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Drawing on the work of Ralph Miliband, Burton-Cartledge argues that the Conservatives are a ruling class party who faithfully represent capitalism. But this isn't to be understood in a crude fashion where the party constantly furthering the interests of capital - rather, the Conservatives are presented as making 'socially situated' decisions reflecting their own circles and internal pressures, acting to pursue the perceived interests of capital.

Crucial to Falling Down's narrative is the shift from the paternalist one-nation Tory Party of the post-war consensus to the party's reconfiguration as a Thatcherite vanguard engaged in open class warfare and punitive, divide-and-rule tactics. This 'two-nation' conservatism of Thatcher is described as 'opposing a nation of law-abiding, decent people to a minority of malcontents and troublemakers.' While there are risks in overstating the scale of this shift in Conservative ideology, this does represent a very real move from a paternalist, consensus politics to the authoritarianism and acquisitive individualism of Thatcher and beyond.

Central to the book's thesis of the Tory Party's evolution and direction is Burton-Cartledge's account of class. By exploring the changing and 'contradictory' class position of the UK, the author charts the evolving political landscape of the country. As Laurie Macfarlane has argued, widened asset ownership was used to 'unmake' the British working class and splinter people's sense of solidarity - reminding us of Thatcher's famous claim that the 'object' was 'to change the soul'. Mass homeownership and the widening of pension and share ownership allowed for the fundamental logic of Thatcherism to become a social norm.

Though the Thatcher era may have been the decisive moment for the transformation of class, the author rightly emphasises that the roots of these changes trace back to at least the 1940s. Though some argue that neoliberalism won the battle and was subsequently used to reshape society, there are reasons to cast doubts on this narrative.

Instead, Burton-Cartledge points to the rise of asset ownership since the war, and the way in which these economic changes steadily eroded the social foundations of the post-war welfare state. Here, the contradictions in the economic regime of the mid-century eventually brought on its own demise. However, rather than a never-ending trend toward growing asset ownership and private affluence, a stark divide has emerged between a generation of asset owners and a generation locked out of these same privileges.

Burton-Cartledge's account of the Thatcher era is a useful counter to narratives that stress economic liberalism was at the heart of the Conservative's programme.

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