Tory socialism

Tory socialism was a term devised by historians, particularly of the early Fabian Society, to describe the governing philosophy of the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. Such philosophy is generally defined as the belief in reformist-minded activist government, at once appealing to political sentiments commonly associated with both conservatism and socialism.

The domestic policies of Richard Nixon were also called by many libertarians to be "Tory socialist," and had much in common with the philosophy of "big government conservatism" espoused by many neo-conservatives. It was in keeping with this that David Gelernter wrote a long essay in The Weekly Standard extolling Disraeli as the founder of modern neo-conservatism. The phrase has also been used by Vernon Bogdanor to describe the thinking of Ferdinand Mount and was used by Arnold Toynbee to describe the beliefs of Joseph Rayner Stephens and Richard Oastler. The phrase was also used to describe both Stanley Baldwin and Harold Macmillan in the 1930s, and by Tony Judge in his biographical study of Robert Blatchford.

See also

• Red Tory
• Tory corporatism
• List of Red Tories
• Right-wing socialism