National Conservatism: Culture Wars, Class War & Racism
The National Conservatism Conference held this week in London was a gathering of hard to far right Tories. Sponsored by the US based Edmund Burke Foundation- which organises similar events elsewhere in the world- its heard from Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees Mogg, Michael Gove, Orban cheerleader and ex-revolutionary Communist Frank Furedi and Islamophobe Douglas Murray.
According to Melanie Philips (also a speaker) in the Times (16th May) it was nothing to do with fascism. Then again she’s not known affectionately as Mad Mel for nothing.
The Spectator recently ran an article speculating on how many would have collaborated with the Nazis if they had invaded Britain. Many at this conference are the modern day equivalent. Not fascists but they could co-exist with fascism.
Partly the Conference is about promoting Tory Culture Wars often oddly. Danny Kruger who is apparently a Tory MP attacked the dystopian John Lennon. Miriam Cates, also allegedly a Tory MP managed to fit in anti-Semitism and the Great Replacement theory. She is a Red Wall MP so her future, not in Parliament, is assured.
The Conference was also about who will lead the Tories after the Election. If Sunak wins, he will. Few at this conference think he will so it was about positioning of the right to lead- which was what Suella Braverman’s speech was all about.
The Conference is also about promoting racism because it’s a gathering of hard right Tories, so why wouldn’t they.
However underneath all this there is an undercurrent of a more significant debate, (not that the racism isn’t significant for those on the receiving end of it) which Andrew Gamble has written about in the New Statesman. Which is the way ahead for British capitalism?
Bashing workers and the less well-off obviously. But how far should tax cuts go? How small should the State be? What level of ‘legal migration’ is required to keep profits going? There is not agreement on the Tory right about these matters which makes it unfortunate at best that Labour is not promoting a robust and radical alternative.
That in part is why this conference has got so much coverage
Is it last orders for the Tory Party? Katy Balls in the Guardian (26th May)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/party-skip-fire-tory-mps-had-it-team-johnson
In the 100 years since the first Labour Government took office in January 1924 Labour has been in Government for just 37 years.The Tories have been a very successful election winning party. Yet in 1997 they were reduced to165 seats (Labour 418. LibDems 46). With 10% of Tory MPs standing down at the next election another defeat of this scale may beckon. So also may 1992 when Labour lost under Kinnock. Can Labour aspire to replace the Tories as the natural party of Government? What does that mean and why did Blair fail to do it after 1997? There are questions of whether the Tories remain the representatives of capital or whether Labour is now positioning itself in this space, at least in part
Analysis and work in progress
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