Letters | 22 August 2009

Conservative progress

Sir: So the notion of ‘progressive’ conservatism is roiling British politics these days (Politics, 15 August). Well, come on over to the colonies, mate, and get educated! We in Canada have had ‘progressive conservative’ political parties, at both the provincial and federal levels of government, for decades — they’re even officially named Progressive Conservatives.

Sadly, though, our ‘progressive’ conservatives tend, over time, to become indistinguishable from big-government nanny-state lefties. That’s why we in Canada have a derogatory term for ‘progressive conservatives’: we call them Red Tories, and we were doing so long before anyone in your Labour party imagined that they had coined a new slur.

Larry Hamelin
Toronto, Canada



Sir: Fraser Nelson may be interested to learn that the phrase ‘progressive conservatism’ was coined by Chief Rabbi J.H. Hertz (1872-1946) to define his own theological position, as ‘religious advance without loss of traditional Jewish values’. This has a reassuring ring to it, but its precise meaning has proved elusive.