This is the question James Stickings poses at The Reaction in his post about new Tory Leader David Cameron.
Obviously it’s too early to say, but the new Leader of the Opposition’s first performance at Prime Minister’s Question Time, the weekly political theatre in the House of Commons, was rather impressive. He has made much of wanting to end the “Punch and Judy” aspect of British politics: political conflict for the sake of political conflict (although it seems that this is much less of a problem at Westminster than in Washington).
Stickings postulates that Cameron may be the person to lead the Conservatives back from the oblivion in which it has resided for eight years.
I take it that when Michael writes "liberal" he means in the classic sense, and not the leftist taint that the label fosters in this country. Certainly, it would be a great thing to have party that "wants to protect the people's liberty against the state, is socially tolerant, and is willing to look beyond the state for solutions to the country's problems." Leftists, of course, would want nothing of that because in their view the state is its own solution.
Then again, common experience tells us that the party generally more concerned about individual rights against the state tends to be the one currently out of power. Maybe eight years in limbo has chastened the Conservative Party. When and if they gain the government, the real test will be on.
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