Cameron is backing new think tank

Thursday, November 26, 2009

A new think tank set up with the backing of the Tory party will focus on the 'broken society' and make recommendations for 'restoring community values'.

The ResPublica think tank is headed up by former theology lecturer Phillip Blond who is known as the 'red Tory' because he rejected Thatcherism and various other key Conservative beliefs.

Blond, who writes in the December issue of Public Servant magazine (Find out how to get your own copy here), is said to believe that community groups, volunteers and church leaders are the solution to problems in society and should be given more support and more powers.

Oliver Letwin, who is responsible for writing the Tories' general election manifesto, has been quoted as saying: "Blond's work is seminal. He's one of the most exciting thinkers around."

Reckoned by some to be a champion of the working class, Blond said recently: "It's about capitalising on our two biggest assets – the insight and dedication of front-line staff and the engagement and involvement of citizens and communities. The state has bailed out the banking system but has proved incapable of saving its own citizens from debt and servitude. Moreover, the state has arrested social mobility and destroyed the structures of working class advancement."

He also claimed that the government had destroyed the "respectable working class", adding: "In the absence of a common British narrative that unites all peoples and classes, proper respect for other cultures and traditions has collapsed into a state-sanctioned multiculturalism that has produced antagonistic communities and licensed the return of extremism and racism."

Cameron will be present at the launch of the new think tank but his spokesman insisted: "The fact that David Cameron is appearing at this event doesn't mean that he endorses all of Phillip Blond's views."

• Professor John Seddon has been announced as a member of the advisory board to the new think tank.