DANIEL FINKELSTEIN LOUISE MENSCH celebrates the modern on what the Tories are conservatism of Martin doing wrong and Chris The Luther King Christie’s doing right Progressive Conscience Spotlight on America Bush adviser David Frum issues a warning for Cameron and tells Bright Blue his regrets “Iraq: it’s on my mind all the time. Every day.” senator olympia snowe | iain martin | jesse norman | stephen pollard J1025 The Progressive Conscience COVER.indd 1-2 23/09/2013 12:24 AMERICA BOOKS AND ARTS Contents Opening an American mind Brooks Newmark, the American-born MP and KATE MALTBY is the Editor of Contributors EditorialVice-President of the Harvard Alumni Association, The Progressive Conscience. NIGEL CAMERON is CEO of the tells British students to head to the Ivy League Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies Justin Timberlake brought sexy back. Sir Thomas Wyatt of The Progressive Conscience takes ‘America’ as its theme. I’m LUKE COFFEY is the Margaret brought sonnets back. As of the Labour Party conference, Ed particularly proud that Olympia Snowe has drawn on her long Thatcher Fellow at The Heritage course in Britain is generally broken This ultimately leads to a very P18 P29 P32 Foundation Miliband is ‘bringingBROOKS NEWMARK socialism has back’. served For the third time, per- career as a deal-brokering Republican Senator to write for us as a Government Whip, Lord down into three terms over a three year different undergraduate experience. OLIVER COOPER is the Chairman haps, it’s good news for Tories. on cross-party dialogue. Daniel Finkelstein, Stephen Pollard Commissioner HM Treasury, period – although Scottish courses tend I found the student bodies at both of Conservative Future But is he? George W Bush’s economic advisor, David Frum, and Iain Martin lend us their expertise on lessons from recent 03 Editorial 18 David Frum: After Bush and was a Member of the to involve a four year degree. It was the Harvard and Oxford to be very bright PASCAL-EMMANUEL GOBRY argues in his Treasuryinterview Select with Committee The Progressive Conscience that American history, and from the other side of the pond, leading Kate Maltby Interviewed by Kate Maltby breadth of education that lead me to and talented but at Harvard I found writes for Forbes and Atlantico conservatives in the modern political climate can no longer bloggers like James Poulos and Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry give bright blue politics 22 Can libertarian populism remake I was lucky enough to have had the go to the US to study and that is why there to be a much broader and more 05 My greatest regret the American right? DANIEL FINKELSTEIN is take for granted that parties of the left, whether in the UK or us a taste of the American blogosphere. Associate Editor of The Times opportunity to attend both Harvard I encouraged my two eldest children diverse range of individuals from a the US, are unacceptable to people of enterprise. Sure, it’s a And we’re proud to stand up for the values we share with Douglas Hurd James Poulos and Oxford, so I feel well placed to to do likewise. variety of backgrounds who had done PETER HOSKIN is Associate relief for the Conservatives when the separate elements within America even when those values seem unfashionable. The Tory 06 Director’s note 23 America’s Big Society Editor of ConservativeHome compare and understand the best much more with their lives than just Ryan Shorthouse Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry our party can unite against something we all definitively Party has always believed in universal principles, not the moral DOUGLAS HURD was Foreign of America and Britain’s respective succeed in the classroom. Harvard did loathe: socialism. Hence Chris Grayling’s interventionAmerican during universities relativism that dismisses violence against women as ‘cultural’ 07 Why I’m a Bright Blue MP policy Secretary from 1989–95 education systems. not need to compromise standards Laura Sandys 25 It’s the justice economy, stupid the Labour conference, warning in The Telegraph that both and blinks at the use of chemical weapons against civilians. SUNDER KATWALA is the Whilst many tertiary level academic offer that little bit more to get students from disadvantaged Labour and the Lib Dems want to ‘penalise the wealth cre- There’s nothing anti-Tory about querying the practical out- 08 What do the English want? Will Tanner Director of British Future institutions in both countries offer backgrounds, but nor did they compare ators’. But as Frum suggests, wealth creatorsat still undergraduate don’t seem come level of by getting involved in a specific conflict. But it’s not just Sunder Katwala 26 Junk science in Washington KATE MALTBY is the Editor of exceptionally high standards of like for like between students from the The Progressive Conscience frightened enough of Miliband. He quacks likeencouraging a socialist, but students anti-Tory, to study but anti-British, to turn one’s back on the world by 09 The dangerous Mr Bloom Nigel Cameron education, American universities offer fi nest private schools and those who IAIN MARTIN is widely published he walks like a man heavily backed by financial sector leaders default. That’s why Bright Blue is calling for the Tory Party to Alex Massie 27 Defence cuts, not caution on Syria, that little bit more at undergraduate a wide range of subjects went to poor state schools. 11 Centre-right abroad weaken our alliance journalist. His latest book such as Andrew Rosenfeld, the man who took Minerva plc commit again to humanitarian intervention, backed by force if Making It Happen is out now. level by encouraging students to study a Until recently, the disparity in Oliver Cooper Luke Coffey from £70,200 to £600 million. Or Sir Charles Allen, one of our necessary, when states commit crimes against humanity. And ALEX MASSIE writes a blog for wide range of subjects, and offering the The admissions process between price between a British education and america 28 Republicans are wising up most influential gay businessmen, who manages to incorpo- we’re delighted to have the backing of Liam Fox, the former The Spectator and a fortnightly fl exibility to change the core subject of the two countries is also very different. an American one, meant that many rate advising Goldman Sachs and chairing Labour’s Executive Defence Secretary, on this stance. As Dr Fox tells Bright Blue, 12 Weasel words on immigration column for the Scottish edition your degree throughout your time there. Most US universities look at much British students were put off the idea of of The Times Board for him. And it’s hard to imagine Margaret Hodge sees “In a complex and increasingly interconnected world, Stephen Pollard Alex Nowrasteh Most American undergraduate more than your academic achievements studying overseas. However, the rise in him as a threat to her family’s steel trading fortune. This isn’t events in countries far from ours can soon land on our door- 13 America isn’t worried by 29 Civility has left the Senate LOUISE MENSCH is the former courses take place over a four year – in part, because the system depends UK tuition fees, in addition to the lure MP for Corby a story about hypocrites. It’s a story about people who are step. This makes it more important than ever to take an active Miliband’s chicanery Olympia Snowe period with each year being split into on rounded individuals, who can adapt of generous scholarships in America books and arts PENNY MORDAUNT is MP genuinely able to coexist as capitalists and Labour believers. part in the world, and shirking our international responsibil- Penny Mordaunt two semesters. During each semester to a broad range of thought. As a has made studying there more viable for Portsmouth North This should worry Conservatives. ities not only diminishes our standing in the world but also 14 The GOP needs to learn 31 Lincoln in the lense you will take four courses, half of Harvard Admissions offi cer once told than in previous years. According to the BROOKS NEWMARK is Conservatives still stand up for the private sector more than damages our own national security. We must involve ourselves from Cameron Peter Hoskin which will refl ect your Major, or core me, “we can fi ll Harvard eight times US-UK Fulbright Commission, Har- MP for Braintree the Labour Party ever will. But we can’t fight on that front fully lest we be left behind, reacting to the decisions that others Louise Mensch 32 Burke’s American Dream subject, while the other half are in over with kids who are straight As and vard saw a 45% increase in applications 16 The Fink on The King Jesse Norman JESSE NORMAN is only and expect to win. Those who vote Labour, even against have made but unable to influence them ourselves.” MP for Hereford and other subjects. At Harvard, I majored Valedictorian – we look for more than from British students between 2009/10 their economic interests, do so because they still believe Tories Watching Miliband prevaricate over his response to Syria, Daniel Finkelstein 35 Opening an American mind South Herefordshire in History for 50% of my time, but in that.” At Harvard you are assessed on a to 2011/12. Harvard Admissions is 17 Teddy, not FDR, knew how Brooks Newmark are ‘the nasty party’ – and as Alex Massie notes on p 9, every it’s easy to share Dr Fox’s disquiet at the thought of a Labour ALEX NOWRASTEH is an addition to History I studied everything combination of your academic perfor- need blind so your fi nancial aid is 100% time we cuddle up to UKIP we look nastier.