Established political parties: origins and development | Edexcel A-Level Politics
Updated: Nov 2
For Specification 9PL0
Edexcel A-Level Politics | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time:Â 55 minutes
Understanding where Britain's established political parties came from helps explain why they contain different ideological traditions today. This Established political parties: origins and development A-Level Politics revision page examines the historical development of the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, focusing on One Nation and New Right conservatism, Old and New Labour, and classical and modern liberalism. Edexcel specifically requires you to understand these parties in their historical context and how that development has shaped their ideas. This builds on what political parties do and prepares you for their current ideas and policies.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain the historical origins and development of the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats.
Define the main ideological traditions associated with each established party.
Explain the development from One Nation conservatism to the influence of the New Right.
Compare Old Labour with New Labour and explain why this development was significant.
Distinguish classical liberal from modern liberal influences on the Liberal Democrats.
Analyse how historical development continues to shape the identity of the established political parties.
Revision Notes đź“š
Why party history matters
The Edexcel specification does not treat political parties as organisations whose current ideas can be understood in isolation. Students need knowledge of the origins and historical development of the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrat Party and how that history has shaped their ideas and policies.
This means that in an examination you need to make connections such as:
historical roots → ideological traditions → development and adaptation → later party identity
For example:
the Conservative Party contains traditions associated with One Nation conservatism and the New Right
Labour has developed from an Old Labour or social democratic tradition towards New Labour and the Third Way
the Liberal Democrats contain influences associated with both classical liberalism and modern liberalism.
The important point is not simply to memorise labels. You need to understand what each tradition means, how the party developed and why those historical differences still matter.
Historical development at a glance
Party | Earlier ideological tradition | Major development | Continuing ideological traditions |
Conservative Party | One Nation conservatism | Growth of New Right influence, particularly associated with Thatcherism | One Nation and New Right |
Labour Party | Working-class and trade-union roots associated with Old Labour | Development of New Labour and the Third Way | Old Labour and New Labour |
Liberal Democrats | Liberal traditions based on individual freedom | Development of both classical and modern interpretations of liberalism | Classical liberal and modern liberal influences |
These are not simply three fixed ideological positions. The history of each party has produced different traditions within the same party, which helps explain later debates and divisions.
The Conservative Party: historical development
The Conservative Party has developed through different interpretations of conservatism rather than following one completely fixed ideology.
For Edexcel, the two particularly important traditions are:
One Nation conservatism
the New Right.
These traditions help explain both continuity and change within the Conservative Party.
One Nation conservatism
One Nation is defined in the specification as a paternalistic Conservative approach associated with Benjamin Disraeli in the nineteenth century.
Its central idea is that those who are wealthy or privileged have an obligation towards those who are poorer or more vulnerable.
This makes One Nation conservatism paternalistic. Society contains inequalities, but those with greater wealth and power have responsibilities towards others.
The tradition is therefore concerned with maintaining social stability rather than allowing divisions within society to become dangerously wide.
The specification also identifies the continuation of One Nation approaches under later Conservative leaders, demonstrating that this is not simply a nineteenth-century idea.
If you want to explore the ideology itself in greater depth, this connects directly with the different traditions within conservatism.
One Nation as an important Conservative tradition
One Nation conservatism illustrates an important characteristic of Conservative development: change can occur without completely abandoning inherited traditions.
This is significant because the Conservative Party has not simply moved in a straight ideological line.
At different points:
One Nation ideas have been particularly influential
another Conservative tradition has become more prominent
later Conservatives have continued to draw on both traditions.
The 2025 mark scheme notes that One Nation was dominant for much of Conservative history before Margaret Thatcher moved the party in a different ideological direction.
That different direction was associated with the New Right.
The rise of the New Right
The New Right represents an important development in Conservative ideology.
The Edexcel specification identifies two elements within the New Right.
Neo-liberalism
Neo-liberals emphasise:
free markets
reducing the role of the state in people's economic lives
reducing state involvement in business.
This differs from the willingness of One Nation Conservatives to accept greater state involvement where it is necessary to preserve social cohesion.
Neo-conservatism
Neo-conservatives support a stronger and more authoritarian role for the state in areas such as:
morality
law and order.
This means the New Right itself combines two tendencies:
a desire for less economic state intervention
support for stronger authority in social and moral matters.
The development of these ideas is particularly associated in the supplied Edexcel materials with Thatcherism. The 2024 source on established political parties explicitly contrasts One Nation traditions with Thatcherite and New Right approaches.
Why Thatcherism was historically significant
The movement towards New Right ideas represented an important shift within the Conservative Party.
Rather than eliminating the earlier One Nation tradition, however, it created a party containing competing Conservative traditions.
A useful way of thinking about Conservative development is therefore:
One Nation tradition → rise of New Right and Thatcherism → continuing tension between both traditions
This helps explain why the Conservative Party can contain politicians who agree that they are Conservatives while disagreeing about the appropriate role of the state.
Conservative continuity and change
This creates an important examination debate.
Argument for continuity
The Conservative Party can still be understood through its historical traditions because:
One Nation conservatism remains identifiable
New Right ideas remain identifiable
later Conservative politics can therefore be interpreted through traditions that developed historically.
Argument for change
However:
political circumstances alter
different traditions may become more or less influential
newer political issues may reshape the party
party positions cannot always be fitted neatly into a single historical tradition.
The 2024 Edexcel mark scheme therefore accepted arguments both that One Nation and New Right traditions remain important and that later developments have made the Conservative Party harder to define simply through these historical labels.
This is exactly the distinction between describing history and analysing its continuing significance.
The Labour Party: origins
Labour's historical origins are especially important because they help explain the party's traditional social and economic identity.
Edexcel's 2025 mark scheme identifies Labour as having been created from and by the trade union movement and the working classes.
This background helped produce the tradition now described in the specification as Old Labour.
Old Labour and social democracy
Old Labour is associated with social democracy.
The specification identifies several important features:
nationalisation
redistribution of wealth from richer to poorer groups
improving welfare and state services
rejection of much of the Thatcherite free-market approach.
Old Labour therefore reflects Labour's traditional concern with the economic and social position of the working class.
It gives the party a recognisably left-wing heritage.
Nationalisation
Nationalisation means transferring industries or services into state ownership.
Within Old Labour thinking, nationalisation represented a way of extending public control over important parts of the economy.
It should therefore be connected to Labour's wider historical values rather than remembered as an isolated policy.
Redistribution
Redistribution involves using government action to reduce economic inequalities.
The specification describes Old Labour as supporting redistribution of wealth from rich to poor.
Again, this connects to Labour's origins because the party developed as a political representative of working-class interests.
Welfare and public services
Old Labour also placed considerable emphasis on:
welfare
state services
an active role for government.
This reinforces the difference between traditional Labour ideas and free-market approaches favouring a smaller economic role for the state.
Your later study of Labour's contemporary policy position should therefore begin with an understanding of this historical foundation.
The development of New Labour
Labour did not remain unchanged.
A particularly important development was New Labour, associated with the Third Way.
The specification defines New Labour as a revision of the values and ideals represented by Old Labour.
The Third Way was influenced by Anthony Giddens and involved a shift:
away from a heavy concentration on the working class alone
towards a wider class base
towards a less robust relationship with the trade unions.
This was an important development because it changed how Labour attempted to combine its historical principles with a different political and economic environment.
Old Labour and New Labour compared
Old Labour | New Labour |
Strong association with the working class | Sought support from a wider class base |
Strong links with trade unions | Less robust alliance with trade unions |
Nationalisation | More acceptance of the free-market economic settlement |
Redistribution | Revised approach to traditional Labour objectives |
Extensive welfare and state provision | Third Way approach |
Traditional social democracy | Revision of traditional Labour values |
This comparison matters because New Labour should not simply be treated as a completely separate ideology.
It developed from within Labour's existing historical tradition.
New Labour and the 1997 general election
The supplied Edexcel materials identify the development of New Labour as highly significant by the time of the 1997 general election.
The 2023 examination source described Labour's rebranding as New Labour as a transformational change which helped it appeal to a wider electorate. The same source also presented the counter-argument that Labour accepted important parts of the Thatcherite free-market legacy.
This makes 1997 particularly useful for understanding development:
Old Labour tradition → ideological revision → New Labour → wider electoral appeal
You will explore that electoral context in much greater detail when studying Labour's 1997 victory.
Did New Labour abandon Old Labour?
This is an important distinction.
One interpretation is that New Labour represented substantial ideological change because it:
accepted a greater role for markets
reduced the centrality of class
loosened Labour's relationship with trade unions.
However, another interpretation is that New Labour modernised rather than completely rejected Labour's historical concern for social justice and the disadvantaged.
The 2024 mark scheme explicitly recognised both positions, allowing students to argue either that Labour remained connected to its roots or that later development had moved it substantially away from them.
Therefore, avoid the simplistic claim:
"Old Labour disappeared and was replaced by New Labour."
A better explanation is:
Labour's historical development created competing Old Labour and New Labour traditions that can both influence debates over the party's direction.
Labour's historical development as a continuing tension
Labour's development can be summarised as:
trade-union and working-class origins → Old Labour/social democracy → New Labour/Third Way → continuing debate over Labour's ideological direction
This helps explain why Labour may experience disagreement over issues such as:
the role of markets
the appropriate size of the state
redistribution
welfare
the relationship between the party and organised labour.
Detailed current policies belong in the next stage of your party revision. The key point here is to understand why Labour contains different traditions in the first place.
The Liberal Democrats: liberal ideological development
The specification identifies two liberal traditions as particularly relevant to understanding the Liberal Democrats:
classical liberalism
modern liberalism.
The coexistence of these traditions means that Liberal Democrat ideas can reflect different interpretations of what individual freedom requires.
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism developed around a strong belief in individual freedom.
According to the Edexcel definition, classical liberals believe that individual freedom is best achieved when the state plays a minimal role.
The underlying argument is that excessive government intervention may restrict individual liberty.
Classical liberalism therefore tends towards:
individual freedom
limited state intervention
greater reliance on individuals rather than extensive government control.
You will examine this tradition in more depth in the divisions within liberalism.
Modern liberalism
Modern liberalism developed partly as a reaction against free-market capitalism.
Modern liberals argued that simply leaving individuals alone did not necessarily make them genuinely free.
For example, if economic and social circumstances prevent a person from exercising meaningful choices, formal freedom alone may be insufficient.
Modern liberalism therefore gives the state a potentially greater role in helping individuals achieve genuine freedom.
Classical and modern liberalism compared
Classical liberalism | Modern liberalism |
Individual freedom is central | Individual freedom remains central |
Favours a minimal role for the state | Accepts a greater enabling role for the state |
Emphasises freedom from unnecessary state interference | Argues that lack of resources or opportunity can also restrict freedom |
More closely associated with limited government | More willing to use government action to increase meaningful freedom |
The key point is that these are different routes towards the liberal objective of individual freedom.
How these traditions shape the Liberal Democrats
The 2024 Edexcel source and mark scheme identify the Liberal Democrats as a party whose ideas can include both classical liberal and modern liberal elements.
This gives the party a broad liberal ideological base.
For example, a liberal party can simultaneously contain:
concern about excessive state power
support for individual choice
concern about social conditions preventing genuine freedom.
These positions make more sense once the two liberal traditions are understood.
A limitation in the supplied material
The specification requires knowledge of the origins and historical development of the Liberal Democrat Party. However, the supplied specification, question papers, mark schemes and examiner reports identify its classical and modern liberal traditions without providing a sufficiently detailed account of the party's organisational formation.
For that reason, no unsupported chronology of the Liberal Democrats' organisational formation has been added here. For the supplied materials, the secure examinable focus is the way classical and modern liberal traditions have shaped the party's ideological development.
How the three parties differ historically
The three established parties have developed from different political traditions.
Party | Historical basis emphasised in the supplied material | Main traditions students should recognise |
Conservative Party | Conservative development including the nineteenth-century One Nation tradition and later Thatcherite change | One Nation, New Right |
Labour Party | Working-class and trade-union origins followed by ideological revision | Old Labour, New Labour |
Liberal Democrats | Development within the liberal tradition | Classical liberalism, modern liberalism |
These distinctions help explain why the established parties have traditionally occupied different positions in British politics.
Left and right
The specification includes left-wing and right-wing as key political-party terminology.
Left-wing positions are associated with demands for political, economic or social change and may involve criticism of capitalism.
Right-wing positions place greater emphasis on order, stability, hierarchy and preservation of existing arrangements and are generally associated with Conservative politics.
However, the history of the established parties also shows why left-right labels cannot tell you everything.
For example:
New Labour revised traditional Labour positions
the Conservative Party contains both One Nation and New Right approaches
classical and modern liberals disagree over how much state action freedom requires.
Historical development therefore creates ideological complexity within parties, not simply differences between them.
Continuity versus change
A major theme running through this topic is whether parties remain defined by their histories.
The 2024 Edexcel examination tested precisely this issue by asking students to consider whether established-party ideas had radically changed from their historical origins.
There are two broad interpretations.
Interpretation 1: history still strongly shapes parties
This argument stresses continuity.
Conservative Party
One Nation and New Right traditions continue to provide ways of understanding different Conservative positions.
Labour Party
Old Labour and New Labour remain useful ways of explaining competing ideas about the party's direction.
Liberal Democrats
Classical and modern liberalism remain important ways of understanding different liberal approaches.
From this perspective, parties change, but their historical traditions provide an ideological framework within which much of that change occurs.
Interpretation 2: parties adapt beyond their origins
The alternative argument emphasises change.
Parties seek electoral success and respond to changing circumstances. As a result:
policies can move beyond traditional ideological positions
new political issues can become more important
established labels may become less precise
parties may broaden their appeal.
Historical traditions therefore matter, but they do not mechanically determine everything a party later believes or does.
How to assess historical influence
When asked whether an established party remains shaped by its origins, use a three-stage method.
1. Identify the historical tradition
For example:
Conservative Party → One Nation
2. Explain the tradition accurately
For example:
One Nation conservatism is paternalistic and accepts obligations towards poorer or more vulnerable members of society.
3. Analyse its continuing importance
Ask:
Is that tradition still useful for explaining the party?
Has another tradition become more influential?
Has the party adapted so far that the historical label is less useful?
This converts historical knowledge into political analysis.
Avoid treating parties as ideologies
There is an important distinction between:
studying conservatism, liberalism and socialism as political ideas
studying the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties.
A political party may draw on an ideological tradition without perfectly reproducing the ideology.
For example:
studying the New Right within the Conservative Party is not exactly the same task as answering a Core Political Ideas question about conservatism
studying classical and modern influences within the Liberal Democrats is not the same as writing a political ideas essay on liberalism.
This distinction is particularly important because the 2024 examiner report identified candidates who confused political-party questions with Core Political Ideas questions and introduced material that was not relevant to the party question.
Why historical development creates internal disagreement
Historical development often adds new traditions without completely removing older ones.
This creates ideological tension.
Conservative Party
One Nation ↔ New Right
The party contains traditions which differ over the extent and purpose of state intervention.
Labour Party
Old Labour ↔ New Labour
The party contains disagreement between traditional social democratic approaches and later Third Way revision.
Liberal Democrats
Classical liberalism ↔ Modern liberalism
Both prioritise freedom, but disagree about the extent to which state intervention is necessary to secure it.
This means internal disagreement does not automatically prove that a party lacks an ideological identity. It may instead reflect the fact that its identity has developed historically.
The implications of these divisions will become especially useful in understanding party success and the wider party system.
Overall comparison
The historical development of each party follows a slightly different pattern.
Conservatives: evolution between traditions
The Conservative Party illustrates evolution within conservatism.
One Nation thinking established a paternalistic tradition, while the rise of the New Right created a powerful alternative. Both help explain later Conservative debates.
Labour: revision of an established tradition
Labour illustrates ideological revision.
The party developed from working-class and trade-union roots associated with Old Labour, before New Labour revised traditional ideas through the Third Way.
Liberal Democrats: competing liberal conceptions of freedom
The Liberal Democrats illustrate different interpretations within liberalism.
Classical and modern liberals share a commitment to individual freedom but disagree about the role the state should play in achieving it.
A useful overall judgement
The strongest conclusion is usually more nuanced than saying either that parties never change or that their histories no longer matter.
Historical development matters because it has created the main ideological traditions within each established party. However, parties are capable of adapting, revising and combining those traditions.
Therefore:
party history provides the starting point for understanding party identity, but it should not be treated as a rigid rule determining every later policy.
That is why your next step is to apply this historical understanding to the established parties' ideas and policies.
Hints from the Examiner Reports đź’ˇ
Examiner hint:Â Do not turn a political-party question into three separate ideological essays. In the 2024 report, examiners noted that weaker candidates simply compared Old and New Labour, One Nation and Thatcherite conservatism, or classical and modern liberalism instead of answering whether those historical labels still explained the parties. Always link the tradition back to the actual question.
Examiner hint:Â Give all three established parties proper coverage. The 2024 report found that many candidates omitted the Liberal Democrats or gave only superficial information about them, which reduced the quality and balance of their responses.
Examiner hint:Â A list of ideological labels or policies is not enough. Examiners highlighted weaker responses that identified material without analysing how it demonstrated the party's ideological position. After giving an example, explain what it reveals about historical continuity or change.
Examiner hint:Â Build judgement into the body of your answer. The 2024 report praised responses that made interim judgements at the end of sections and linked them back to the question. Sustained evaluation is more effective than saving your opinion for the conclusion.
Examiner hint:Â Historical knowledge earns its value when you use it analytically. The 2025 report warned against becoming overly historical when discussing parties. Historical developments were useful when connected to the issue being assessed, but description of past leaders and events in isolation gained much less credit.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating One Nation and the New Right as separate political parties
Why this is incorrect: They are different ideological traditions within Conservative politics.
How to improve: Use the structure:
Conservative Party → One Nation and New Right traditions
Then explain how their coexistence reflects the party's historical development.
Mistake: Saying that Thatcherism completely replaced One Nation conservatism
Why this is incorrect: The supplied Edexcel materials continue to identify both One Nation and New Right traditions as relevant to understanding the Conservative Party.
How to improve: Explain Thatcherism as a major ideological development which strengthened the New Right, rather than claiming the older tradition permanently disappeared.
Mistake: Describing Old Labour as simply "the Labour Party in the past"
Why this is incorrect: Old Labour refers to a specific social democratic tradition involving nationalisation, redistribution, welfare and state services.
How to improve: Use the ideological definition, then connect it to Labour's working-class and trade-union origins.
Mistake: Assuming New Labour had no connection with earlier Labour values
Why this is incorrect: New Labour was a revision of traditional Labour rather than an entirely unrelated political project.
How to improve: Explain both change and continuity. Identify what the Third Way revised, then consider which broader Labour concerns could remain.
Mistake: Treating classical and modern liberals as agreeing about the role of the state
Why this is incorrect: Both value individual freedom, but classical liberals favour a minimal state whereas modern liberals accept a greater state role where this helps people exercise meaningful freedom.
How to improve: Compare them around a common question: what does genuine individual freedom require from the state?
Mistake: Turning a political-party answer into a Core Political Ideas answer
Why this is incorrect: A question about the Conservative Party, Labour or Liberal Democrats requires you to analyse the party and its development, not simply reproduce everything you know about conservatism, socialism or liberalism.
How to improve: After every ideological point, explicitly connect it to the party: "This matters for Labour because..."
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define One Nation conservatism. (2 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer:
One Nation conservatism is a paternalistic Conservative tradition associated with Benjamin Disraeli in which wealthy and privileged members of society have obligations towards poorer people.
Question 2
Explain two characteristics of Old Labour. (4 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Any two accurately explained characteristics, such as:
support for nationalisation
redistribution of wealth from rich to poor
support for improving welfare and state services
rejection of much of the Thatcherite free-market approach.
Award credit for explanation rather than simply identifying two terms.
Question 3
Explain how the development of the New Right changed the ideological character of the Conservative Party. (6 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
A strong answer could explain that:
One Nation conservatism had been an important Conservative tradition
the New Right provided a different approach
neo-liberalism favoured free markets and rolling back economic state intervention
neo-conservatism favoured a stronger role for authority, morality and law and order
Thatcherism represented the growing influence of this alternative Conservative tradition
this produced continuing ideological tension between One Nation and New Right approaches.
Question 4
Compare Old Labour and New Labour as stages in the historical development of the Labour Party. (8 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Students could compare:
Old Labour's stronger working-class orientation with New Labour's wider class appeal
Old Labour's close relationship with trade unions with New Labour's less robust alliance
Old Labour's nationalisation with New Labour's greater acceptance of markets
continuity in the fact that New Labour represented a revision of Labour rather than an entirely separate party.
A stronger response will explain both change and continuity.
Question 5
Explain why both classical and modern liberalism are relevant to understanding the ideological development of the Liberal Democrats. (8 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
A strong answer should explain that:
both traditions prioritise individual freedom
classical liberals believe freedom is best protected by a minimal state
modern liberalism developed partly in reaction to free-market capitalism
modern liberals argue that individuals may require greater state assistance to exercise genuine freedom
the Liberal Democrats can consequently draw upon different approaches within the broader liberal tradition.
Question 6
Read the following original source.
One interpretation of Britain's established parties is that their historical development remains essential to understanding them. Conservative politics still contains the influence of One Nation and New Right traditions. Labour continues to be discussed through Old Labour and New Labour, while classical and modern liberal ideas provide different influences within the Liberal Democrats.An alternative interpretation is that political parties continually adapt. New traditions emerge, older traditions become less influential and parties change in response to political circumstances. Historical labels may therefore help explain where parties came from without fully explaining what they later become.
Using the source, analyse two reasons why historical origins may remain important in understanding established political parties. (10 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Students might analyse:
historical traditions provide continuing ideological frameworks
One Nation and New Right ideas continue to explain different Conservative approaches
Old and New Labour explain competing interpretations of Labour's direction
classical and modern liberalism explain disagreement over the role of the state
internal party tensions may themselves be the result of historical development.
Higher-level analysis will explain why the survival of these traditions makes historical origins politically significant rather than merely identifying them.
Question 7
Evaluate the view that the historical origins of the established political parties are still the most important factor in explaining their ideological identity. (30 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Arguments supporting the view could include:
Conservative identity continues to reflect One Nation and New Right traditions
Labour's trade-union and working-class roots explain the development of Old Labour
New Labour can only be fully understood as a revision of earlier Labour ideas
Liberal Democrat identity can still be analysed through classical and modern liberal traditions
historical development helps explain present internal ideological differences.
Alternative arguments could include:
parties change as political circumstances change
New Labour revised significant elements of Old Labour
Thatcherism represented a substantial shift from earlier One Nation dominance
different traditions may rise and fall in influence
historical labels do not necessarily explain every later party position.
Mark scheme guidance:
For AO1, demonstrate accurate knowledge of:
One Nation
New Right
Old Labour
New Labour
classical liberalism
modern liberalism
the historical development of the three established parties.
For AO2, analyse the relationship between historical development and later party identity rather than simply describing party history.
For AO3, weigh continuity against change and reach a substantiated judgement.
A strong conclusion could argue that historical origins remain essential because they explain the ideological traditions available within each party, but they are not sufficient on their own because parties adapt and reinterpret those traditions over time.
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