Yes, Tories can be progressive (if they’re doing conservatism right)

Can a Conservative be ‘progressive’? In my Telegraph column last week, I argued that David Cameron is halfway to being one of the most progressive Prime Ministers in recent British history – and published a few graphs to make my case. This went down pretty badly with some CoffeeHousers, who said that I was applauding Cameron for being left-wing – if they wanted a bleating leftie, they’d have voted Labour. I take the point: the word ‘progressive’ is synonymous with ‘left-wing’ in America, as is the word ‘liberal’. But that’s the Americans’ problem. Granting the left ownership of the words ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’ disguises two basic points. First, conservatism is liberal (ie, it means trusting faith and placing power in the hands of the people rather than the state) – there is nothing more illiberal than confiscatory levels of taxation and statist power grabs. Most Tories I know regard themselves as liberals – in the Manchester sense of the word.