Britain | Bagehot

May’s revolutionary conservatism

Britain’s new prime minister signals a new, illiberal direction for the country

MAINSTREAM politicos in Britain have long held these truths to be self evident. The left won the social battles of the past decades. The right won the economic ones. The resulting consensus combines free-market liberalism with broadly permissive cultural instincts. But on October 5th Theresa May strode up to the podium at the Conservative Party conference, awkwardly waved at the crowd, cleared her throat and unceremoniously drove a bulldozer through those assumptions.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “May’s revolutionary conservatism”

The road to Brexit

From the October 8th 2016 edition

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