Sir Keith Joseph entered the House of Commons in February 1956 as a representative of a Conservative Party in transition. Joseph's colleagues on the Conservative back-benches bore a similar profile to their pre-war counterparts, with a large contingent from landed families and the world of big business. Yet things were slowly changing. The post-war reforms recommended by the Maxwell Fyfe committee had reduced the financial contributions which had been demanded from most parliamentary candidates. While the immediate impact of this change can be exaggerated – in Joseph's day only two Tory MPs could be described as “working class” – at least the party had recognised in principle that it should spread its social net more widely to refresh its stock of talent. In this context Joseph himself belonged both to the past and to the future. His business background, the paternalistic activities of his family, and his education fitted him into the old mould. But his religion, his apparent lack of any sympathy for the “landed interest”, and his meritocratic outlook encouraged commentators to regard him as one of a new breed of Tories. In this respect, as in so many others, Joseph was a somewhat ambiguous figure.

Despite its hard-nosed image from inter-war days there was no need for the Conservative Party to engage in a radical reappraisal of priorities to accept the thinking behind Labour's welfare reforms. In social affairs there was substantial continuity between the Churchill coalition and the Attlee government.