RSA - Red Tory: The future of progressive Conservatism?

Red Tory: The future of progressive Conservatism?

1st Apr 2010; 13:00

(full recording including audience Q&A)
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RSA Thursday

Some say conventional politics is at crossroads. Amid recession, depression, poverty, increasing violence and rising inequality, critics bemoan our current political system as exhausted and inadequate.

Renowned author and political thinker Phillip Blond visits the RSA to argue that only a radical new political settlement can tackle the problems we face. Blond’s ‘Red Toryism’ combines economic egalitarianism with social conservatism, calling for an end to the monopolisation of society and the private sphere by the state and the market.

Decrying the legacy of both the Labour and Conservative parties, Blond proposes a genuinely progressive Conservatism that will restore social equality and revive British culture. He calls for the strengthening of local communities and economies, ending dispossession, redistribution of the tax burden and restoration the nuclear family.

Is this new radical politics really the way forward, and if so, who will lead the way?

Chair: David Aaronovitch, writer, broadcaster and columnist for The Times.

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #rsablond