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British neoconservatism is an ideology that is a strong proponent of foreign intervention in theArab world and beyond, supports the role of the private sector in military contracts and is in favour of an alliance with Israel. It shares a world view with itsAmerican counterpart regarding threats and opportunities.
There is a suspicion in British public life of 'philosophy', which has meant that politicians in the UK rarely refer to any overarching theories. InThe Centre-left and New Right Divide?: Political Philosophy and Aspects of UK Social Policy in the Era of the welfare State, for example,[1] Steven Smith argues that academic explanations of the resilience of the welfare state in the face of the New Right reforms have focused on the social, political and economic processes that tend to bolster the activities of state welfare provision, rather than the underlying philosophies.
Spinwatch describesDouglas Murray as the 'enfant terrible' of British neoconservatism. Murray is typical of the movement in arguing that the 'innate flaws of liberal democracy' leave Europe vulnerable to exploitation and domination by Islamic Fundamentalists; and that strong armed forces prepared to go to war are essential to the survival of what he sees asConservative values. As head of theCentre for Social Cohesion his ideas have been influential in some NATO circles. Philosophically, he claims to be influenced by the authoritarianism ofLeo Strauss, and the concept ofdhimmitude as it was put forward byBat Ye'or.[2]Bat Ye'or
Murray's keynote book,Neoconservatism: Why We Need It was published by theSocial Affairs Unit in 2005. An inspiration for Murray, who he frequently praises in the book, is the academic philosopher,Roger Scruton, who was part of a group of right-wing Cambridge University intellectuals under the influence ofMaurice Cowling, an historian. In 1978 Cowling helped found the Salisbury Group[3] ofconservative thinkers (named after the earlier British Prime Minister). In the same year Cowling publishedConservative Essays which states:
"If there is a class war - and there is - it is important that it should be handled with subtlety and skill. [...] It is not freedom that Conservatives want; what they want is the sort of freedom that will maintain existing inequalities or restore lost ones".[4]
The original Cambridge group however also included John Vincent, another historian, and Edward Norman, a theologian and historian. As Scruton says in his memoirsGentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life,[5] it influenced a new generation of neo-con thinkers includingCharles Moore, former editor ofThe Daily Telegraph, and former Chief RabbiJonathan Sacks. Scruton himself offers the French post-war PresidentCharles De Gaulle as a model because the General defined the French nation in terms of its high culture, while detesting the philosopherMichel Foucault, who he says was 'one of the gurus' of his students, for shallow relativism and for teaching that `truth' requires inverted commas.
British neoconservatism has also been directly influenced by its US counterpart. One example is theHenry Jackson Society, founded in Cambridge in 2005, and named after SenatorHenry 'Scoop' Jackson, a key influence on US neoconservatism.[6]
The list includes public people identified as personally neoconservative.
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