Government Affairs Blog

The dominance of US political thought in Britain

Gordon Brown and David Cameron are said to admire Robert Kennedy for his moral centre.  In the last year or so the speeches of Brown and Cameron have reverberated with echoes of US politicians: most notably FDR and JFK. 

It is no surprise that the Chancellor is influenced by US Democratic politicians.  He has made no secret of his admiration for America and he called his policy for the poor the ‘New Deal’.  New Labour learned much from Bill Clinton’s New Democrats.  It is, perhaps, a little more perplexing that a Conservative leader should be inspired by a Democrat.  

The one person who hasn’t suggested the British ask not what Britain can do for them but what they can do for Britain or told the electorate they have nothing to fear but fear itself is Sir Menzies Campbell.  This may seem even stranger as the party he leads, the Liberal Democrats, are even closer to the American Democratic centre-left proposition: free and open markets with government intervention. 

Of course, British politicians have always been close to their American cousins.  Margaret Thatcher was heavily influenced by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics (later to evolve into neo-conservatism) and her economic enthusiasm led to the adoption of American models of public policy. 

The American political system was built on ideas exported from Britain.  The Constitution is essentially a liberal document largely based on the ideas of John Locke and Tom Paine.  A political party that has Locke and Paine as part of their DNA probably takes their ideas for granted.  This could be why Ming Campbell doesn’t feel the need to mention them.

No doubt, the Labour and Conservative parties would say that their political traditions come from this well of ideas but they are different traditions with different emphasis. 

When Cameron became leader of the Conservative party he described himself as a liberal conservative.  In a speech in 2005, Gordon Brown has quoted LT Hobhouse.  For those unfamiliar with Hobhouse, he was one of the intellectual forces behind modern liberalism that underpinned the policies of Lloyd George and Winston Churchill (when he was in the Liberal Government).

It would seem that Gordon Brown and David Cameron are importing a Democrat vision into the UK: a vision based on British liberal values and ideas.  What this means for public policy or political debate is uncertain.  It is, though, an interesting development in British political discourse. 

Simon Goldie is Head of Communication at The Chartered Institute of Taxation – www.tax.org.uk - and a member of the CIPR GAG committee