This assessment provides a comprehensive overview of the Conservative Party's fortunes since 1945, encompasing the development of policy, the role of key political players, and the social and economic context in which they acted. The central challenge faced by any account of the Conservative party in the postwar period is to explain why half a centruy on from 1945, it will have been in power for 32 of those years. Although there have been relatively few histories of postwar Conservatism, most overviews of politics have had to account for these continued Conservative successes, the assumption being that the party represents a particular set of minority interests or a distinct class which ought not to be able to command power.