The old political designations of Left and Right are now obsolete. They were always misleading but now they have ceased to have any meaning. The formerly Right wing Tory party used to stand for inherited privilege based on the monarchy and the Church of England. It was supported by the aristocracy out of self-interest, by the middle class who feared that socialism would rob them of their advantages and by working class Tories with delusions of grandeur.

The Labour Party was supported by the working class but led by the middle class. Officers from the two wars who had shared the suffering of the trenches were determined to improve the lot of the common people. There was a communist element to the Labour movement but its thinkers and organizers were mostly decent men and women who believed in King and Country.

The Liberals, then as now, were reformers who hated the Tories for their warmongering and colonialism but distrusted the socialists as a bunch of revolutionaries. Greatest amongst them was William Beveridge, the father of the Wefare State. Their distaste for extremism drove them to the political centre where the rest of the political circus eventually joined them.

Tony Blair was one of the first to realize that the British people would not support the Left wing policies of the old Labour Party. Much has been written about John Smith but it was really Blair who ditched Labour’s socialist policies and won the next three elections. He was able to do this because he had the advantage of having no particular political beliefs. A man without principles can change direction or even turn political somersaults. The only thing that mattered to Tony Blair was power itself

The Tories had enjoyed eighteen years of office under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. But the British public, who had cheered Thatcher’s sale of council houses and the selling off of public utilities grew tired of a cruel and uncaring regime that saw record bankruptcies and house repossessions. The Tories went too far with the Poll Tax and the recession of 1992 destroyed their reputation for economic management.

Dave Cameron has studied recent history and is determined not to repeat the arrogant posturing that drove the Tories from power in 1997. Like Tony Blair he is politically agnostic and completely untroubled by uncomfortable notions like social justice or patriotism. He is set to repeat Labour’s shift to the centre and he is shedding Tory principles to make the move possible. Out go Grammar Schools, pension relief and immigration controls. Anything that smacks of traditional middle class Conservatism will be abandoned in favour of multi-cultural, inclusive, progressive, politically correct, meaningless mumbo jumbo.

You have been warned.