ideological positions on numerous issues and crises facing the nation. While the parties fought over issues of sovereignty and governance, the development of a taxation regime, required to pursue and support the nation’s almost constant wars on the continent, was also drawn into this contest. The nature of the debates over taxation on landed property provides an important lens through which to understand the ideological positions of both Whigs and Tories over matters of not only political economy, but religion, society, and governance. The English Land Tax, is one of the most important fiscal instruments of Augustan England and reveals how Whigs and Tories articulated positions on the aftermath of 1689, on the financial revolution that followed, and on the nature of governance at the beginning of the ‘long eighteenth century.’

The subject of this thesis is The Conservative Party and its use of political marketing. The text analyzes how the Party responded to three subsequent election defeats in 1997, 2001 and 2005 and to what extent are the Conservatives utilizing political marketing methods and techniques in reaction to the pressure from their more market oriented competitor, the Labour Party. Since the rebranding of the Labour Party under Tony Blair, the Conservatives were struggling to adapt to the new reality. Instead of utilizing political marketing and being more responsive to the wishes of the electorate they diverged their polities more to the right. However, their incumbent leader, David Cameron, is transforming the Party and making it more market oriented. These efforts are critically analyzed.

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Higgins (1987) argued that perceived discrepancies between actual-self and ideal-self increase vulnerability to depression. Ogilvie (1987) argued that discrepancies between actual-self and undesired-self are more powerful determinants of depression. To test these claims, and to assess the effects of mood on reported discrepancies, 190 psychology undergraduates completed measures of their actual, ideal, and undesired selves, along with measures of depression (Depression Adjective Checklist and Beck Depression Inventory) and depression proneness (Depression Proneness Rating Scale). Approximately 3 weeks later, 147 of these participants were assigned to either a positive, negative, or no mood induction procedure, and again completed measures of actual, ideal, and undesired selves. Actual-ideal discrepancies were associated with current depression (' r' =.19, 'p' =.008) and with depression proneness ('r' =.28, 'p' =.001). More importantly, the relationship between actual-ideal discrepancies and depression proneness was, to some extent, independent of current mood, as measured by the DACL (partial ' r' =.19, 'p' =.008). <p>Nevertheless, induced moods also affected the reporting of actual-ideal discrepancies, with negative mood induction increasing discrepancy scores and positive mood induction decreasing discrepancy scores (<math> <f> <g>b</g></f> </math> =.49, 'p' <.0005). The above results are qualified by finding that when induced into a negative mood, high depression-prone participants (those with a history of depression) showed greater increases in actual-ideal discrepancies than low depression-prone participants, suggesting that self-discrepancies are cognitive structures that can be made accessible (primed) by mood. Lastly, no support was found for Ogilvie's claim that actual-undesired self discrepancies can be more powerful determinants of depressive vulnerability than actual-ideal self-discrepancies.