ToryDiary discusses "Red Toryism" as espoused by the Director of the Progressive Conservatism Project at Demos, Philip Blond. It will be no surprise to you that I personally disagree with several of its apparent tenets, some of which appear very distant from anything we are used to thinking of as "Conservative". It is easy to see the whole project as a bizarre mess into which David Cameron should not have allowed himself to be dragged. That is, for example, the view of Iain Martin. But I think dismissing this Red Tory approach out of hand would be an error.
I have argued before that I believe we have (through our mistaken support for the ending of Private Capitalism in the bailouts last September and October in the US and UK) ushered in a new era of State Capitalism (which we can, perpetuating a solecism, term a "Socialist Settlement" for convenience). I have set out Five Conservative Principles that I think particularly relevant to this new era. To remind you, these were:
- Personal love and justice vs collective love and fairness
- State religion as the inspirer of morality
- Pragmatism and compromise
- The strength, integrity and personal substantiality of our leaders
- The quality of our nation
I suspect that the Red Tories would find Conservatism modelled along these lines rather to their taste. One does not have to agree with the Red Tory agenda to believe that it is worthwhile for Cameron to investigate whether there is something valuable that its believers may have to offer us.
