Heirs to Blair's third way? David Cameron's triangulating conservatism

Whatever happened to compassionate Conservatism under the Coalition government?

“…Following David Cameron's election as leader, a series of initiatives suggested that he was seeking to introduce new thinking to the Party, and to align it with interests and issues that it had not been linked with since at least the start of the Thatcher period (McAnulla, 2010;Page, 2010;Bochel, 2011;Griffiths, 2014;Kerr and Hayton, 2015). For example, in speeches Cameron appeared to make the case for a new approach, including to poverty (2006c) and anti-social behaviour (2006b), and highlighted a commitment to the NHS (2006a); he created six policy review groups, only one of which was directly concerned with economic matters, while one focused on social justice, chaired by Iain Duncan Smith; and in January 2009 he launched the idea of 'progressive Conservatism' at the Demos think tank, talking about using Conservative means to achieve 'progressive ends', such as a fairer, more equal and safer society (for example, Robinson and Twyman, 2014).…”

“…Cameron and his fellow modernisers arguably pursued a twin track approach, attempting to distance themselves from their predecessors and to challenge the perception of the Conservatives as the 'nasty party', while still appealing to traditional Conservative supporters (see, for example, McAnulla, 2010;Buckler and Dolowitz, 2012;Griffiths, 2014), so that while talking about tackling poverty, supporting the NHS and climate change, they were also promoting long-standing Conservative views on subjects such as crime, family structures and personal freedom, and taking responsibility away from the state and giving it to individuals , families and communities. Even before dropping the commitment to match Labour's public expenditure plans, they saw limited government and lower taxes as part of the solution.…”

“…He suggests that in the attempts to dispel the idea that the Conservatives were uncaring, great importance was paid to the role of voluntarism and civic institutions in creating the 'Big Society', initially appearing to draw on ideas such as those of Blond (2010), together with conditional state support for those who were unable to provide for themselves. McAnulla (2010), too, notes that one of the effects of Cameron's anti-statism was to make the Conservatives' approach to issues such as social justice and decentralisation distinguishable from New Labour's approach, while it may also have contributed to making traditional Conservative ambitions palatable to the post-Blair electorate.…”

“…Secondly, there was an attempt to counter New Labour's position by bringing the Conservative Party towards the political centre on issues such as the NHS and social divisions, while also making clear a difference between the parties on the role and responsibilities of the state, and of individuals, communities and society. Hodkinson and Robbins (2012) argue that in their 2010 general election manifesto the Conservatives sugar-coated 'their agenda for "public spending control" with the compassionate one-nation rhetoric of "we are all in this together"' (p. 64), while McAnulla (2010) suggests that prior to the 2010 general election Cameron had not only 'moved the Conservatives onto the broad territory staked out in New Labour's third way' (p. 311), but also contended that they were best placed to defend third way themes. Even following The combination of symbols and substance, and the different arguments and assertions made by the advocates of a new direction, as well as the unwillingness to produce precise promises and commitments that might allow the development of critiques and alienate potential allies, meant that, as Bale (2013) notes, Conservative modernisation 'was always heavier on diagnosis than on prescription' (p. 135), and made the extent of change hard to assess.…”

Conservative modernisation and European integration: From silence to salience and schism

“…At its most elusive, it is little more than an 'empty signifier' bereft of substantive content (Byrne, Foster and Kerr, 2012). For many studies of Cameron's modernisation, it involves changes in personnel, organisation, ideology and policy (McAnulla, 2010;Bale, 2011). This article views modernisation as conscious, far-reaching adaptation to significant changes in the environment in which the party operates, incorporating both the politics of support and the politics of power.…”