Written by Alain de Bossart
The major political parties seem unwilling to appear deeply ideological; they attack each other by associating the opposition with ideological predecessors. Rightly or wrongly, ideological doctrine is not seen positively in a society that advocates pluralism. Perhaps association with ideological doctrine, of one way of thinking, is seen as a precursor of tyranny, terror and oppression, although out of the remit of this essay, is it hard to see why? For what ever reason individual political parties don’t advocate strong ideological views. But there are considerable ideological tendencies in modern politics, shared by all major political parties. All major parties can fit under the umbrella of liberalism. However, because of the successes in recent times, it can also be said to be increasingly conservative in its approach to reform and change.
Liberalism comes in a few shades. But in broad terms it advocates individual freedom. It is a belief that the individual can make a rational and the best choice for themselves so should be given the freedom and opportunity to act as they see fit. With the economy there is some variance. Classical liberals believe that the government should not intervene in the economy; taxes unfairly punish the rich and successful. New liberalism developed after the industrial revolution, after seeing the failures of the free market to provide acceptable living standard increases for the majority of workers in both urban and rural communities. It came to encourage involvement in the economy to ensure fair and efficient practices. This included state education, employment laws and limited welfare benefits.
Economically the two major political parties follow liberalist thought. Both see the importance of competition in promoting efficiency and reflecting the needs and wants of consumers. The Conservatives privatised many of the public utilities, and New Labour have maintained and supported this, removing state intervention further by allowing monetary policy to operate separately from the government. This concurrence is not unexpected, economic growth has been its strongest and most consistent throughout the world this way. Both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party are committed to new liberalist ideas in relation to the economy.
Both parties support improvements of the NHS, state education, crime and welfare provision. These are largely liberal ideas by both parties. The Tories, like labour pre-97, are deliberate vague with specific policy ideas but want to focus on public service improvement, social justice and improving the quality of life. However these areas manifest into policy it is almost guaranteed to qualify under the umbrella of liberalism. Labour’s policies on crime reflect the liberal idea of allowing individual freedoms until individuals harm others. There is no compulsory or optional military service for those convicted of crimes; this shows unwillingness on the part of the government to strongly influence the lives of individuals, a liberalist idea. Policy differences between the major parties are ultimately very slight.
Policy is very similar because both parties are competing for more and more of same votes. There is an increasing melding of the electorate. Greater state education, greater equality of opportunity, minimum wage imposition and lower pay differentials across all professions have moved much of the population closer together in all aspects of life, including ideas on the role of government. Historically unprecedented nationwide wealth increases, continuously increasing life expectancies and close to full literacy rates for decades (as long as my life) have produced broad concurrence on the role of a government. There is no popular support for a government separated entirely from the economy, or popular support for a government dominating the economy, because historically both have been tried and seen to fail. With a broad consensus amongst the electorate, policy of the major parties looking to take the votes of mainstream Britain will inevitably have very similar policy. So the extent to which the UK's major political parties of today reflect political ideologies is considerable, they are liberal ideas.
Conservatism (little ‘c’) is a curious ideology. It advocates a preference for things to stay as they are. It would see the state in a purely peace-keeping role, but understands the need for some state intervention in the economy. It is an ideology that prides itself on pragmatism, which is a willingness to try varying means to achieve a specific end; it is therefore focused on the end result but is less inclined to dictate one way to get there. Does this not sound like modern day politics??
With unprecedented wealth, life expectancy and rates of literacy is there really much of a call to change things or for things to remain as they are? The latter, of course. Does the state intervene in the normal activities of the individual, or focus on tackling crime and maintaining the peace whilst leaving the law-abiding citizen to go about their business largely unhindered? The latter. Has the government stuck to specific policy without even the possibility of change in their line; or do the recent changes in school reform, the changes to tackling anti-social behaviour, and tax credit systems show a considerable level of pragmatism to achieve a specific end goal? The latter. The pragmatic and limited nature of government displays the hallmark of conservatism. Furthermore, with no popular call for fundamental change to anything e.g. abolition of the NHS, the long-term outlook seems to be only to maintain the existing government role and actions, and any reform needed is likely to be gradual. So conservatism is present in politics and political parties also.
Ultimately, political parties must reflect the views of the electorate. Major political parties appeal to the majority of the electorate. The majority of the electorate shares the same view of the government’s role in their life, so major political parties share a broadly similar view of the government’s role in the lives of individuals. Liberalism is the view of the masses, a government that acts in a supporting role to ensure a base-line for society whilst leaving the majority alone to pursue their own interests. The reason for the popularity of this view is its success. Historically, this is the safest and most comfortable time to be alive. Because of this, there is little necessity for change and so increasingly now and in the future political parties are conservative in their outlook. Major political parties can be seen to be conservative liberalists.