I hear that the Conservative Philosophy Group is about to be revived after a hibernation of about 15 years. The group, in so far as it has been heard of at all, has the reputation of being a collection of Thatcherite ideologues, exercising an arcane influence over policy. In fact it had no discernible influence over Tory policy, and was never meant to. One or two members (it must be admitted) wanted to give the impression that we were a think-tank with the usual ambitions. However, along with Roger Scruton, I had helped organise it from the beginning (c. 1975) and I always had the secret determination that it should be just like an Oxbridge college essay-reading society. That eccentric character may even explain its success. A surprising number of dons, journalists and MPs wanted to come along, and some now remember it with a definite nostalgia. We vaguely observed Chatham House rules — but I think these yield to a lapse of time.
The early Thatcher years marked a very odd moment in the history of the Tory party when it decided to lie back and enjoy ideas. Hugh Fraser — high Tory MP, Scottish aristocrat and Romantic had a gift for friendship, and thought it would be fun to mix some of his young intellectual friends with the better class of journalist and Tory MP. So the Tory philosophy group was born.
There was an eclectic variety of speakers. A clutch of political philosophers and economists from the LSE were members, as well as philosophers and historians from Oxbridge. Over the years, papers were given by Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Michael Oakeshott, Elie Kedourie, the Archbishop of York (Habgood), Shirley Letwin, Peter Bauer, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Robert Blake, Edward Norman.
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