Crony Conservatism

The fundamental division in modern politics is between corporatists and believers in free markets. So what, you might say, that has been a fundamental division for quite a while. This time it is different, however. As a general rule, the more right wing a politician or commentator is seen to be, the more likely he or she is to support the propping up of lame ducks and the requisitioning of public money to subsidise grasping workers. Meanwhile those who support breaking up the banks so that they are no longer too big to fail are variously described as lefties, the enemies of wealth creation, banker bashers and the like. The fact that the trust-busting we desire would allow the separated high street and investment banks to succeed or fail on their own merits is everywhere ignored.

Even by the surreal standards of Britain in a crisis, the conventional labelling of the divisions in public life is bizarre.