the unionist party was the only party ever to have achieved an outright majority of scottish votes at any general election, in 1951 (they only won a majority if the votes if their national liberal and liberal unionist allies are included). the unionist party was allied with the uk conservative party until 1965, when the scottish conservative and unionist party was formed. the conservatives then entered a long-term decline in scotland, culminating in their failure to win any scottish seats in the 1997 uk election. at the four subsequent uk elections (2001, 2005, 2010 and 2015) the conservatives won only one scottish seat. the party enjoyed a revival of fortunes in the 2016 scottish parliament election, winning 31 seats and finishing in second place. the conservatives are a centre-right party.