The Conservative Party has been in power in the United Kingdom since 2010, stumbling its way through corruption scandals, the turmoil of Brexit, a pandemic, and five prime ministers. And yet it has won the last four elections in a row. How?

In May 2023 Samuel Earle came to Intelligence Squared to shed light on the Conservatives’ remarkable grip on power throughout history. Drawing from his new book Tory Nation, Earle explored the Conservatives’ ruling class origins in the eighteenth century, their influence on the British press and their historic appeal to working class voters to piece together the reasons for their political success.