John Gray's political philosophy has long demonstrated that consistency is not necessarily a virtue in his field of study. When I first encountered him in Oxford a decade ago, he was in the final phase of his troubled relationship with Thatcherism and the 'New Right'. Since then, he has turned his back on what he calls the 'neo-liberal hegemony' of the 1980s and embarked on a remarkable odyssey, taking in the 'communitarianism' of American thinkers, green politics and the strengths and limits of the Third Way. Although he was an early admirer of Tony Blair, I think he remains an independent at heart, and all the more formidable for that.

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