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ATory (/ˈtɔːri/) is an individual who supports apolitical philosophy known asToryism, based on a British version oftraditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through thehistory of Great Britain. The Tory ethos has been summed up with the phrase "God, King (or Queen) and Country".[1] Tories aremonarchists, were historically of ahigh churchAnglican religious heritage, and were opposed to theliberalism of theWhig party.[2][3]
The philosophy originates from theCavaliers, aroyalist faction which supported theHouse of Stuart during theWars of the Three Kingdoms. TheTories, a British political party which emerged during the late 17th century, was a reaction to the Whig-controlled Parliaments that succeeded theCavalier Parliament.[4] As a political term,Tory (a word of Irish origin) was first used during theExclusion Crisis of 1678–1681.
It also has exponents in other parts of the formerBritish Empire, such as theLoyalists ofBritish America, who opposedsecession during theAmerican War of Independence. Loyalists who fled tothe Canadas at the end of the conflict, known as theUnited Empire Loyalists, formed the support base for political cliques inUpper andLower Canada. Toryism remains prominent in thepolitics of Canada andthe United Kingdom. TheBritish Conservative Party andConservative Party of Canada, and their supporters, continue to be referred to as Tories. Adherents to traditional Toryism in contemporary times are referred to asHigh Tories, who typically defend the ideas ofhierarchy,natural order, andaristocracy.
The wordTory derives from the Irishtóraí, meaning "outlaw" (literally "pursuer"). It entered the English language in the 17th century, when it was used to describe Irish outlaws who survived by committing acts of robbery and plunder against English settlers. Later, it came to denote any Catholic orRoyalist who had taken up arms against the English government.[5]
The word entered English politics during theExclusion Crisis, emerging as a pejorative term for supporters of theDuke of York and his hereditary right to inherit the throne despite his Catholic religion.[6][7][8] According toDaniel Defoe, it was popularised byTitus Oates, who once received a warning that a group of Irish Tories intended to assassinate him. Following this incident, Oates "could never hear any man [...] talk against theplot, or against the witnesses, but he thought he was one of thesetories, and call'd almost every man atory that oppos'd him in discourse; till at last the wordtory became popular, and it stuck so close to the [Yorkist] party in all their bloody proceedings that they had no way to get it off".[9]
Although bothTory andWhig originated as pejoratives, they soon became neutral terms for the two major factions in British politics.[10] The suffix-ism was added to makeWhiggism and Toryism, meaning the principles and methods of each faction.
During theAmerican Revolution, the termTory was used interchangeably with the term "Loyalist" in the Thirteen Colonies to refer to colonists who remained loyal tothe Crown during the conflict.[6] The term contrasts the colloquial term used to describe supporters of the revolution, "Patriots" or "Whigs".
Towards the end ofCharles II's reign (1660–1685) there wassome debate about whether his brother,James, Duke of York, should be allowed to accede to the throne because of James's Catholicism. "Whigs", originally a reference to Scottish cattle-drovers (stereotypically radical anti-CatholicCovenanters), was the abusive term directed at those who wanted to exclude James on the grounds that he was a Catholic. Those who were not prepared to exclude James were labelled "Abhorrers" and later "Tories".Titus Oates applied the termTory, which then signified an Irish robber, to those who would not believe in hisPopish Plot and the name gradually became extended to all who were supposed to have sympathy with the Catholic Duke of York.[11]
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TheTory political faction originally emerged within theParliament of England to uphold the legitimist rights ofJames II to succeed his brotherCharles II to the thrones of the three kingdoms. James became a Catholic at a time when the state institutions were fiercely independent from theCatholic Church—this was an issue for theExclusion Crisis supportingPatricians, the political heirs to the nonconformistRoundheads andCovenanters. During the Exclusion Crisis, the word Tory was applied in theKingdom of England as a nickname to the opponents of the bill, called theAbhorrers. The word "Tory" had connotations ofPapist andoutlaw derived from its previous use in Ireland.[12][9]
There were two Tory ministries after James II acceded to the throne: the first led by theEarl of Rochester, the second byLord Belasyse. A significant faction took part in theGlorious Revolution, the military coup d'état that ousted James II with the Whigs to defend theChurch of England and definitiveProtestantism. A large but dwindling faction of Tories continued to support James in exile and his Stuart heirs to the throne, especially in 1714 after theHanoverian Succession byGeorge I, the first Hanoverian monarch. Although only a minority of Tories gave their adhesion to theJacobite risings, this was used by the Whigs to discredit the Tories and paint them as traitors. After the advent of the Prime Ministerial system under the WhigRobert Walpole,Lord Bute's premiership in the reign ofGeorge III marked a revival. Under theCorn Laws (1815–1846), a majority of Tories supportedprotectionistagrarianism with tariffs being imposed at the time for higherfood prices, self-sufficiency and enhanced wages in rural employment.
English Tories from the time of the Glorious Revolution up until theReform Act 1832 were characterised by strongmonarchist tendencies, support for theChurch of England and hostility to radical reform, while theTory party was an actual organisation which held power intermittently throughout the same period.[13]Conservatism began to emerge in the late 18th century—it synthesisedmoderate Whig economic policies and many Tory social values to create a new political philosophy and faction in opposition to theFrench Revolution.Edmund Burke andWilliam Pitt the Younger led the way in this.Interventionism and strong-armed forces were to prove a hallmark of Toryism under subsequent prime ministers. The wordConservative began to be used in place of Tory during the 1830s, asRobert Peel'sfollowers began to re-interpret elements of Tory tradition under a banner of support for social reform and free trade.[8] The party was eventually succeeded by theConservative and Unionist Party, with the termTory enduring to become an interchangeable phrase withConservative.[8]
The termTory was first used to designate thepre-Confederation British ruling classes ofUpper Canada andLower Canada, known as theFamily Compact and theChâteau Clique, an elite within the governing classes and often members within a section of society known as theUnited Empire Loyalists. The United Empire Loyalists wereAmerican loyalists from theThirteen Colonies who resettled elsewhere inBritish North America during or after theAmerican Revolutionary War.
In post-Confederation Canada, the terms "Red Tory" and "Blue Tory" have long been used to describe the two wings of theConservative and previously theProgressive Conservative (PC) parties. The dyadic tensions originally arose out of the 1854 political union of British-Canadian Tories,French-Canadian traditionalists and themonarchist and loyalist leaning sections of the emerging commercial classes at the time—many of whom were uncomfortable with the pro-American andannexationist tendencies within the liberalClear Grits. Tory strength and prominence in the political culture was a feature of life inNova Scotia,New Brunswick,Prince Edward Island,Ontario andManitoba.[14]
By the 1930s, the factions within Canadian Toryism were associated with either the urban business elites or with rural traditionalists from the country's hinterland. A "Red Tory" is a member of the more moderate wing of the party (in the manner ofJohn Farthing andGeorge Grant). They are generally unified by their adherence to British traditions in Canada.[15]
Throughout the course of Canadian history, the Conservative Party was generally controlled byMacDonaldian Tory elements, which in Canada meant an adherence to the English-Canadian traditions ofMonarchy,Empire-Commonwealth,parliamentary government,nationalism, protectionism, social reform and eventually acceptance of the necessity of thewelfare state.[16]
By the 1970s, theProgressive Conservative Party was aKeynesian-consensus party. With the onset ofstagflation in the 1970s, some Canadian Tories came under the influence ofneo-liberal developments in the United Kingdom and the United States, which highlighted the policies forprivatization andsupply-side interventions. In Canada, these Tories have been labelledneoconservatives—which has a somewhat different connotation in the United States. By the early 1980s, there was no clear neoconservative in the Tory leadership cadre, butBrian Mulroney (who became leader in 1983) eventually came to adopt many policies from theMargaret Thatcher andRonald Reagan governments.[17]
As Mulroney took theProgressive Conservative Party further in this direction, with policy initiatives in the areas ofderegulation, privatization, free-trade and aconsumption tax called theGoods and services tax (GST), many traditionally-minded Tories became concerned that a political and cultural schism was occurring within the party.
The 1986 creation of theReform Party of Canada attracted some of theneo-liberals andsocial conservatives away from the Tory party, and as some of the neoconservative policies of the Mulroney government proved unpopular, some of the provincial-rights elements moved towards Reform as well. In 1993, Mulroney resigned rather than fight an election based on his record after almost nine years in power. This left the Progressive Conservatives in disarray and scrambling to understand how to make Toryism relevant in provinces such asQuebec,Saskatchewan,Alberta andBritish Columbia that had never had a strong Tory tradition and political culture.
Thereafter in the 1990s, the Progressive Conservatives were a small party in theHouse of Commons of Canada and could only exert legislative pressure on the government through their power in theSenate of Canada. Eventually, through death and retirements, this power waned.Joe Clark returned as leader, but the schism with the Reformers effectively watered down the combined Blue and Red Tory vote in Canada.
By the late 1990s, there was talk of the necessity of uniting the right in Canada to deter furtherLiberal Party majorities. Many Tories—both red and blue—opposed such moves, while others took the view that all would have to be pragmatic if there was any hope of reviving a strong party system. TheCanadian Alliance party (as the Reform Party had become) and some leading Tories came together on an informal basis to see if they could find common ground. While Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark rebuffed the notion, the talks moved ahead and eventually, in December 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties voted to rejoin as a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada.
After the merger of the Progressive Conservatives with the Canadian Alliance in 2003, there was debate as to whether the "Tory" appellation should survive at the federal level. Commentators speculated that some Alliance members would take offence at the term. Nevertheless, it was officially adopted by the merged party during the2004 leadership convention.Stephen Harper, former leader of theConservative Party of Canada and Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015, regularly refers to himself as a Tory and says the new party is a natural evolution of the conservative political movement.[18][19] However, there were some dissident Red Tories who were against the merger. They formed the rivalProgressive Canadian Party.
The term "Loyalist" was used in theAmerican Revolution for those who remained loyal to the British Crown. About 80% of the Loyalists remained in the United States after the war. The 60,000 or so Loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia,Quebec,the Bahamas, or returned to Great Britain after the American War of Independence are known as United Empire Loyalists.[20]
On 12 February 1798,Thomas Jefferson (of theDemocratic-Republican Party) described theconservativeFederalist Party as "[a] political Sect [...] believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support, [who] are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes Tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of the same definition".[21] However, that was clearly a hostile description by the Federalists' foes of whom Jefferson was one and not a name used by the Federalists themselves. The Federalist Party was dissolved in 1835 with no successor parties.
Later, theDemocratic-Republican Party splintered into different parties, with the two dissidences being theNational Republican Party and theWhig Party. The rest of the party would become theDemocratic Party. The National Republican Party would then merge with the Whig Party, giving rise to what would be called theSecond Party System.[22] Although the Whig Party adopted its name from its British counterpart, the term "Tories" had already completely fallen out of favour in the US.
During theAmerican Civil War,Confederate forces commonly referred toSouthern Unionists asTories, drawing a parallel with the Tories of the American Revolutionary War. To the Confederates, Southern Unionists symbolised a direct challenge to their political aspirations and were viewed as "traitors to the white race". Conversely,Unionists regarded Southern Unionists as a loyal segment of the Southern population, swept by the tide of succession, and around whom the foundations ofReconstruction would be built.[23]
In Texas in 1832–1836, support for theTexas Revolution was not unanimous. The "Tories" were men who supported the Mexican government. The Tories generally were long-term property holders whose roots were outside of the lower South. They typically had little interest in politics and sought conciliation rather than war. The Tories wanted to preserve the economic, political and social gains that they enjoyed as citizens of Mexico, and the revolution threatened to jeopardise those gains.[24]
Tory has become shorthand for a member of the Conservative Party or for the party in general in Canada and the UK, and can be used interchangeably with the wordConservative.[8]
In the United States,Tory is often used as a historical term to describe supporters of Great Britain during the American Revolution. However, in Canadian parlance, British supporters during the revolution are calledLoyalists, with the termTory being used as a contemporary political term.[25]
In Canada, aTory refers to a member of theConservative Party of Canada, while the party as a whole are colloquially referred to as theTories.[8][25] It is also used to refer to the party's predecessor, including theProgressive Conservative Party of Canada. In addition to the federal Conservative Party, the terms have also been used to describe provincial Conservative/Progressive Conservative parties and their members.LGBTory is an advocacy group for LGBT supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada and provincial conservative parties.
The terms "Blue Tory" and "Red Tory" describe two factions of Canada's federal and provincial conservative parties. The former leader of theProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario,Tim Hudak, adopted the term "Purple Tory" to characterize himself, aiming to avoid the strong ideological stance and instead provide a conciliatory position between Blue Tories and Red Tories.[26] The term "Pink Tory" is also used by Canadian politics as a pejorative term to describe a conservative party member who is perceived as liberal.
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In the United Kingdom, theConservative and Unionist Party is often colloquially referred to as theTories, both by themselves and by opponents, and also in the media. Members and voters of the party are also often referred to as "Tories" as well. TheBritish Broadcasting Corporation's ownstyle guide permits the use of the termTory, although it requires the termConservative to be used in its first instance.[8]
InScotland, the termTory refers not only to members and supporters of theScottish Conservative and Unionist Party, but is also used to accuse other parties of being insufficiently opposed to that party. For example, members and supporters of theScottish Labour Party (especially those from the "Blairite andBrownite" factions) may be referred to asRed Tories by traditional Labour members and advocates of anindependent Scotland such as members and supporters of theScottish National Party, theAlba Party (formerlySolidarity), theScottish Socialist Party and theScottish Greens. Similarly, Labour supporters have referred to SNP members and supporters as beingTartan Tories.[27]
In Australia,Tory is occasionally used as a pejorative term by members of theAustralian Labor Party to refer to conservative members of theLiberal Party of Australia andNational Party of Australia parties (who are ina long-standing coalition).[28] The term is not used anywhere near as often as in the UK and Canada, and it is rare – though not unheard of – for members of those parties to self-describe as 'Tories'.
Writing in theAustralian Dictionary of Biography, Michael Persse notes the impact of 'Liberal Toryism' on the colonial era Australian statesmanWilliam Charles Wentworth when he was in Britain.[29] Chief JusticeGarfield Barwick titled his memoirA Radical Tory.[30] The newspaper of theUniversity of Sydney Conservative Club is namedThe Sydney Tory.[31] Amoderate faction of theAustralian Greens has been pejoratively dubbed theTree Tories by thehard left faction.[32][33]
Amid the passion and the anger, Jefferson and Madison's Republican Party — the forerunner of today's Democrats — won the day; the coalition they built then proceeded to win every national election until 1824... The elections of 1828 and 1832 saw the ruling Republicans break into two factions: The minority faction — headed by incumbent president John Quincy Adams — became the National Republicans (and then the Whigs); it drew its support from the mercantile regions of the country, mainly New England and the large cities of the South. Members of the majority faction, meanwhile, renamed themselves the Democrats under the leadership of Andrew Jackson.
Still, the pair have aligned themselves with the "eastern bloc" or "watermelon" faction (green on the outside, red in the middle) that dismisses environmentally-minded,middle class Greens likeDi Natale as "tree tories".
Once again, they were let down in NSW. The state hosts a factional divide between so-called "Tree Tories" – people who believe in amixed economy but with strong environmental controls – and "watermelons".
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