 | |
| Author | Paul Marshall andDavid Laws (editors) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Politics,liberalism |
| Publisher | Profile Books |
Publication date | 2 September 2004 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 302 |
| ISBN | 1-86197-797-2 |
| OCLC | 59265240 |
| Followed by | Britain After Blair – A Liberal Agenda[1] |
The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism is a book written by a group of prominent BritishLiberal Democratpoliticians and edited byDavid Laws andPaul Marshall in 2004. Three contributors later becameleaders of the Liberal Democrats:Nick Clegg,Vince Cable andEd Davey. Other contributors includeChris Huhne,Susan Kramer,Mark Oaten andSteve Webb. The book's central philosophy, and some of its ideas, are supported byLiberal Reform, an internal group of the Liberal Democrats.[2] It has been compared withThe Purple Book: A Progressive Future For Labour, published seven years later by senior members of the UK'sLabour Party, who were associated with the governments ofTony Blair andGordon Brown.[3]
The term Orange Bookers refers to those in the party who subscribe to the book's emphasis on greater personal choice and possible market solutions.
In the book, the group offersliberal solutions—often stressing the role of choice and competition—to several societal issues such aspublic healthcare,pensions,environment,globalization,social andagricultural policy,local government, theEuropean Union andprisons. It is usually seen as the mosteconomically liberal publication that the Liberal Democrats have produced in recent times.
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Orange Book liberalism is aclassical liberal ideology, mostly within the Liberal Democrats, which seeks to balance the four main strands of liberal thought—social liberalism,economic liberalism,cultural liberalism andpolitical liberalism.[4] Orange Book liberalism is represented within the Liberal Democrats by the pressure groupLiberal Reform.[citation needed]
"Orange Booker" is now a well-used term for identifying Liberal Democrats who adhere more strongly to economic and personal liberal principles, compared to those who more strongly identify withcentre-left beliefs such as members of theSocial Liberal Forum or theBeveridge Group.[citation needed] Many Orange Bookers were prominent figures in the 2010–2015 Conservative/Liberal Democratcoalition government, such as former Deputy Prime Minister SirNick Clegg andChris Huhne, former Energy Secretary, and current leader SirEd Davey.[citation needed] While the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the 2000s,Charles Kennedy is less associated with the Orange Book, and in turn the 2010–2015 Conservative/Liberal Democratcoalition government.
Six years following the book's publication, the Liberal Democrats joined with theConservatives to form acoalition government. Of the nine authors of the book who were elected MPs, one (Mark Oaten) resigned before the 2010 election, one (Chris Huhne) resigned in 2013 having been in the cabinet, and the remaining seven were all members of the government in 2015. Edward Stourton from theBBC radio showAnalysis argued that the Orange Book movement within the Liberal Democrats was important in the founding of the coalition government with the Conservatives. Conservative MPDavid Davis found a number of "areas of overlap" between Conservative policies and the views of the book authors.[5]
Historian and Labour politicianTristram Hunt said that theOrange Book debate was a revival of the debates in liberal circles between the classical liberalism ofWilliam Gladstone and politicians likeDavid Lloyd George.[6]
Richard Grayson, a member of the Social Liberal Forum, said that such Gladstonian liberalism was replaced in the early 20th century with a commitment to the welfare state because of the work ofThomas Hill Green,Leonard Hobhouse and the economistJohn A. Hobson; therefore,The Orange Book writers were seeking to overturn nearly a century of Liberal party history.[7]