The Colour of Politics: why are the Tories blue, the Labour Party red and the Liberal’s Orange

The colours associated with Political Parties hold significant meaning, symbolism and history for them, but as with any image trope these colours have evolved and changed over time. Most recently we have seen the two main political parties; the Conservatives and the Labour Party expand their colours with greens and purples, to update their respective images for today’s electorate. The Labour Party Traditionally, the Labour Party are associated with the colour red, as a reflection of ‘The Angry Workers’. This notion was conceived in the first French uprising in 1789 with the ideal of ‘the blood of the angry workers’ at its centre. In 1848 radical republicans and socialists first adopted a red flag in the French revolution. Throughout the 19th century British politics was dominated by the Tory Party and the Liberal Party. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives' main rivals. When Labour veered towards New Labour in the 1990s the party used purple rather than red as a background colour in its 1997 election broadcasts as it targeted central ground and Gordon Brown said "purple is the colour of passion". The Conservatives Recognised throughout the world as being assimilated with the colour blue, many right wing parties have adopted this hue. However, the story of how it came to be is slightly less interesting than their rivals! The Conservatives were born out of the Tory Party defined by Robert Peel’s ‘Tamworth Manifesto’ as a new 'Conservative' philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good. Traditionally, the Conservative colours were those of the Union Jack, but when the Labour Party took ownership of the red, the Conservatives were left with the blue. There is a suggestion that the Conservatives “settled on blue to hoover-up Liberal votes and build a broad social coalition (presumably against Labour ‘reds’)”. Recently the colour of ties worn by party leaders has been examined in the media. David Cameron caused a particular stir when seen wearing a green tie. Helen Venables, director of image consultants House of Colour, says it's all an act of political camaraderie. "They've mixed the colours of the two coalition parties – blue and yellow – and come up with green." For Chris Huhne, secretary of state for climate change, "green is obviously a portfolio colour", his spokesman explains. "The coalition agreement was also written in green." Claudia Guida, a buyer at Tie Rack, blames fashion. "Green ties have become much more popular. We've had to bring in a whole new range – including ties with little green animals. Politicians are just following a trend." Richard James, the tailor responsible for some of Cameron's ties, thinks it's a matter of evolution. "A few weeks ago they were wearing blue, then purple, then turquoise. Green marks a natural progression." The Liberal Democrats Formed in 1988 from a merger of the Liberal party and the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democrats have traditionally adopted orange as their party colour. The reasons behind this choice are fairly clear cut. There are two main strands of distinct ideology within the party, social liberals and the economic liberals, more commonly known as Orange Bookers. The Orange Book, to which the term refers, discusses the need for a more complete liberalism for the party, more fully supporting the liberalism as a whole including social liberalism. Choosing the colour Orange, for the Liberal Democrats, illustrates their ideology and the foundation of their political policies. Colour, therefore, is an incredibly important tool for political parties to portray their ideals and provide the connotations and semantics for their respective images. To discuss your colour assessment needs please get in touch with us today on 0116 284 7790 - See more at: https://www.verivide.com/article/the-colour-of-politics-why-are-the-tories-blue-the-labour-party-red-and-the-liberals-orange#sthash.XymOFXNZ.dpuf

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