To be fair to the Tories Britain became much less industrialised and a worse place to be working class under Labour, who were actually elected under the banner that they were supposed to be 'for' the working classes.
Eh? They won the 1996 election on the premise that they weren't a working-class party anymore and were now pursuing Thatcherism-lite.
They would never have gained the support of the Mail and Murdoch otherwise.
I would've thought the introduction of a National Minimum Wage (which the Tories fought to the death) and the New Deal for the Unemployed (ditto) were progressive measures. Neither were perfect but they were better than living in the third world under Major, which was a reality for the more disadvantaged back then.