Leading article: The power of ideas

As Keynes observed, the power of ideas — good ones and tragic, wrong-headed ones — is far greater than is commonly understood.

As Keynes observed, the power of ideas — good ones and tragic, wrong-headed ones — is far greater than is commonly understood. The Thatcher counter-revolution in the 1980s was made possible by intellectual bulldozing a decade earlier. It took Sir Keith Joseph and Centre for Policy Studies to clear the way for Britain’s economic regeneration. The blueprint for the social regeneration now underway was written by another think-tank, the Centre for Social Justice, whose ideas are now being implemented by Iain Duncan Smith. The schools revolution is a little different, having gestated mainly in the ideas laboratory that is Michael Gove’s head. But after that the great ideas dry up.

The right, in Britain, has fared dismally in the battle of ideas and it is being outgunned even with a Conservative prime minister. David Cameron is, of course, proudly post-ideological. He believes that modern prime ministers are fated to run along the tramlines of received wisdom, and he is by no means the first Tory leader to take this view. So the direction of British politics depends on who lays the tramlines, and of what quality they are. Here, the traditional allies of the Labour party are very much in charge, churning out research of undeniably high quality and, as a result, setting much of the agenda.

There is no great conspiracy here, but a simple truth: organisations which rely on tax money will always make the case for higher taxes. The ‘institutes’ funded by research grants (which means, usually, tax money) will always argue for more expensive meddling by the state. These groups dislike the idea that society will be better and stronger if people are given greater freedom, and allowed to keep more of their money.