Conservative Party

The Conservative Party was one of the two dominant political parties (the other being the Labour Party) in the United Kingdom during the 20th and 21st centuries. Several of its leaders had held the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The Conservatives were in office during the early 1960s. Harold Macmillan served as Prime Minister until his resignation in 1963. He was succeeded by Sir Alec Douglas-Home. (AUDIO: The Pelage Project)

In 1964, the Conservative Party was defeated by Labour in the UK general election and the latter's leader Harold Wilson became Prime Minister. In the immediate aftermath of the election, General Peters led a military coup against Wilson's government. However, it was defeated by the Intrusion Countermeasures Group. (AUDIO: State of Emergency)

In later years, Wilson's position seemed untenable after the failures of the Wenley Moor nuclear research facility in October 1969 (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) and the Inferno Project in February 1970 (TV: Inferno) were publicised by James Stevens in his "Bad Science" series of articles.

Wilson called a general election for June 1970. The Labour Party lost and the Conservative leader Edward Heath became Prime Minister. Political observers speculated that the publication of the book version of "Bad Science" had coincided not-so-incidentally with the election. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

At a later point in the 1970s, the Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe led a coalition government as Prime Minister after the effects of alien invasions damaged support for Labour and the Conservatives. (WEB: Party Politics)

In 1979, the Conservatives were once again in office with Margaret Thatcher. (TV: Tooth and Claw) Her predecessor was James Callaghan of the Labour Party. (AUDIO: The Oseidon Adventure)

On 9 June 1983, the Conservatives defeated Labour in the general election in a landslide. (AUDIO: Rat Trap) The party was still in office in 1987 while Thatcher remained Prime Minister. (TV: Father's Day)