Tory scum is a phrase used to describe members of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party ("Tory" is a colloquial name for the Conservatives) by its opponents. Journalist Michael White called the phrase a regularly used "ancient British roar"; [1] David Graeber, a "familiar slogan"; [2] and Fintan O'Toole joked that in some parts of England the phrase was thought to be the actual name of the Conservatives' party. [3]
In November 2023 the High Court in England ruled that it was "reasonable" for two protesters to have called Iain Duncan Smith “Tory scum” at the 2021 Tory Party Conference. The protestors had been acquitted the year before of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent, and the High Court found that “the use of Tory scum was to highlight [Duncan Smith's] policies”, contributing to the “reasonableness of the conduct”. [4]
Since at least the time of the American War of Independence from Britain, Americans referred to those loyal to the British crown – known as Loyalists or Tories [5] [6] — as "Tory scum". [7] [8] [9] After the revolutionary war, the phrase could also be directed at Americans considered disloyal to the United States. [10]
A Tory is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The Tory ethos has been summed up with the phrase "God, King, and Country". Tories are monarchists, were historically of a high church Anglican religious heritage, and were opposed to the liberalism of the Whig party.
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, having won the 2019 general election, and has been the primary governing party in the United Kingdom since 2010. The party sits on the right-wing to centre-right of the political spectrum. It encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites, and traditionalist conservatives. The party holds the annual Conservative Party Conference, at which senior Conservative figures promote party policy.
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Reigate since 1997. Formerly a member of the Conservative Party, he was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice within the Ministry of Justice from 2010 to 2012 and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2015 until 2017.
The Conservative Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance, the latter being the successor of the Western Canadian–based Reform Party. The party sits at the centre-right to the right of the Canadian political spectrum, with their federal rival, the Liberal Party of Canada, positioned to their left. The Conservatives are defined as a "big tent" party, practising "brokerage politics" and welcoming a broad variety of members, including "Red Tories" and "Blue Tories".
The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the Parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench members of Parliament, meets weekly while Parliament is in session and provides a way for backbenchers to co-ordinate and discuss their views independently of frontbenchers. Its executive membership and officers are by consensus limited to backbench MPs; however, since 2010, frontbench Conservative MPs have an open invitation to attend meetings.
John Charles Baron is a British Conservative politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon and Billericay, previously Billericay, since 2001. He has freuqently rebelled against his party, specifically in his calling for a referendum on the European Union (EU) before the 2015 election and in opposing military intervention in Iraq, Libya and Syria.
Sir Graham Stuart Brady is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Altrincham and Sale West since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Chairman of the 1922 Committee since 2010, except for a brief period during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
The 2001 Conservative Party leadership election was held after the party failed to make inroads into the Labour government's lead in the 2001 general election. Party leader William Hague resigned, and a leadership contest was called under new rules Hague had introduced. Five candidates came forward: Michael Ancram, David Davis, Kenneth Clarke, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Portillo.
Events in the year 1966 in Ireland.
The 2003 Conservative Party leadership election was held due to the enforced resignation of incumbent leader Iain Duncan Smith, who lost a confidence vote among his parliamentary party. The causes of Duncan Smith's fall are often cited as his lack of charisma and impact with the public, the uninspired direction of the party under his leadership, and his previous failure to achieve more than a third of support among members of parliament in the 2001 leadership contest. In the event, the Conservative Party coalesced around Michael Howard as replacement leader and there was not a contest to replace Duncan Smith.
Barry Charles Legg is a British politician. A former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South West from 1992 until the 1997 general election, he was defeated by Labour's Phyllis Starkey. Legg is the chairman of the Eurosceptic Bruges Group.
Iain Dale is a British broadcaster, author and political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the Total Politics magazine between 2008 and 2012, and the managing director of Biteback Publishing until May 2018. Since September 2010, he has hosted a regular discussion show on the radio station LBC. He was named Radio Presenter of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in both 2013 and 2016.
Mark MacGregor is a British Conservative Party politician and entrepreneur. He fought several parliamentary elections for the party, became chief executive of Conservative Central Office from 2002 to 2003 and then ran Steve Norris' campaign to become Mayor of London in 2004. He has run various businesses, including a communications company, Marketforce Communications Ltd, an events firm and a cloud technology company, Connect Support Services Ltd. He was appointed deputy director of Policy Exchange in early 2013 a year after his eldest child was born.
Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) is a British parliamentary group affiliated to the Conservative Party, which is dedicated to strengthening business, cultural and political ties between the United Kingdom and Israel, as well as between the British Conservative Party and the Israeli right-wing Likud party.
No Turning Back is a group within the British Conservative Party advocating Thatcherite policies. It was founded in 1985 to defend Margaret Thatcher's free-market reforms. The group was named in honour of Thatcher's 1980 Conservative conference quote "U-turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning." No Turning Back published less material in the nineties and became involved in Conservative party in-fighting, resulting in both Michael Portillo and Francis Maude leaving the group, but became more prominent during Iain Duncan Smith's time as Conservative leader because he had been a member until he was elected.
The Monklands East by-election was held on 30 June 1994, following the death of the Leader of the Labour Party John Smith, Member of Parliament (MP) for Monklands East in Scotland, on 12 May.
"Nigger in the woodpile" or "nigger in the fence" is a figure of speech originating in the United States meaning "some fact of considerable importance that is not disclosed—something suspicious or wrong".
The Conservative Party Conference (CPC) is a four-day national conference event held by the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It takes place every year around October during the British party conference season, when the House of Commons is usually in recess. The event's location has alternated between Birmingham's International Convention Centre (ICC) and Manchester's Central Convention Complex since 2008. Previously, it had alternated between Blackpool and Bournemouth. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Labour Party Conference, where 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations, and in which all voting is restricted to nominated representatives, the Conservative Party Conference does not hold votes on party policy.
The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The journalist Sebastian Payne described it in the Financial Times as "the most influential [research group] in recent political history".