The Conservative Dictionary
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Civilisation depends upon the moral character of adult citizens but modern society is exposing children to ‘adult influences’ whilst bigger and bigger government is facilitating infantile behaviour amongst many adults.
The New Labour project has dominated British politics in the same way that Margaret Thatcher dominated her times. Unlike Thatcherism, however, and with the exception of the war on terror, Blairism will be remembered for winning elections rather than transforming Britain.
Some government programmes survive in order to benefit the people employed to administer them – rather than those vulnerable people they were once intended to rescue.
Democracies where success depends upon political parties' careful subservience to measured public opinion.
How can a smaller working age population care for a larger and larger elderly population?
From Essex Man to Do-It-All woman, each election's political stereotypes remind us of each period's political precoccupations.
Political messages that stir targeted sets of voters without unsettling others.
The natural tendency of every human institution is to decay.
Modern Britain is run by a left-leaning, liberal establishment of civil servants, lawyers and journalists.
Some people are Euro-sceptical because of the European Union's corruption and weak economic performance; the Euro-scepticism of others is rooted in a principled objection to nation states losing yet more sovereign powers.
The kind of diversity that a political party or organisation achieves when it involves people of different sexualities or ethnic backgrounds but without including people with diverse social and professional life experiences.
Fairness involves fairness to the providers of help and fairness to those in need of help.
Britain’s first-past-the-post system tends to elect strong governments on a minority of votes cast.
A parliamentary vote in which MPs and peers are free to vote according to their own conscience.
Despite miserable records of failure some people and institutions retain public affection because of their grandstanding intentions.
Many Tory ideas have been implemented by a kleptomaniac Labour government.
Through innovative interpretation of laws and constitutions, activist judges effectively create new rights – unilaterally adopting the functions of elected officials. Judicial activism swaps the rule of law for the rule of lawyers.
The liberal left believes in bigger national and supranational government.
The Liberati are privileged folk who want their sexual or drug-abusing freedoms expanded regardless of the cost for vulnerable members of society.
Conservatives believe in devolution to local politicians and, wherever possible, to the most people-sized of institutions.
Moral issues like gay marriage played a decisive role in America's 2004 presidential election. Britain's voters are less energised by the same sort of issues but form a different kind of 'moral majority'.
Present day culture’s destructive love of novelty and change for their own sake.
'Outputs' are automatic products of policy changes. 'Outcomes' may have been produced by a particular policy change but may reflect other unrelated factors.
Love of country is fundamental to all conservatism.
Conservatives should not develop inflexible affections or dislikes for people, institutions and nations that might cloud an understanding of their permanent interests.
Effective government ministers will deploy the full arsenal of policy instruments available to them.
The bureaucratisation of Britain has been fronted by the 60,000 people appointed to Britain’s 529 quangos.
A society unwilling to take risks will never make progress.
For left-wing politicians society is synonymous with government. For conservatives, however, society is the rich diversity of civilising institutions that populate the space between the individual and the state.
The idea that decision-making powers should be as close as possible to the people affected by those decisions.
Some UK MPs serve 51,000 voters and some over 100,000.
Virtues - like courage, ambition and creativity - that drive a society towards wealth creation and its own defence.
The limited powers of Britain's 'constitutional monarchy' are granted by the 'sovereign' democratically-elected Houses of Parliament.
Reductions in the supply of government services will only be temporary if the demand for those services has never been tackled.
The tendency to follow rather than lead public opinion.
Many national institutions rightly work hard to include women or people of different racial backgrounds in their workforces. Government grantmakers do something similar in their funding decisions. Inclusion of people of different worldviews and religions is often neglected, however, and a charitable or media establishment emerges that does not represent the real breadth of Britain.
The increasing importance of money in politics is one of a number of forces that are protecting the status of incumbent politicians.
Members of Parliament are not 'whipped' on issues like abortion and euthanasia..
Richer voters can afford to vote for political parties that embrace environmental or other policies that may reduce their economic wealth.
Britain depends upon other nations for much of its food, energy and military needs.
A nasty side of politics that plays the person rather than the ball.
Politics should be about substantial issues of policy and direction. Instead much modern politics is personality-driven. Much of the commentariat treat politics as a sport - spending disproportionate time discussing 'who is up' and 'who is down'.
Left-of-centre coalitions look increasingly likely to fracture. The high tax, high regulation environmentalism of left-wing elites conflicts with the economic interests of many blue collar workers. The morally conservative values of Labour's heartland voters are also at odds with those of the left establishment's metropolitan elites.
When ministers never get the time to become masters of their departments, it is the civil servants who end up running things. Repeated changes of minister also blur lines of accountability for particular initiatives.
Gordon Brown, John Reid, Charles Kennedy, Andrew Marr, Jim Naughtie, Kirsty Wark... is Britain run by Scots?
The influential members of constituency political parties that determine who represents 'safe' parliamentary seats.
Conservatives believe that the best institutions operate on a human, people-sized scale.
Milton Friedman documented the many forces that stop ineffective government programmes from being closed down.