David Cameron could claim to be a Conservative, pure and simple. Often he adopts other titles, like liberal or progressive Conservative. But recently he has unwittingly adopted a new label: the confused social democrat. Cameron’s November 2009 Hugo Young lecture established inequality as a standard by which Conservatives wants to be judged—specifically the gap between the incomes of the poorest and middle England, not just the very poorest and the rich.
The lecture acted, in part, to correct the cartoonish depiction of the state that featured in Cameron’s address to the Conservative party conference in October 2009. He finally acknowledged the role of legislation in social progress—easy enough, as there are good examples of this during Tory governments, like the Factory Acts of 1819 and 1844. He also intriguingly refined his critique of the state. Where once he had been ideological in his criticism—the state cannot help because it is the problem—he was now historical: during the 1960s, Cameron claimed, the state just ceased helping. More important, however, was the desire to move his thinking further towards the left, saying: “we must use the state to remake society.” The only Miliband who disagrees with that is Ralph.
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[...] Director Richard Reeves and Chair of Trustees Philip Collins have used their sharp pens in Prospect to criticise David Cameron’s approach to tackling inequality. In the current edition, out [...]