The Conservative Party is the oldest political party in Europe.

The term Tory comes from the Irish Gaelic word for "bandit" or "outlaw".

The party developed in the 17th century and backed the power of the Crown, thinking it would hold Parliament in check as well as the interests of their opponents, the Whigs who dominated 18th Century parliaments until William Pitt the Younger became prime minister in 1783.

His support for free trade and sound finances laid the foundations of modern Conservatism. Opposition to state interference in private enterprise became one of the party's core beliefs.

In the middle of the 19th Century, Conservatives were split over the decision by their prime minister, Sir Robert Peel, to abolish the Corn Laws, which had maintained the price of food at an artificially high level. On one side were those who believed in free trade; on the other, those who wanted to protect agricultural interests.

Under the leadership of Benjamin Disraeli, Tory wounds were healed and the party united in support of an agenda that would strengthen Britain's position in the world, while also offering improvements in conditions for the less well off.

In 1886, the Liberal Party split over the issue of home rule for Ireland, and the Liberal Unionist Party was formed. It formed an alliance with the Tories before being formally absorbed in 1912, creating the full title of the present-day organisation: the Conservative and Unionist Party.

Although associated with landowners and the aristocracy, and more recently the middle classes, the party has looked for support across social boundaries.

Key players

In the 1930s, Conservative prime ministers faced crises at home and abroad. For Stanley Baldwin, it was the abdication of Edward VIII, who renounced the throne for the American divorcee Mrs Simpson. For Neville Chamberlain it was the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the disastrous policy of trying to appease the Nazi dictator.

When "peace in our time" turned into all-out war, Winston Churchill emerged as the man to lead the Conservatives, and the country. This made it all the more shocking for the Conservatives to see Labour elected by a landslide at the election of 1945, but after the hardships of the 1930s, the country was demanding social change.

By 1951 the Tories, still led by Churchill, were back in power but by 1964, the country was in recession, and the Tories had been damaged by the Profumo scandal and Labour leader Harold Wilson became prime minister during the Swinging Sixties.

Edward Heath restored Tory fortunes in 1970, but his election victory was followed by conflict over the Industrial Relations Act and an international economic crisis triggered by sharp rises in the price of oil.

Labour returned to power in the two elections of 1974, and by the time of the next election the Conservatives had a new leader. The election of Margaret Thatcher as Britain's first woman prime minister in 1979 was to be the start of an extraordinary period of electoral success for the Tories.

At home she took on the trade unions and began privatising many nationalised industries. The miners' strike became an emblem of the bitter divisions within Britain, but abroad, her stature grew.

The successful campaign to expel Argentine forces from the Falklands, and her "handbagging" of various European leaders, helped to forge her image as the Iron Lady. But in the end it was the enemies within who removed her from office.

A leadership challenge by Michael Heseltine opened the way for John Major to be elected in her place. As prime minister, he secured concessions for Britain in Europe, and took the country into the Gulf War. He called an election in 1992, and won the Tories their fourth victory in a row.

Back in Downing Street, Major found himself leading a party increasingly divided over Britain's place in Europe. In 1994, eight "Eurosceptic" Tory MPs defied the party whip and abstained on a key vote in the Commons.

The following year, Major resigned the leadership, telling opponents within the party to "put up or shut up". He won the leadership election, but the bitterness remained.

The Conservatives were now in the grip of "sleaze". As Major launched a "back to basics" campaign, the newspapers carried embarrassing revelations about a string of Tory backbenchers and ministers, whose private lives did not accord with the party's moral values.

Others were forced to resign over a "cash for questions" row. When the election came in 1997, the Conservatives went down to a crushing defeat. In the leadership election that followed, William Hague beat Kenneth Clarke in the third round of voting.

However, the 2001 election saw an even more crushing defeat for the Tories after Labour won again with an enormous majority of 166 seats. A short-lived stint by Iain Duncan Smith as leader led to the appointment of Michael Howard who takes his party into another election.

Howard will have to fight off the ghosts of history as he was Home Secretary at the time of the introduction of the poll tax and presided over a government that was forced to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate mechanism in 1992.