BOOKS OF THE DAY
" Forward, by the Right "
Full Speed Ahead ! Essays in Tory Reform. By Viscount Hinching- brooke, M.P. (Simpkin Marshall. 5s.)
. IN this collection of speeches, addresses and articles delivered or written during the last three years, Lord Hinchingbrooke unfolds the faith of a Tory Reformer. He is one of that group of vigorous Members of Parliament known as the Tory Reform Committee, now under the chairmanship of Captain Quintin Hogg. The Toryism which he upholds is inspired by Disraeli, informed by the doctrines of Burke, enlightened by Milton and motivated at this particular juncture in our history by the desire to satisfy the call for social justice. If anyone dipping into these pages and lighting on words which appear to be those of an advanced Radical should wonder how the author comes to be among the Conservatives, the answer he would give is that there are two sets of Conservatives in politics to-day ; there are those who oppose reform and those who welcome it, and " they are not the same Conservatives."
Before we decide what kind of Conservative Lord Hinchingbrooke is, it is perhaps well to ask what the other kind is like, and what he thinks of them. He does not mince his words. He speaks frankly of " financial wire-pullers and representatives of vested interests and established practices." •
The arteries of our party are stiffening as the result of the infusion over the last twenty-five years of blood that is foreign to the true nature of Conservatism. . . . Must we not speak, too, of particles of more solid matter that choke back the flow of our aspirations—of share certificates and cheques and of trashy journalism? Of the calculations of self-advertising big and little business men, solicitors, accountants and speculators? Of the petty political manipu- lations of those who sit in Parliament today to defend the status quo, which is but constituted by themselves and their miserable attain- ments, and of Liberal laissez-faire capitalism run mad, with results that lie on every side—results which grievously offend against the public taste and common good of all?
That is the " alien " element in Conservatism, the monied in- terests seeking to hold the party in their grip, which Lord Hinching- brooke regards with abhorrence. The true Conservative, or Tory as he prefers to call him, is a democrat with an intense belief in the British people, ever ready to face the consequences of change, re- garding money as the servant and not the master of enterprise, and desirous of rebuilding the country after the war with the thought of social purpose and in the interests of human happiness. He claims that the Beveridge Report is the very essence of Toryism. The Scott and Uthwatt Reports present programmes which the true Tory welcomes and the false Tory has resisted. He maintains that modern Toryism "embraces a great part of modern Socialism," and he believes in State control over all transport systems, aircraft manu- facturing, coal production and distribution, milk distribution, agri- culture and forestry, banking, finance and investment. At the
same time he demands a more realistic, more dynamic programme of progressive action, with more young men, understanding the modern generation and the uses of modern technology, in the key- posts in politics and administration, bent on pushing aside the old, discredited financial orthodoxy and muddled worship of the status quo. To what lengths, the other type of Conservative will say, will this so-called " Tory " Reformer go short of Communism and revo- lution? Why does he dare to call himself a Tory, and yet range himself among the Conservatives? Well, it must be admitted, there has never been a Conservative Party in the House of Commons whose majority showed con- vincing signs of being primarily animated by the spirit and principle of Lord Hinchingbrooke—not even in Disraeli's time. If the aris- tocracy of money are more conspicuously represented today where once the landed Aristocracy were ascendant, that is not to say that the latter were not jealous guardians of their privileges, or that privileges for them were always a synonym for duties. The Tory- ism of the landed gentry was seldom pure disinterestedness, though the services rendered by a landowner in the past were often taken seriously and dutifully. None the less, the author of this book gives us many clues to what he means by "Toryism," and I think it is in the tradition, and somewhat different from the virtues claimed by any other party. Sir Ernest Barker, who writes a Fore- word to this book, gives special prominence to the author's refer- ence to " nature, family, inheritance . . . and a certain mystery." In regard to the second word, "family," I submit that Sir Ernest has got the author just wrong. He assumes that Lord Hinchingbrooke is referring to the principle of aristocracy ; he proceeds to pour out praises on aristocratic leaders who illustrate the " tradition of a good family." But when Lord Hinchingbrooke speaks of the benefit be- stowed by the family in the nation's life—" that tiny but vital cell in the national growth "—he is speaking of something "occurring in ten million homes "; he is not praising an exclusive class, as Sir Ernest so strangely concludes. He is not out to champion the cause of " blue-blood." If I were looking among the author's sentences for the key-words, I should find them in authority (not " authoritarianism "), personality, character, patriotism, adventure, leaders and leadership, works, freedom, tradition, happiness.
Here are words every one of which might be the text of a philosophy, and there is some hint of philosophic background in the author's use of them, though he makes no claim to be a philo- sopher. But there is behind all these speeches and articles a mode of thinking, a consistent habit of mind, half realistic, half idealistic, which gives them the character of being something much more than political in the ordinary sense of the word, springing from the essen- tials of human experience and personality, with its individual spiri- tual values. One feels that the author approaches politics through persons, and hence he refuses to attach himself to an ideology. But he does attach himself to concepts. The concepts of the British nation and the British Empire are very real for him—and this is fully in the Tory tradition—and these, for him peculiarly, carry with them the essentially " British view of life," which is that of demo- cracy and freedom. Lord Hinchingbrooke, it should be added, has no small gift of expressing himself in the English language, and there are passages in which he reaches eloquence. This book shows him to be among the most thoughtful and brilliant of the younger Members of Parliament.
R. A. SCOTT-JAMES.
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