Background: John O’Sullivan wrote a piece for National Review arguing that the GOP had nothing useful to learn from the Tory party’s post-1997 experiences. I took issue with that here. Mr O’Sullivan then sent in this response. Here’s my reply to his reply.
John O’Sullivan is right. It was remiss of me to overlook the fact that, as Executive Editor of Radio Free Europe, he is currently based in Prague. Nonetheless, he is also National Review’s Editor-at-Large and was, for nine years, that magazines’ Editor-in-Chief. He has also edited the National Interest and been a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. For good measure his family home is, I believe, in Alabama*. All that being the case, I don’t think my suggestion that he views conservatism through an American, rather than a British, lens is desperately unfair.
Mr O’Sullivan says that he advocates no political strategy in his piece since it is “almost entirely a negative critique of the Cameron ‘narrative'”.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in