IDEAS AND POLITICS IN MODERN BRITAIN Also by J. C. D. Clark THE DYNAMICS OF CHANGE: The Crisis of the 1750s and English Party Systems ENGLISH SOCIETY 1688-1832: Ideology, Social Structure and Political Practice during the Ancien Regime REVOLUTION AND REBELLION: State and Society in England in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries THE MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES OF JAMES, 2ND EARL WALDEGRAVE, 1742--63 (editor) Ideas and Politics in Modern Britain

Edited by J. C. D. Clark

Foreword by John Patten, MP

M MACMILLAN Selection, editorial matter, Introduction and Chapter 2 © J. C. D. Clark 1990 Foreword © John Patten 1990 Chapter 1 © Nathan Glazer 1990 Chapter 3 © Roger Scruton 1990 Chapter 4 © John Gray 1990 Chapter 5 © S. W. Sykes 1990 Chapter 6 © The Macmillan Press Ltd 1990 Chapter 7 © Stephen Grover 1990 Chapter 8 © S. J.D. Green 1990 Chapter 9 © Adrian Wooldridge 1990 Chapter 10 © Patrick Minford 1990 Chapter 11 © Martin Holmes 1990 Chapter 12 © John Redwood 1990 Chapter 13 © John Stevenson 1990 Chapter 14 © Oliver Letwin 1990 Chapter 15 © Terence Kealey 1990

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First published 1990

Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Ideas and politics in modem Britain. 1. Great Britain. Politics I. Clark, J. C. D. (Jonathan Charles Douglas) 320.941 ISBN 978-0-333-51551-8 ISBN 978-1-349-20686-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-20686-5 Contents

Foreward by John Patten vii

Notes on the Contributors ix

Introduction 1 Jonathan Clark

PART I CONTEXTS: BRITAIN, EUROPE AND AMERICA 1 Ideas and Politics in Britain: an American View 13 Nathan Glazer 2 The History of Britain: a Composite State in a 32 Europe des Patries? Jonathan Clark

PART II POLITICAL THOUGHT: THE NATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL 3 In Defence of the Nation 53 Roger Scruton 4 Conservatism, Individualism and the Political 87 Thought of the New Right John Gray

PART III THEOLOGY: THE VISION OF MAN 5 Theology, Toleration and Conflict 103 S. W. Sykes

6 The Church and the Government 116 Raymond Plant 7 Theology, Philosophy and Politics 130 Stephen Grover v vi Contents

PART IV SOCIAL POLICY: MERITOCRACY AND RESPONSIBILITY 8 Needs, Entitlements and Obligations: Towards a 149 New Consensus on Welfare Policy S. J.D. Green 9 Education: From Boyle to Baker 161 Adrian Wooldridge

PART V ECONOMIC REVIVAL: SOME THEORETICAL PREMISES 10 Ideology and Pragmatism in Economic 191 Patrick Minford 11 The Collapse of Corporate State Keynesianism 203 Martin Holmes 12 Popular Capitalism and World Politics 213 John Redwood

PART VI PLANNING: HISTORY, THEORY AND PRACTICE 13 Has Planning a Future? 233 John Stevenson 14 Three Myths of Government 246 Oliver Letwin 15 Government Investment in Universities and Science 257 Terence Kealey Foreword

The political scenery in 1990, and the political agenda for the decade that follows, are both very different from those to be found in the mid-1970s, when Macmillan also published a set of brief essays, edited by Robert Blake and myself, entitled The Conservative Opportunity (1976). Then the concerns were not just of post-imperial decline after the loss of empire, but whether the country was governable and, if so, by whom. The first decade of Conservative Government under has resoundingly resolved that set of questions. We have one of the most strongly governed countries in the world, democracy combined with direction. The preoccupations of the 1980s were somewhat different to those of the 1970s, economic revival and a reduction in unemployment being to the forefront. They were combined with the laying of foundations for personal development by individuals in the families and communities in which they live; for example, by fundamental changes in education. Now, the 1990s have a new agenda, still dependent on economic success, but focusing on the creation of a country which is safer for its citizens, cleaner and better managed, contributing to environmental improvement not economic dereliction, helping individuals, families and communities to lead more contented and happier lives with healthier children and old people. Quality of life and quality of thought march together, or should, in the 1990s. But one thread runs through each of these phases and that is how public and private enterprise and public and private cooperation can fructify. This debate centres on the role and relations of the state and the community it both governs and serves. So this book ranges widely over these and related themes, and shows, above all else, both that conservatism flourishes in Oxford and that conservative thought continues to make the running as it has throughout the past two decades. It is the only contemporary political philosophy with real moral and practical coherence. No other political party or school of thought in this country has managed to produce a 'big idea', or set of 'big ideas' knitted together, to challenge it; the hegemony of the right of centre in political thought continues. This is clearly illustrated in what fifteen distinguished

vii viii Foreword writers and thinkers from a variety of points on the political spectrum contribute in this thought-provoking, entertaining, and sometimes authoritative set of essays. Political thought is more than alive and well in Oxford and its intellectual networks. Thinking across a range of disciplines - from history and economics to philosophy and theology - is evolving rapidly as account is taken of the ferment of ideas which emerged from the right of centre since the mid-1970s. The opportunity is seized in this volume to re-examine some familiar topics in the light of new thinking, new evidence and the passage of the last ten or fifteen years. Familiar arguments are applied to contemporary problems, and in some cases found wanting. Conversely, new arguments are measured against the yardstick of the old and found to be a bit less revolutionary than was first thought. How old, or new, for example, is economic liberalism? And do the arguments about church and state necessarily reflect reality? These are searching questions posed - and sometimes answered - in its pages. The analytical approaches brought to bear on the different topics by their groups of authors, itself a most interesting approach, vary widely. The philosophical and theological are interposed with the practical. For example, the intensely practical world of welfare policy is debated against the background of morality, as it should be, making for most stimulating argument. Nathan Glazer's 'American View' includes surprise at the vigour of contemporary Conservative thought even after ten years of putting that thought into practice (and, one might add, four years of prior soul-searching, debate and planning in opposition). I think this book remains just such a surprising contribution.

JOHN PATIEN Hertford College, Oxford Minister of State at the Home Office and MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Notes on the Contributors

Jonathan (J. C. D.) Clark has been a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, since 1986. Born in 1951, he was educated at Downing College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After returning to academic life from a career in the City, he was elected a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1977, and subsequently held a Research Fellowship of the Leverhulme Trust. As well as articles on eighteenth­ century British history in learned journals, he is the author of The Dynamics of Change (1982); English Society 1688-1832 (1985); Revolution and Rebellion (1986); and (as editor) The Memoirs and Speeches of James, 2nd Earl Waldegrave (1988). He is currently writing two books: on Britain's relations with America, and on England's relations with Scotland, Ireland and Wales, in the seven­ teenth and eighteenth centuries.

Nathan Glazer is Professor of Education and Sociology at Harvard University and co-editor of the quarterly The Public Interest. Born in 1923, he was educated in the public schools of New York City, the College of the City of New York, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Among his books are Beyond the Melting Pot (with Daniel P. Moynihan, 1963); Affirmative Discrimination (1975); Ethnic Dilemmas (1983); and The Limits of Social Policy (1988). He is presently working on a book on New York City.

John Gray has been a Fellow and Tutor in Politics, Exeter College, Oxford, since 1976. Born in 1948, he was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he took his DPhil, and was formerly lecturer in Government, Essex University, 1973--6. His books include Mill on Liberty: A Defence (1983), Hayek on Liberty (1986); Liberalism (1986); Limited Government: A Political Agenda (1988); and Liberal­ isms: Essays in Political Philosophy (1989). He is currently writing a study of post-totalitarianism, and a volume of essays on post­ liberalism.

S. J, D. Green has been a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, since 1982. He was born in 1959, and educated at Hampton Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a Brackenbury Scholar in Modern History. Subsequently, he was a research student in sociology at Nuffield College, Oxford. He is the author of numerous

ix X Notes on the Contributors articles on various aspects of political theory and public policy, and has in preparation a study of life and thought of R. H. Tawney.

Stephen Grover has been a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, since 1985. Born in 1959, he was educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Trinity College, Oxford. He is the author of articles on the philosophy of religion in learned journals, and is currently working on a study of philosophical atheism.

Martin Holmes is currently Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford. He was born in 1954 and educated at Bursar Street School, Cleethorpes and University College, Oxford, where he was awarded his doctorate in 1981 for a thesis on the economic and industrial policy reversals of the Heath Government. Dr Holmes is the author of many scholarly articles and three major books- Political Pressure and Economic Policy: British Government 1970-4 (1982); The Labour Government 1974-9: Political Aims and Economic Reality (1985) and The First Thatcher Government, 1979- 83: Contemporary Conservatism and Economic Change (1985). He is currently writing a book on the political economy of the 1983--7 Conservative Government.

Terence Kealey is a University Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry in the . Born in 1952, he was educated at Charterhouse, Balliol College, Oxford and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School. He was formerly MRC Training Fellow, in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, , 1976- 80; Clinical Lecturer in the same department 1980-2; Senior Registrar in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1982-6; and Wellcome Senior Research Fellow, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Oxford, 1986-8. He has published exten­ sively in biochemical and medical journals, and is also the author of Science Fiction: and the True Way to Save British Science (1989). As well as his biochemical research, he is currently researching an international comparison of government science funding policies and their economic outcomes.

Oliver Letwin is currently Head of the Utilities and Privatisation Team at N. M. Rothschild and Sons Ltd. He was born in 1956, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received BA, MA and PhD degrees. He has been a Visiting Fellow in the Notes on the Contributors xi

Philosophy Department at Princeton University; a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge; a Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education and Science, and a member of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit. In 1987, he stood as a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate. He has published widely in journals and newspapers, and is the author of a number of books and pamphlets, including Ethics, Emotion and the Unity of Self(1987) and Privatising the World.

Patrick Minford has been Edward Gonner Professor of Applied Economics, Univerity of Liverpool since 1976. Born in 1943, he was educated at Winchester, Balliol College, Oxford, and the LSE. He was formerly Economic Assistant to the Finance Director, Courtaulds Ltd; Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, ; Economic Adviser, Ministry of Overseas Development; and Economic Adviser to HM Treasury's External Division, serving with HM Treasury's Delegation, Washington DC, 1973-4. He was Visiting Hallsworth Research Fellow, Manchester University, in 1975, and started the Liverpool Research Group in Macroeconomics in 1979. From 1988 he has been a Board Member of the Merseyside Development Corporation and edited the Review of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research in 1975--6. He is the author of Substitution Effects, Speculation and Exchange Rate Stability (1978); Unemployment: Cause and Cure (1983); The Housing Morass (1987); and the New Macroeconomics (with David Peel) (1983); and publications on trade, monetary economics and the UK and international economies. He contributes actively to the macroeconomic policy debate in the UK, including a regular column in the Daily Telegraph.

Raymond Plant has been Professor of Politics at the University of Southampton since 1979. Born in 1945, he was educated at King's College, London University and from 1967 to 1979 was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy in the University of Manchester. His publications include Hegel (1973); Community and Ideology (1974); Philosophy, Politics and Citizenship (1984); and Conservative Capital­ ism in the U.S. and Great Britain: A Critical Appraisal (with K. Hoover) (1989). His current work includes a book on the foundations of political thought, and the forthcoming 1990 Sarum Lectures in the University of Oxford.

John Redwood has been Member of Parliament for Wokingham since xii Notes on the Contributors

1987. In 1989 he became Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Corporate Affairs in the Department of Trade and Industry. Born in 1951, he was educated at Kent College, Canterbury, Magdalen College and St Antony's College Oxford. From 1972 to 1986 he was a Fellow of All Souls. In 1977 he joined N. M. Rothschild and Sons Ltd of which he is currently a non-executive director. From 1983 to 1986 he was a member, and then head, of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit; in 1986--7 he led Rothschild's Overseas Privatisation Unit. His publications include Public Enterprise in Crisis (1980); Value for Money Audits (with J. V. Hatch) (1981); Controlling Public Industries (with J. V. Hatch) (1982); Going for Broke (1984); Equity for Everyman (1986) and Popular Capitalism (1988). He is currently revising the latter in the light of world developments, and writing on privatisation, the economic performance of the Thatcher governments, planning and the single European market of 1992.

Roger Scruton has been Professor of Aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London, since 1985. Born in 1944, he was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. From 1969 to 1971 he was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and from 1971 to 1985 Lecturer and Reader at Birkbeck College. His publications include Art and Imagination (1974); The Aesthetics of Architecture (1979); The Meaning of Conservatism (1980); From Descartes to Wittgenstein (1981); The Politics ofCulture (1981); Kant (1982); A Dictionary of Political Thought (1982); The Aesthetic Understanding (1983); Peace Studies: A Critical Survey (with Baroness Cox) (1984); Thinkers of the New Left (1985); Education and Indoctrination (1985); Sexual Desire (1986); A Land Held Hostage (1987) and Untimely Tracts (1987). His current research is addressed to the concept of culture.

John Stevenson is Reader in History at the University of Sheffield. Born in 1946, he was educated at Worcester College and Nuffield College Oxford. He is the author of The Slump (with Chris Cook) (1977); London in the Age of Reform (editor) (1977); Popular Disturbances in England, 1700--1870 (1979) and British Society, 1914- 1945 (1984), as well as a number of essays on planning and the history of social policy. He is currently working on a study of the life and times of William Cobbett and a major new social history of modern Britain.

S. W. Sykes became Bishop of Ely in 1990, having been Regius Notes on the Contributors xiii

Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of St John's College, since 1985. Born in 1939, he was educated at St John's College, Cambridge; he was formerly Lecturer in Divinity at Cambridge and Professor of Divinity at Durham University. His publications include Friedrich Schleiermacher (1971); Christian Theo­ logy Today (1971); Christ, Faith and History (editor) (1972); The Integrity of Anglicanism (1978); Karl Barth (editor) (1980); New Studies in Theology (editor) (1980); England and Germany, Studies in Theological Diplomacy (editor) (1982); The Identity of Christianity (editor) (1984); Authority in the Anglican Communion (editor) (1987) and The Study of Anglicanism (editor) (1988).

Adrian Wooldridge has been a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, since 1980; he currently writes on education and health for The Economist. Born in 1959, he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. As well as articles in learned journals, he is the author of a forthcoming study of educational selection in England from 1880 to the present. His current research is into the meritocracy, education and the welfare state.