Electoral history of the Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party, and has been described as both right-wing and centre-right.

This article encompasses detailed results of previous UK general elections, Police and Crime Commissioner elections, devolved national elections, devolved London elections and European Parliament elections which the Conservative Party have participated in.

Background
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. On the political spectrum the party has been described as right-wing by various sources and as centre-right by others, and encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites, and traditionalist conservatives.

As of September 2023, the party has 354 members of Parliament, 260 members of the House of Lords, 9 members of the London Assembly, 31 members of the Scottish Parliament, 16 members of the Welsh Parliament, 4 directly elected mayors, 30 police and crime commissioners, and around 5,647 local councillors. It holds the annual Conservative Party Conference.

The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party and was one of two dominant political parties in the 19th century, along with the Liberal Party. In 1912, the Liberal Unionist Party merged with the party to form the Conservative and Unionist Party. Since the 1920s, the Labour Party emerged to be the Conservatives' main rival and the Conservative–Labour political rivalry has shaped modern British politics for the last century.

UK general elections
United Kingdom general elections are held under the first past the post voting system. Each constituency in the United Kingdom will elect one Member of Parliament; overall 650 Members of Parliament are currently elected at each election. Following the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, the date of the general election is at the discretion of the prime minister within a five-year period from the last general election. The next general election will be held on 4 July 2024.

In the 1931 general election, the Conservatives earned their best result to date, by vote share (55.5%) and seat number (474). In the post-war era, the 1983 general election was the most successful for the Conservatives in terms of seats won (397), whereas 1955 was the most successful election for vote share (49.7%). However, the 1997 general election was the least successful election since 1918 for the Conservatives, winning 165 seats and gaining 30.7% of the vote.

This chart shows the electoral performance of the Conservative Party in each general election since 1835.

For results of the Tories, the party's predecessor, see here.


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Northern Ireland devolved elections
''Prior to 1973, the Ulster Unionist Party acted as the de facto Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party. The UUP's results may be seen here.''

European Parliament elections

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