The Strange Death of Tory England

The self-destruction of British conservatism by New Right ideology and policies illustrates a central neoliberal (that is, Thatcherite) theme—the importance of unintended consequences in social, economic, and political life. In sweeping away the postwar settlement that all major parties endorsed for a generation, Thatcherism demolished the social and economic base on which conservatism in Britain stood and created the conditions for a prolonged period of Labor hegemony. Neoliberal Conservative policy in Britain has damaged the ethos of institutions such as the Civil Service and the National Health Service by remodeling them on contractualist and managerialist lines. In addition to squandering a large part of Britain’s heritage of civilized institutions, this project of refashioning social life on a primitive model of market exchange has speeded the delegitimation of the monarchy and the Church of England. Further, by stripping democratic local government in Britain of most of its powers and building up the unaccountable institutions of the Quango state—the apparatus of “quasi-governmental” committees appointed by central government to oversee the operation of the newly marketized public services—the Cons...