What are the origins of the names of the main political parties?

The Conservative and Unionist Party dates back to the Tory Party of the late eighteenth century. This broadly represented the interests of the country gentry, merchant classes and official ministerial groups. After Britain's 1832 (electoral) Reform Act, members of the old Tory Party began forming 'conservative associations'. The name Conservative was first used as a description of the Party in the Quarterly Review of January 1830 - 'conservative' because the Party aims to conserve traditional values and practices. The Conservative Party today is the leading right-wing party. The term 'Tory' is still used today to refer to somebody with conservative political views.

The original title of the Labour Party, the Labour Representation Committee, makes the origins of the party clear - to promote the interests of the industrial working class. In 1900 the Trades Union Congress co-operated with the Independent Labour Party (founded 1893) to establish The Labour Representation Committee with Ramsay MacDonald as First Secretary. This took the name Labour Party in 1906.

The Liberal Party emerged in the mid-nineteenth century as a successor to the historic Whig party. 'Whig' was originally a Scottish Gaelic term applied to horse thieves! In the late eighteenth century the Whig Party represented those who sought electoral, parliamentary and philanthropic reforms. However, the term 'Whig' does not survive today. After 1832 the mainly aristocratic Whigs were joined by increasing numbers of middle-class members. By 1839 the term Liberal Party was being used, and the first unequivocally Liberal government was formed in 1868 by William Gladstone. In 1988 the old Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) merged into a single party called the Liberal Democrats.