BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

their Liberal rivals made them more capable and effective as leaders.
The secular individuals supported Conservatives for a variety of
pragmatic reasons.29
It should be stressed that deferential relations are not
static, constantly evolving over time to reflect changing economic and
social circumstances. Cannadine's studies are particularly useful in
illuminating this feature.
They demonstrate that as the monarchy and
aristocracy were forced to concede power in the course of the late
nineteenth century, popular support surfaced for their continued
presence in social and political functions.
The "amphibious" characte
of the nobility, demonstrating its ability to adapt to changing
circumstances, helps explain its continued influence in the period
preceding the First World War.30
The Primrose League was particularly helpful
in providing a
forum from which to recast deferential relations.
As Olney noted, the
existence of the League was, in itself, an admission on the part of
Conservatives that the traditional methods of political
and social
deference failed to apply.31
Thus, in the aftermath of the 1885
election, a Conservative from Lincolnshire reflected at a Primrose
League meeting on the changing character of class relations in his
constituency.
29 McKenzie and Silver, Angels in Marble, pp. 164-65.
30
Cannadine, Lords and Landlords, pp. 21-25, 30-34, 36, 39,
224-25, 425. Cannandine, "The Context, Performance and Meaning of
Ritual," The Invention of Tradition, pp. 108, 114-15, 120-23, 133-38.
31 R.J. Olney, Lincolnshire Politics (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1973), p. 221.