Daniel Pitt: Conservative statecraft and party renewal are old ideas but there’s a lot we can learn from them
Why resist verification?
Dr Daniel Pitt is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Buckingham.
Conservative statecraft is an old idea, the time for which has come again.
Taking a long view of our present discontents can help us understand them. Reflecting on historical events and great figures of our past can provide us with a map of sorts to move forward.
Deep reading and reflection were foundational to the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury’s political action. To be a bit more philosophical here, diving into our history can provide that metaphorical bridge between the generations. Indeed, building and restoring such a bridge is at the heart of conservative statecraft. This excavation of the past can build trust and form a type of social membership, and of course, the repudiation of it can and does create distrust and social alienation, which is why the woke left attacks our history.
The past is not a dead weight to be liberated from.
The Conservative Party’s history is a long and adventurous story that is punctuated by great success and, yes, failure. Or to quote a former Conservative Leader and Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, history “is of blood and tears, of helpless blundering, of wild revolt, of stupid acquiescence, of empty aspirations.” This can be said about our party too. Conservative statecraft must draw from the party’s failures and successes. The late Joan Hall, a former Conservative MP for Keighley, said, “I can cope with failure and come back fighting.”
Indeed, Hall was a fighter and was nicknamed ‘the Yorkshire Valkyrie’; her sheer force of personality ensured that she came back fighting, but this can also be said of her party. The secret to the party’s success, I suggest, is its ability to come back fighting after failure. This is sometimes articulated as the party’s willingness to change and adapt to the times.
The party benefits greatly from the body of thought that shares its name. As the great Edmund Burke noted, in order to conserve, there needs to be some change. The dilemma for conservative intellectuals, as well as statesmen, is to discern the permanent from the transitory or the vital from the trivial. To assist in this dilemma, as Sir Winston Churchill suggested, we should ‘study history’ because ‘in history lie all the secrets of statecraft’. In my view, a conservative statesman is a person who has discernment on such matters and understands when the party needs to go through renewal and revitalisation. Now is such a time.
The core fundamental of conservative statecraft is about renewing the party whilst in Opposition to win elections and to be ready for government. Spending the party’s political capital on defending one’s record in Government, whether it is positive, negative or a mixed bag, is not the best way to spend it. Stephen Sherbourne, …
Why resist verification?
Dr Daniel Pitt is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Buckingham.
Conservative statecraft is an old idea, the time for which has come again.
Taking a long view of our present discontents can help us understand them. Reflecting on historical events and great figures of our past can provide us with a map of sorts to move forward.
Deep reading and reflection were foundational to the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury’s political action. To be a bit more philosophical here, diving into our history can provide that metaphorical bridge between the generations. Indeed, building and restoring such a bridge is at the heart of conservative statecraft. This excavation of the past can build trust and form a type of social membership, and of course, the repudiation of it can and does create distrust and social alienation, which is why the woke left attacks our history.
The past is not a dead weight to be liberated from.
The Conservative Party’s history is a long and adventurous story that is punctuated by great success and, yes, failure. Or to quote a former Conservative Leader and Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, history “is of blood and tears, of helpless blundering, of wild revolt, of stupid acquiescence, of empty aspirations.” This can be said about our party too. Conservative statecraft must draw from the party’s failures and successes. The late Joan Hall, a former Conservative MP for Keighley, said, “I can cope with failure and come back fighting.”
Indeed, Hall was a fighter and was nicknamed ‘the Yorkshire Valkyrie’; her sheer force of personality ensured that she came back fighting, but this can also be said of her party. The secret to the party’s success, I suggest, is its ability to come back fighting after failure. This is sometimes articulated as the party’s willingness to change and adapt to the times.
The party benefits greatly from the body of thought that shares its name. As the great Edmund Burke noted, in order to conserve, there needs to be some change. The dilemma for conservative intellectuals, as well as statesmen, is to discern the permanent from the transitory or the vital from the trivial. To assist in this dilemma, as Sir Winston Churchill suggested, we should ‘study history’ because ‘in history lie all the secrets of statecraft’. In my view, a conservative statesman is a person who has discernment on such matters and understands when the party needs to go through renewal and revitalisation. Now is such a time.
The core fundamental of conservative statecraft is about renewing the party whilst in Opposition to win elections and to be ready for government. Spending the party’s political capital on defending one’s record in Government, whether it is positive, negative or a mixed bag, is not the best way to spend it. Stephen Sherbourne, …
Daniel Pitt: Conservative statecraft and party renewal are old ideas but there’s a lot we can learn from them
Why resist verification?
Dr Daniel Pitt is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Buckingham.
Conservative statecraft is an old idea, the time for which has come again.
Taking a long view of our present discontents can help us understand them. Reflecting on historical events and great figures of our past can provide us with a map of sorts to move forward.
Deep reading and reflection were foundational to the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury’s political action. To be a bit more philosophical here, diving into our history can provide that metaphorical bridge between the generations. Indeed, building and restoring such a bridge is at the heart of conservative statecraft. This excavation of the past can build trust and form a type of social membership, and of course, the repudiation of it can and does create distrust and social alienation, which is why the woke left attacks our history.
The past is not a dead weight to be liberated from.
The Conservative Party’s history is a long and adventurous story that is punctuated by great success and, yes, failure. Or to quote a former Conservative Leader and Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, history “is of blood and tears, of helpless blundering, of wild revolt, of stupid acquiescence, of empty aspirations.” This can be said about our party too. Conservative statecraft must draw from the party’s failures and successes. The late Joan Hall, a former Conservative MP for Keighley, said, “I can cope with failure and come back fighting.”
Indeed, Hall was a fighter and was nicknamed ‘the Yorkshire Valkyrie’; her sheer force of personality ensured that she came back fighting, but this can also be said of her party. The secret to the party’s success, I suggest, is its ability to come back fighting after failure. This is sometimes articulated as the party’s willingness to change and adapt to the times.
The party benefits greatly from the body of thought that shares its name. As the great Edmund Burke noted, in order to conserve, there needs to be some change. The dilemma for conservative intellectuals, as well as statesmen, is to discern the permanent from the transitory or the vital from the trivial. To assist in this dilemma, as Sir Winston Churchill suggested, we should ‘study history’ because ‘in history lie all the secrets of statecraft’. In my view, a conservative statesman is a person who has discernment on such matters and understands when the party needs to go through renewal and revitalisation. Now is such a time.
The core fundamental of conservative statecraft is about renewing the party whilst in Opposition to win elections and to be ready for government. Spending the party’s political capital on defending one’s record in Government, whether it is positive, negative or a mixed bag, is not the best way to spend it. Stephen Sherbourne, …
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