New Conservative Party (UK)

New Conservative Party

Founder| John E. Dayton
Founded| March 1960
Dissolved| Autumn 1961
Ideology| British Nationalism

This article is about the 1960-61 Political Party. For the 2023 caucus of a similar name, see New Conservatives (UK).

Minor party of early 1960s

The New Conservative Party was a minor nationalist political party in the United Kingdom.

The party was founded in March 1960 by John E. Dayton,[1] a civil engineer living in Dorking, Surrey. He described it as a party "neither of the extreme right nor left",[2] although The History of British Political Parties describes its main policy as British nationalism.[3]

Dayton stood as a candidate first in the 1960 Harrow West by-election,[2] at which he took 4.7% of the vote – which proved to be the party's highest ever share.[3] Following this, he launched a party newsletter, Watching Brief, and then in November stood in the Bolton East by-election.[3] He took only 1.2% of the vote in Bolton East,[4] while fellow party member C. F. H. Gilliard fared even worse in the 1960 Mid Bedfordshire by-election, with 0.6% of the votes cast.[5]

In May 1961, the party was renamed as the True Conservative Party, but this change did not revive its fortunes, and it was dissolved in the autumn.[1] However, Dayton founded the Patriotic Front for Political Action and stood in the 1961 Oswestry by-election, at which he took a 2.8% share.[3] He soon ceased publishing Watching Brief, and dissolved the new party in February 1962, joining the Labour Party,[3] and standing for the party in Westmorland at the 1966 general election.[6]

## References

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1. ^ a b F. W. S. Craig, Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections
2. ^ a b "From our archives", Bolton News, 15 September 2010
3. ^ a b c d e David Boothroyd, The History of British Political Parties, p.209
4. ^ British Parliamentary by-elections: Bolton East 1960
5. ^ Dod's Parliamentary Companion (1967), p.481
6. ^ "UK General Election results March 1966 Archived 2011-08-11 at the Wayback Machine", Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources