Editing Conservative Party (UK) (section)

=== First World War ===
{{Further|History of the United Kingdom during the First World War}}
While the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] were mostly against the war until the invasion of Belgium, Conservative leaders were strongly in favour of aiding France and stopping Germany. The Liberal party was in full control of the government until its mismanagement of the war effort under the [[Shell Crisis of 1915|Shell Crisis]] badly hurt its reputation. An all-party coalition government was formed in May 1915. In late 1916 Liberal [[David Lloyd George]] became prime minister but the Liberals soon split and the Conservatives dominated the government, especially after their [[1918 United Kingdom general election|landslide in the 1918 election]]. The Liberal party never recovered, but [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] gained strength after 1920.<ref>J. A. R. Marriott, ''Modern England, 1885–1945'' (4th ed. 1949) pp 375–432 [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.54679 online free]</ref>

Nigel Keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914 but the war pulled the party together, allowing it to emphasise patriotism as it found new leadership and worked out its positions on the Irish question, socialism, electoral reform, and the issue of intervention in the economy. The fresh emphasis on [[anti-Socialism]] was its response to the growing strength of the Labour Party. When electoral reform was an issue, it worked to protect their base in rural England.<ref>{{cite book|first=Nigel|last=Keohane|title=The Party of Patriotism: The Conservative Party and the First World War|publisher=Ashgate|year=2010}}</ref> It aggressively sought female voters in the 1920s, often relying on patriotic themes.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David|last=Jarvis |title=Mrs. Maggs and Betty: The Conservative Appeal to Women Voters in the 1920s|journal=Twentieth Century British History|year=1992|volume=5|issue=2|pages=129–52|doi=10.1093/tcbh/5.2.129 }}</ref>