Cameron Returns: The Tory Pretence Is Over

David Cameron was there at the beginning of this 13-year Tory rule; he might as well be there at the end of it. For after all of Rishi Sunak’s talk about “change,” and despite some Conservative MPs claiming they’re shocked by Cameron’s return, the party is the same socially liberal PR machine it always was.

It is more open about this now than during its brief foray into populist, pro-Brexit territory. Having stripped itself of another Brexiteer in Braverman, albeit one who clearly exaggerated her conservative instincts, the Tory government has ensured the two leading posts of chancellor and foreign secretary are now occupied by the most convinced Remainers. Tory Lord Heseltine is one of the few figures who could boast of possessing more zeal on this subject, so it is rather telling that he has described Cameron’s appointment as the “best piece of news we’ve had for some considerable time on the domestic front.”

After being elected Tory leader in 2005, Cameron, who described himself as the “heir” to Tony Blair, established an “A-list” of approved parliamentary candidates. This was not focussed on small-c conservative credentials (quite the opposite), with emphasis put instead on there being a “significant proportion” of minority figures. He then worked on whittling social conservatives in the parliamentary party out through humiliation.

His subsequent time as prime minister was a masterclass not in so-called ‘centrism’ but in social liberalism. A keen environmentalist who was supportive of softer drug laws—in fact, a softer approach to crime in general—and unfazed by the increasing sexualisation of young children under his watch, as well as by abortions for adolescent girls, Cameron showed no interest in supporting the family unit—the cornerstone of conservatism—and did nothing, beyond talk, to reverse rapidly rising immigration trends.

But all this could be said too about Sunak’s Tory party, which is much the same as it has been for far too long. The focus might have changed. Cameron’s green “hug a husky” drive has been replaced by the unstoppable race towards ‘net zero,’ just like his “hug a hoodie” call has been swapped out for simply releasing prisoners early and reducing the threshold for establishing criminal records. Questions over contraception for the young have become phoney debates over sex education and transgender guidelines for schools, and broken promises over legal migration numbers have been succeeded by broken promises over much smaller illegal migration numbers. But the substance remains the same.

So Cameron fits in just as well now as he did when he was the one setting the agenda. Just as he would have done when, say, Boris Johnson was ‘in control.’ In fact, Johnson is perhaps even more socially liberal than his old sparring partner, particularly on immigration—about which he told social conservatives to “stop moaning”—net zero—for which he laid down the path—diversity—celebrating that his cabinet was “younger, more female, more ethnically diverse, [and] more LGBT” than others that came before it—and on social and moral issues more generally. (On the last point, one need just to consider for one moment the sordid story of Johnson’s personal life.)

The Conservative Party might have pretended for some time that it had moved away from the Left on all these and other points. Many fell for this myth because of Brexit, but even here, you would have to ignore a range of outstanding factors to really believe Johnson backed any of it for reasons beyond his career.

Now, at least, the pretence is up. Not that the Conservatives will completely stop pretending to be, er, conservatives. But at least with Cameron on board, fewer people are likely to fall for the con.