Blond & Liberty

So Philip Blond’s new think tank ResPublica (that’s how it’s spelt, leaving one to wonder whether it’s actually a pretentious electricity company or something) and his “Red Toryism” is this week’s non-Iraq, must-talk-about political gizmo. And my, what an odd beast it is.

Blond’s speech on Thursday was a strange thing indeed. Part of the time was spent wrestling with a series of impressively tiny Straw Men (“In order to reclaim a civilised society, market and state should not be regarded as the ultimate goal or expression of humanity”) and rather more of it was preoccupied with the kind of high-falutin’ gobbledegook of the kind favoured by the smarter-dressed confidence trickster. (“We can create a civic economy based on trust, sustainability and reciprocity.” Sounds good! But, er, what does that mean?)

Hopi Sen is quite clear: he thinks Red Toryism “a load of old toss”; Sunder Katwala and James Crabtree take more measured views but are unconvinced by both Blond and the seriousness with which Project Cameron takes the Red Tory project.