There has been a lot of discussion over the last year about how much ground Cameron has been forced to give to the Liberal Democrat in order to maintain the coalition. So just how conservative is the Conservative party and how does it compare with the Thatcher period?
Conservatives do not start with a set of prescriptions about how the world should be but rather they react to how things actually appear to be. There are no hidden structures, no false consciousness and secret hegemonic forces; merely a particular set of circumstances which face us and which we have to try to comprehend. What matters is where we are and how we got here. Conservatives will therefore tend to look to the past and see society as a unified whole brought together by a sense of the common good. Conservatives do not rely on theory but on their understanding of human nature. They react to circumstance and put pragmatism before preconceived ideas.
If this is the case, then Mr Cameron might be seen as the quintessential Conservative, and might fit the bill rather better than past leaders, including Thatcher. This, of course, will be controversial, particularly in the light of Thatcher’s electoral success and the manner in which she is revered within the party. Many will suggest she is more of a model Conservative than Cameron; after all she managed to win elections. But might we not suggest that the way in which Cameron has responded to the hand dealt him by the electorate shows him to be the quintessential pragmatist?
The veneration of Thatcher, so understandable in the light of her electoral success, has altered the way in which Conservatism is seen by friends and enemies alike. Instead of pragmatism, contemporary Conservatism now contains a strong sense of ideological purity, where it is held that it is better to be right in opposition than compromised in office. But this is a not a particularly conservative idea, and it is not one shared by Cameron, or indeed Thatcher herself. Thatcher was a much more pragmatic politician than she is now often seen: she chose her battles wisely and avoided many issues where she felt she could not win.
But is there anything that directly links Cameron’s government to conservative thought? I would argue that the one thing that connects most fundamentally to the conservative tradition is the very thing that has caused Cameron so much trouble, namely the big society. In their election manifesto the Conservatives told us they wished to support the ‘little platoons’. This was a direct link to the greatest of all conservatives, Edmund Burke, and his idea that a society is sustained not by structures imposed by government from above, but by the bonds that are formed through our immediate local connections. As Burke says:
To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country and to mankind.
The Conservatives in their election manifesto argued for the big society rather than big government. They sought to create an active community instead of one dependent on government dictat and funding, where we looked to ourselves and those around us rather than to the state. This can most certainly be seen as an idea steeped in conservative values, even if the Conservatives have struggled to turn the idea into a concrete reality.
It is not just bad luck however that has led to this misunderstanding. Although the big society can be seen as a thoroughly Conservative idea, it has been presented in a rather misleading way. This is because instead of linking with existing voluntary activities, the government has portrayed the big society as an innovation: instead of connecting to a sense of traditional community involvement it has tried to suggest government can create communities.
It is here that we can question the government’s conservative credentials. Instead of looking backwards to conservative values the Cameron government has tried to portray itself as progressive, and to outbid Labour as the progressive force in British politics. However, the very idea of progress is inimical to conservatism, which seeks to hold onto tradition and to accept change only when it is necessary to preserve and not because it is a good thing in itself. Mr Cameron in this regard is showing more in common with New Labour than Conservatives of the past.
So where does this leave us? It is perhaps still early days, but we might say that the Cameron government is pursuing Conservative values by other means. The danger is that the means will outdo the ends.
Peter King is Reader in Social Thought at De Montfort University and is the author of The New Politics: Liberal Conservatism or the Same Old Tories? (Policy Press)
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