My weekly column today is reflective of the week's political events. This week I'm thinking of the conservative MPs who rebelled against their own party and then "lost the whip", followed by Amber Rudd's decision to resign both from the cabinet and the whip.
The left and media have made a big thing about this with them bemoaning the loss of "one nation" conservatives . This assumes that anyone on the left of the conservative party are one nation conservative , especially as often they will self identify as such. The issue here is twofold. First many of these conservatives (especially of the David Cameron era) are best described as economic and social liberals , rather than conservatives, liberal here meaning classical liberalism of the John Stuart Mill type. If this is difficult to grasp I will give two policies that fit the ideology well : gay marriage (social liberalism) and austerity (economic liberalism).
The second issue is that there is another source of left conservatism (confusingly in the grand scheme the centre right of politics) and that is Joseph Chamberlain. Chamberlain started off as a radical liberal and mayor of Birmingham in the 1870s, wanting social and economic reforms . He eventually split the liberal party over Irish home rule, to become a liberal unionist and supported the conservatives , introducing many domestic reforms at home , but also pursuing imperial expansion abroad ( trying and failing to enter and alliance with Wilhelmine Germany) .
Eventually the liberal unionists and the aristocratic Whigs (more on them later) formally merged with the conservative party to form the conservative and unionist party we have today. The reason why centre right conservative people look towards the one nation tradition is because after Southern Ireland stopped being part of the UK , the unionist element was less emphasized than the conservative part of the brand. Only with the rise of Welsh and Scottish nationalism has the unionist part been revived.
But what of one nation conservatism?
This branch of conservative ideology was the brainchild of one man: Benjamin Disraeli. Disraeli is, as of now, the first and only Jewish Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was Sephardic , but converted to Anglicanism, as in those days Jews by religion could not enter parliament, although he was still confronted by causal antisemitism as was "normal" in 19th century Europe, he first made a career as being a novelist as well as politician . To my mind this ability to get to the top, despite antisemitism, makes him all the more impressive as a politician and as person.
Disraeli had a daunting task . In 1846 the conservative party has been split down the middle, over the repeal of the Corn laws . For the next 30 years , with a few years exception, the party was out of power. The government of the day tended to be a coalition of ex conservatives, such as William Gladstone , the aristocratic Whigs and middle-class liberal radicals , such as John Bright as well as a voting base of non conformist Quakers, Evangelical , Methodist and Baptist Christianity. The Whigs, small in number, tended to dominate this coalition , which would become the Liberal party, and were led by Lord Palmerston. The mid 19th century Liberal party would be known for free trade, political reform and a robust imperial and foreign policy.
Disraeli had an answer to this and it was one nation conservatism. This came from one of his books , Sybil, which decried the consequences of the industrial revolution wherein in Disraeli's view Britain was divided into the rich and poor i.e. two nations , rather than one.
Disraeli was not some form of radical democrat. In fact his view came from a very particular 19th century English paternalism or nobless oblige , in which the aristocracy and the middle-class had a duty of care to those beneath them( Disraeli and his family were wealthy Sephardic merchants ) The idea wasn't wholly romantic : sometimes it would be necessary to compromise to stop the tide of socialist revolution.
Disraeli's manifesto or policy program was to "dish the Whigs" .The Liberal party, despite its radical sections had become wary of any reforms, after Palmerston died Glastone took a different direction in foreign policy preferring isolation, international conferences and meditation to settle disputes, often to what was seen to be British humiliation, and so Disraeli saw his opportunity by emphasising what was in effect a populist manifesto: political , economic, social domestic reforms at home and an aggressive imperial policy abroad and to emphasise Britain's imperial power .In Europe he wouldn't remain isolated and would emphasise British national interest , by using the Royal Navy if necessary.
Hence the great extension of the franchise, making Queen Victoria Empress of India, buying the Suez canal, several domestic reforms and his role at the Congress of Vienna: he also had the support of drinkers who reacted against the temperance tendency of the Protestant Christians within the Liberal party , to the extent Gladstone attributed his electoral defeat as being down to "a torrent of gin and beer". As one contemporary said of Disraeli domestic reforms " The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty." In 1883 the primrose league was founded in order to continue Disraelian concepts. In fact the symbol of conservatism should be a primrose , as much as the old torch or the ridiculous Cameron tree with a squiggle.
There are several things we can get from Disraeli's concept of one nation conservatism. Firstly it was populist. Secondly it emphasised patriotism . Thirdly it wouldn't have any truck was the Liberal / Gladstone "congress " (proto EU) view of Europe. Not even Trump has made himself Emperor of Puerto Rico, let alone an entire half continent.
In short I cannot see how today's conservative rebels can identify as one nation conservative. I doubt Disraeli would be a remainer. In fact I'd say Boris is more likely to be a one nation conservative in the traditional sense of the word. In fact today's conservative rebels aren't conservatives of any type. They are , as said above, economic and social liberals. They don't care about anything other than Europe or SW1. Seeking approval or praise from the guardian is the last place a conservative should be looking towards.
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