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The ontological failure of David Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ of the Conservative Party

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Abstract

David Cameron’s leadership of the Conservatives took as its starting point the assumption that the party needed to modernise, requiring a move towards the political ‘centre ground’. This shift presented the party leadership with a series of challenges, including brand detoxification, party management, and policy renewal. Modernisation also implied ideological change, to distance the Conservatives from the legacy of Thatcherism and realign conservatism with the values of a wider section of the electorate. In this respect, Cameronite modernisation can be judged a failure. This article suggests that ontological contradictions inherent in central elements of Cameron’s conservatism, specifically the ‘Big Society’ and the ‘social justice agenda’, fatally undermined its ideological coherence. It argues that this is an important and hitherto overlooked part of the explanation for the shortcomings of Conservative Party modernisation as a political project. Although this is only one part in a wider explanation for the failure of Conservative modernisation, this case study demonstrates that ontological assumptions matter in political practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, UK

    Jack Newman

  2. School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Richard Hayton

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  1. Jack Newman
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  2. Richard Hayton
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Correspondence to Jack Newman.

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Newman, J., Hayton, R. The ontological failure of David Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ of the Conservative Party. Br Polit 17, 253–273 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-021-00159-7

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