RIP Anita Roddick, inspiration for the new Conservatives

Anita Roddick, implausible as it may seem, deserves a footnote in future histories of the Conservative Party as well as the annals of ‘ethical consumerism’ where her place was already secure. Long before Fairtrade coffee, barn-fed eggs in Tesco and organic everything, she had spotted and mapped out the psychological terrain where the ethics of the environmental movement and the culture of the so-called New Age met the arithmetic of high street capitalism. The Body Shop encapsulated in prototypical form the ideas developed in Steve Hilton’s book, Good Business: ideas which have, in turn, infused David Cameron’s emphasis upon the environment, his demand that business conform to the requirements of ‘social responsibility’, and his prioritisation of international development. Many forces have been at work in the’re-branding’ of the Tory Party, of course, but it was Roddick who set this particular socio-cultural ball rolling two decades ago. No Hayek, no Thatcher; no Roddick, no Cameron.