Examples include party leaders Bonar Law (1911–1921 and 1922–1923) and Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1963–1965), both of whom served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Before this, the Tory party in Scotland had never achieved parity with the dominant Whig and Scottish Liberal ascendancy since the election reforms of 1832.

[2] The party built up significant working-class support by emphasising the connection between the Union, the Empire, and the fate of local industry.

[1] This distinctively Scottish appeal was further strengthened when combined with opposition to the Labour Party's post-war nationalisation programme, which centralised control (in London) of former Scottish-owned businesses and council-run services.

This projected an image of flexibility and pragmatism when they expressed their support for the synthesis of "two fundamental ideas of human individuality and of service to others and to the community.

Suffering a setback in 1929, they reasserted themselves at the 1931 general election during an electoral backlash against the Labour Party that resulted in the creation of the National Government.

At the subsequent Conservative election victory of 1951, an equal number of Labour and Unionist MPs were returned from Scotland, 35, with Jo Grimond of the Liberal Party retaining the Orkney and Shetland seat.

These, and further reforms in 1977, saw the Scottish Conservatives transformed into a regional unit, with its personnel, finances, and political offices under the control of the party leadership in London.

Combined with the new name, this helped turn previous Unionist voters to the Labour Party and the SNP, which advanced considerably at the two general elections of February and October 1974.

The relations between the Scottish Conservatives with the largely working-class Orange Order also became problematic because of the perceived aristocratic connection of the former, but it was The Troubles in Northern Ireland that created more concrete problems.

However, the ramifications of this perception also led to the Scottish Conservative Party downplaying and ignoring past associations, which further widened the gap with the Orange Order.