The Crisis of the Tariff Reform League and the Division of 'Radical Conservatism', c.1913-1922

The term 'Radical Conservatism' has come to denote a group of Unionists who called for extensive government intervention and greater imperial consolidation in the opening decades of the twentieth century. Despite a revival of interest in the historical study of this movement, there has been little coverage of Radical Conservatism's difficult years during the Great War and its aftermath. This article examines the Tariff Reform League (TRL) which was the leading Radical Conservative pressure group during this period. It suggests that Radical Conservatism's more controversial, imperial policies had significantly more popular support than has previously been realized by historians. This article also challenges the idea that Radical Conservatism can be treated as a single, unified movement. It had several divisions throughout the early twentieth century, and effectively ruptured with Henry Page Croft's creation of the National Party in the autumn of 1917. The formation of this organization led to a crisis of confidence within the TRL, which precipitated its sudden decline in 1918–19.