Last week in London the National Conservatism Conference met to discuss the country, its history, and Britain’s place in the world.
It was a gathering of right leaning politicians, academics, and thinkers to discuss a new conservative agenda. Historian David Starkey used his speech to talk about the “symbolic destruction of white culture.” Douglas Murray attempted to assuage guilt on nationalism by noting Germany “mucked up” twice in a century. And former social mobility commissioner Katharine Birbalsingh used her speech to place schools at the forefront of the fight for conservative values and culture.
If there is any theme that unites these speeches it is that governments, institutions, and capital, run against conservative values. Conservative MP Miriam Cates framed it as a project to reform institutions toward more nationalist ends. For Cates this plays out in the home, job security, family, a strong sense of nationhood, and dismantling “cultural Marxism” in schools.
