View source for Wets and dries

{{Short description|Factions in the British Conservative Party}}
{{Redirect2|Wets|dries|supporters and opponents of prohibition|Prohibition in the United States|the name|Dries (given name)}}
{{Thatcherism|organisations}}

'''Wets''' and '''dries''' are [[Politics of the United Kingdom|British political]] terms that refer to opposing factions within the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]].<!-- note to editors: please be aware not to confuse the colloquial American use of the term "liberal" with the global and/or political science use of the term. It is an error of terminology to describe the more left wing side of the UK Tory party of the 1980s as "liberal". The right wing of the Tory party at the time, the radical Thatcherites, were pursuing economic liberalism; it is the "dries" that were the right wing liberals, not the moderate "wets". 

"left wing" (when used relatively) and to some extent "moderate" are appropriate terms.  --> The terms originated in the 1980s during the premiership of [[Margaret Thatcher]]: those who opposed some of Thatcher's more [[Thatcherism|hard-line policies]] were often referred to by their opponents as "wets"; in response, supporters of Thatcher were referred to as "dries".

==Etymology==
In British slang, "wet" meant weak, "inept, ineffectual, effete".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/227970|title=Oxford English Dictionary|website=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>  Within the political context, the term was used by Thatcher's supporters as both as a noun and as an adjective to characterise people or policies which Thatcher would have considered weak or "wet". Thatcher coined the usage in 1979–80, with the meaning of feeble, lacking hardness, or willing to compromise with the [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|unions]].{{sfn|Safire|2008|p=802}} The label was especially applied to senior members of Thatcher's government who were nevertheless outside her inner circle and who expressed opposition to her strict [[monetarism|monetarist]] policies, and her cuts to public spending.{{sfn|Young|1989|pp=198–202}}

==History==
[[Hugo Young]] identifies the most important "inner" wets as [[Jim Prior]], [[Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester|Peter Walker]], and [[Ian Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar|Sir Ian Gilmour]], as well as [[Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington|Lord Carrington]] and [[Norman St John-Stevas]]. The "outer" wets were more fragmented and less visible. They included [[Francis Pym]], [[Michael Heseltine]] and [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|Lord Hailsham]].{{sfn|Young|1989|pp=199–200}}

Gilmour was the most outspoken, delivering a lecture at Cambridge in February 1980 where he argued:  "In the Conservative view, [[economic liberalism]] à la [[Friedrich Hayek|Professor Hayek]], because of its starkness and its failure to create a sense of community, is not a safeguard of political freedom but a threat to it."{{sfn|Young|1989|p=200}}

In the 1980s, [[Nicholas Scott#1975-1990|Nick's Diner]] was started.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&dq=nicks+Diner+conservative+wets&pg=PA60 |title = Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century|isbn = 9780826458148|last1 = Barberis|first1 = Peter|last2 = McHugh|first2 = John|last3 = Tyldesley|first3 = Mike|date = January 2000| publisher=A&C Black }}</ref> Named in honour of [[Nicholas Scott]], at the time a rising star of the anti-Thatcher wing of the Party, it served as a convivial meeting ground for wet MPs.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-nicholas-scott-14227.html | title=Sir Nicholas Scott| website=[[Independent.co.uk]]| date=2005-01-10}}</ref>

In retaliation to being labelled as "wet", Thatcher's opponents within the party began referring to her supporters as the "dries".<ref name="Biffen_Obit_BBC">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6945600.stm|title=Obituary: Lord Biffen|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=2007-08-14|access-date=2012-03-20}}</ref> 
Policies which came to be labelled as "dry" included foremostly reducing public spending, cutting taxes, raising interest rates, tightly controlling the money supply, and reducing the regulatory power of the state – all policies which were closely associated with Thatcher.

Outside of the Parliamentary Conservative Party, the youth sections of the Party saw increasingly bitter factional battles between "wets" and "dries". The [[Young Conservatives (UK)|Young Conservatives]] wing of the party remained in the hands of a strong "wet" and [[One-nation conservatism|One Nation]] ([[Tory Reform Group]]) faction until 1989, whilst the [[Federation of Conservative Students]] remained in the hands of an alliance of libertarian and [[Monday Club]] supporters.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

=== Australia ===
A similar factional identification exists in the [[Liberal Party of Australia]], which is also a centre-right party like the Tories. The Australian Liberal Party also has a similar split, but in terms of social policy between right-wing social conservatives and [[Moderates (Liberal Party of Australia)|socially progressive]] Liberals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thewest.com.au/politics/turnbull-prays-for-broad-liberal-church-ng-s-1747853|title=Turnbull prays for broad Liberal church|date=July 12, 2017|website=The West Australian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Marxist analysis of the Liberal Party |url=http://redflag.org.au/index.php/node/6753 |website=Red Flag}}</ref>

==Notable parliamentary members==
{{Conservatism UK}}
===Wets===
<!-- Add only referenced individuals -->
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Anthony Barber]]
* [[Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington|Lord Carrington]]
* [[Kenneth Clarke]]
* [[Stephen Dorrell]]
* [[Ian Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar|Sir Ian Gilmour]]<ref name="Gilmour">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7007648.stm|title=Former minister Lord Gilmour dies|publisher=BBC News|date=2007-09-21|access-date=2012-03-20}}</ref>
* [[Alan Haselhurst, Baron Haselhurst|Alan Haselhurst]]
* [[Edward Heath]]
* [[Michael Heseltine]]
* [[David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral|David Hunt]]
* [[Douglas Hurd]]
* [[David Knox (politician)|David Knox]]
* [[Sir Anthony Meyer, 3rd Baronet|Sir Anthony Meyer]]
* [[Jim Prior]]
* [[Francis Pym]]<ref name="Pym">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7283708.stm|title=Former foreign secretary Pym dies|publisher=BBC News|date=2008-03-07|access-date=2012-03-20}}</ref>
* [[Nicholas Scott]]<ref name="Scott">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4153953.stm|title=Obituary: Sir Nicholas Scott|publisher=BBC News|date=2005-01-07|access-date=2012-03-20}}</ref>
* [[Fred Silvester]]
* [[Norman St John-Stevas]]
* [[William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill|William Waldegrave]]
* [[Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester|Peter Walker]]
* [[George Young, Baron Young of Cookham|Sir George Young]]<ref name="Young">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2088980.stm|title=George Young|publisher=BBC News|date=2002-10-17|access-date=2012-03-20}}</ref>
{{div col end}}

===Dries===
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[John Biffen]]
* [[Leon Brittan]]
* [[Michael Brown (British politician)|Michael Brown]]
* [[Rhodes Boyson]]
* [[Alan Clark]]
* [[Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean|Michael Forsyth]]
* [[Ian Gow]]
* [[Neil Hamilton (politician)|Neil Hamilton]]
* [[Michael Howard]]
* [[Gerald Howarth]]
* [[Geoffrey Howe]]
* [[Keith Joseph]]<ref name="Hennessy">{{Cite book |last=Hennessy |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Hennessy |title=The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945 |date=2001-10-05 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=409}}</ref>
* [[Nigel Lawson]]
* [[Peter Lilley]]
* [[Francis Maude]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/francis-maude-the-conservative-party-s-problem-is-us-not-labour-our-destiny-is-in-our-hands-490834.html|title=Francis Maude: 'The Conservative Party's problem is us, not Labour. Our destiny is in our hands', quote "In the old terms of wet/dry, I was emphatically a dry."|publisher=The Independent|date=2005-05-16|access-date=2025-01-10}}</ref>
* [[John Nott]]<ref name="Hennessy" />
* [[Cecil Parkinson]]
* [[Michael Portillo]]
* [[John Redwood]]
* [[Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale|Nicholas Ridley]]
* [[Norman Tebbit]]
* [[Margaret Thatcher]]
* [[David Young, Baron Young of Graffham|David Young]]
{{div col end}}

==See also==
* [[Fundamentalists and gradualists]]
* [[List of ministers under Margaret Thatcher]]
* [[One-nation conservatism]]
* [[Red Tory]]
* [[Young Conservatives (UK)|Young Conservatives]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{citation
|last=Safire
|first=William
|author-link=William Safire
|title=Safire's Political Dictionary
|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]
|year=2008
|isbn=9780195343342
}}
* {{citation
|last=Young
|first=Hugo
|author-link=Hugo Young
|title=One of Us: A Biography of Mrs. Thatcher
|publisher=Pan
|year=1989
|isbn=9780330328418
}}

{{Margaret Thatcher}}
{{Portalbar|1980s|Politics|United Kingdom}}

[[Category:History of the Conservative Party (UK)]]
[[Category:Political terminology in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Margaret Thatcher]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) factions]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) terms]]