Investigates historic strands of conservative thought and responds to the radical changes which many think have transformed the Conservative party into a populist movement upholding English nationalism.
All Souls College Oxford was one of the meeting points of English public intellectuals in the twentieth century. Its Fellows prided themselves on agreeing in everything except their opinions. They included Cabinet Ministers from all the three major parties, and academics of diverse political allegiances, who met for frank conversations and lively disagreements.
Davenport-Hines investigates historic strands of conservative thought: aversion to rapid and disruptive change, mistrust of majority opinions, prizing of community loyalties and pride over the assertion of aggressive individualism, the recession of the Church of England, and the impact of militarism.
Conservative Thinkers from All Souls College Oxford draws on the ideas of two conservative thinkers, ‘Trimmer’ Halifax and Michael Oakeshott, to examine the conservative assumptions, ideas, writings and influence of seven Fellows of All Souls from the last century. Their brands of conservatism regarded popular democracy as an unavoidable necessity which must be managed rather than loved. Their scepticism about the rule of the people was rooted in a meritocratic commitment to the government of the wise. They disliked plutocracy, regretted consumerism, and loathed sloppy and self-serving thought. All were more or less dissatisfied with the workings of the Westminster parliamentary model.
Table of Content
1 Opening Fire
2 The Counter-Revolutionaries of Llewellyn Woodward
3 The Old Harmonies of Keith Feiling
4 The Trimming of Herbert Hensley Henson
5 The Total Wars of Cyril Falls
6 The County Spirit of Edward Halifax
7 The Losing Battles of Quintin Hailsham
8 The Resistance of Cyril Radcliffe
9 Closing Shots
Select Bibliography
Index
About the author
RICHARD DAVENPORT-HINES is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a past winner of the Wolfson Prize for History. His books include biographies of W. H. Auden, Marcel Proust, John Maynard Keynes, and King Edward VII, and Enemies Within: Communists, the Cambridge Spies and the making of modern Britain (2018). He has edited or co-edited four volumes of Hugh Trevor-Roper’s correspondence and journals.
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