On 7 October 2002, Theresa May employed the term “nasty party” to describe the public perception of the Conservatives. The speech, delivered to the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, encapsulated the ‘moderniser’ critique of the Tory message and public image in the early 2000s.

May was appointed as the first female chair of the Conservative Party in July 2002 by Iain Duncan Smith.

Duncan Smith became Conservative leader following the party’s second consecutive landslide defeat at the 2001 general election. A Tory spokesperson styled the appointment of May as central to his bid to “change the perception of the party and get across the message that we are living in the 21st century, not the 19th”.

Upon her appointment, May commented: “I believe that the Conservative party is changing and my appointment as the first woman chairman symbolises that change… The Conservative party is an open, decent and tolerant party committed to reforming public services and we need to get that message out across the country to people.”

In her famous 2002 speech, May positioned herself as an unapologetic advocate of the ‘modernising’ agenda. The central slogan of the conference – “representing the vulnerable” – was an unmistakable modernising theme.

Since emerging as leader in 2001, Duncan Smith had cautiously accepted some elements of the modernisation agenda (a path pursued more aggressively by David Cameron from 2005 to 2010). But he was generally considered as more aligned with the Tory ‘traditionalist’ tendency. The modernising wing of the party was more closely associated with Michael Portillo.

May had supported Portillo in the 2001 Conservative leadership contest.

***

Speaking in Bournemouth, May addressed the party’s failure to connect with voters, particularly women and ethnic minorities. The Conservative Party, she proclaimed, was widely perceived as out of touch and intolerant.

In the speech’s best remembered passage, May said: “There’s a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us – the nasty party.”

She added: “I know that’s unfair. You know that’s unfair but it’s the people out there we need to convince – and we can only do that by avoiding behaviour and attitudes that play into the hands of our opponents. No more glib moralising, no more hypocritical finger-wagging.

“We need to reach out to all areas of our society.”

She said that “the Conservative party, its principles, its people, have been let down in recent years by the failure of some to represent faithfully the best in Conservatism.

“Some Tories have tried to make political capital by demonising minorities instead of showing confidence in all the citizens of our country.”

She referenced the fact that of the 38 new Conservative MPs elected in 2001, “only one was a woman and none was from an ethnic minority.”

She said: “Is that fair? Is one half of the population entitled to only one place out of 38? That’s not meritocracy – that’s a travesty and it will never be allowed to happen again.”

May referred to candidate selection as “just one area in which our party seems to many outside our ranks to be hopelessly stuck in the past.”

She called on Conservative Party members to stop their “petty feuding” and “personal sniping” – urging MPs to get behind Duncan Smith’s leadership.

May also hit out at Conservatives who have “behaved disgracefully” in the past, adding: “We all know who they are.”

She said that the impression of sleaze had been “reinforced by what we have read in the newspapers over the last two weeks.”

The comments were delivered at a time when the news agenda was dominated by the revelation of former prime minister John Major’s past affair with Edwina Currie, revealed in her newly published diaries. At the same time, Conservative peer Lord Archer was back in the headlines after being found to have breached the conditions of the prison sentence he was serving for perjury.

In her peroration, May declared: “The way we look, the way we talk and the way we think – this may be a party at ease with itself but is it a party at ease with 21st century Britain?”

***

The speech sparked a political row. Lord Tebbit, former party chairman and Thatcherite enforcer, accused May of speaking “in the language of our opponents”. Tebbit said Labour MPs would be awaiting the return of the commons in order to “constantly tell Conservatives they’re nasty and that even their own party calls them nasty”.

Tebbit said any nastiness in the party “was among the group of people who pulled down Margaret Thatcher and left the party utterly rudderless for some time”.

Kenneth Clarke, the former leadership contender and Tory grandee, said: “[May] really did go on about the need to change the party and get more women. For me that’s slightly unnecessary.”

May came into conflict with Duncan Smith and his allies during the later stages of his Conservative leadership.

In February 2003, Duncan Smith sacked Tory chief executive Mark MacGregor and head of policy Rick Nye, who were prominent supporters of Portillo. MacGregor had been credited with drafting May’s “nasty party” speech.

At the time, Tebbit criticised MacGregor as a “spotty youth”.

May was only belatedly informed of Duncan Smith’s plan – which was seen as a signal that the Conservatives would drop the ‘modernisation’ agenda and lurch to the right.

Portillo himself responded: “Mark MacGregor and Rick Nye are two of the most talented people that the party has ever employed and their achievements will be badly missed.”

John Bercow, the Conservative MP for Buckingham, claimed that “the modernising agenda has been at best, sidelined and at worst, lost”. The future speaker had resigned from the shadow cabinet in November 2002 over Duncan Smith’s opposition to allowing unmarried couples to adopt children.

Barry Legg, the Thatcherite co-founder of Conservative Way Forward, was appointed as both MacGregor’s successor and Duncan Smith’s chief of staff. The move was deeply controversial; it was subsequently reported that Legg had held “at least three” exploratory meetings with UK Independence Party (UKIP) figures about a possible defection.

Legg left his roles in May 2003, just 79 days after taking them up. He reportedly secured a £160,000 severance package.

His appointment in February was followed by reports in the Guardian and Daily Telegraph, suggesting Duncan Smith also wanted to sack May. John Redwood, the longstanding Thatcherite, was touted as a possible successor.

Later in 2003, following months of speculation about his position – and an inquiry into allegations that he had paid his wife from parliamentary funds – Duncan Smith faced a vote of no confidence from his own MPs.

On 29 October 2003, having lost the confidence ballot by 90 votes to 75, Duncan Smith resigned. He was replaced by Howard.

After the 2005 general election and Howard’s resignation, the Conservative Party elected Cameron as its new leader on a platform of modernisation.

***

May’s 2002 address has been seen as a milestone in the party’s long road back to power, delivered at a nadir in Tory fortunes after a second consecutive general election defeat.

May co-founded Women2Win in 2005, a mentoring and advocacy group aimed at increasing the number of Conservative women MPs. At the time of its founding, there were 17 female Conservative MPs (around 9% of the parliamentary party). After the 2019 election, this had risen to 87 (around 24%).

David Cameron, in his famous speech to Conservative Party conference in October 2005, effectively echoed many of May’s arguments. His well-received, noteless call for a “modern, compassionate conservatism” ultimately propelled him to the Tory leadership.

May was a prominent supporter of Cameron’s bid in 2005 and went on to serve in his shadow cabinet. She was appointed home secretary in 2010, a position she held until her elevation as prime minister six years later.

In her first speech as PM, May said she wanted to lead a government that worked for everyone rather than being “driven by the interests of the privileged few”.

May famously identified seven “burning injustices” which she vowed to confront. “If you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others”, she declared on the steps of Downing Street.

“If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white.

“If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university.

“If you’re at a state school, you’re less likely to reach the top professions than if you’re educated privately.

“If you’re a woman, you will earn less than a man.

“If you suffer from mental health problems, there’s not enough help to hand.

“If you’re young, you’ll find it harder than ever before to own your own home.”

May added: “We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives. When we take the big calls, we’ll think not of the powerful, but you. When we pass new laws, we’ll listen not to the mighty but to you.”

Despite this famous appeal, the “nasty party” label is still referenced by opponents of the Conservative Party; indeed, the allegedly unfulfilled promise of May’s 2002 speech was regularly cited during her tenure as PM.

In her last session as prime minister’s questions in July 2019, May said she was proud to “have played my part in getting more women MPs in this House.”

She added: “I came here in 1997 as one of only 13 Conservative women – indeed, one Labour member of parliament approached me to encourage me to sign a private member’s bill list because he assumed that, as a woman, I must have been a Labour member of parliament.

“I am also proud to have played my part in getting more women MPs in this House. I am sure that among the women in this House today there is a future prime minister – perhaps more than one.