Culture eats strategy for breakfast*, and politics for lunch and dinner
A strong economy can only be built on the foundation of strong culture
I’m currently immersed in an extensive and illuminating exploration of biblical and Christian history, in a quest to make sense of the world and my role in it. “How to live?” is, I think, the only question worth answering for a sentient being.
It’s deepened my reflection on the parallels between how both political and religious beliefs operate as memes, and why some succeed and others fail.1
Meme transmission is identical to Darwinian selection. Only the strong survive.
Thatcher is the ultimate conservative meme. People claim that she really would or would not have supported Brexit/lockdown/any number of policies - to enable them to claim legitimacy for - or to debunk - their present day ideas.
Just as Christian scholars try to establish if St Paul really wrote his letters, or whether the idea of the Holy Trinity was included in the Bible.
People ferret around in the weeds, seeking witnesses to provide testimony to their truth.
With Thatcher, it is irrelevant. She embodied something so strong it overrode any small disagreements.
My amateur scholarship journey has brought me close to the end of “The History of the Bible” by John Barton which is a magisterial work of scholarship on the world’s most important text. In its later chapters, he explores how Christians’ attitudes to the Bible have evolved. And how practising Christians today largely overlook the pretty big differences of opinion that divided scholars for centuries on the literal historical truth or otherwise of the Bible and Jesus.
When you pause to think about it, it is odd that when I go to church, nobody stops me at the door and asks me what I believe in. I’m not expected to sign up to a set of rigid beliefs. Yes I do profess my faith, but only I can see into my own heart and know the truth in the moment. People come to church for a lot of things, fellowship, ritual, quietness, the sublime, peace amongst them - belief in God is frankly optional.
There’s a beautiful line in Barton’s book.
“In the early 20th century a kind of calm descended on the study of the Bible. More radical approaches had been assimilated by many of those who led the churches, and it was discovered they could be lived with”
In those few simple words, a lot rests!
People accepted and valued that there was something greater than ephemeral human disagreements over doctrine.
And so today it seems to me that the dividing line between weak and strong cultures is that strong ones enable their adherents to “live with” differences. Hence the astonishing survival of an ancient religion such as Judaism and later Christianity - and later still the political platform of the “natural party of government”- Conservatism.
For Conservatism is a powerful and strong cultural meme, despite its present difficulties in today’s party and in government. Where Conservatism can and must regain its power and voter appeal is by weaving itself more forcefully into the warp and weft of the psychology of the British people.
A strong culture does not need to insist on groupthink, badges, “days” for this or that cause, slogans or virtue signalling. It only requires citizens to “live with” their differences, which ultimately do not matter, because we are all British.
There is more to Conservatism than manifestos and leadership battles or clever policy. It must be framed as the only coherent way to understand how our citizens do things.2 No political party has a right to exist or be in power. But the fundamental way of life that defines our values is more strongly aligned to a humble understanding of our people than any other political idea.
I’m often struck by the chasm that exists between people’s idea of what Conservative MPs think and what they actually think. So much so that when I entered the Commons I was amazed that we could ever coalesce around something as detailed as an Act of Parliament. It's easy to agree on big bland ideas like low taxes, but the second you consider implementation, costs and choices, the consensus can splinter before you walk through the voting lobby.
But in the words of John Barton, we discover that despite sometimes bitter disagreements, these are things that can be lived with, because the greater task still lies before us.
That task is strengthening our culture. A strong economy can only flow from a strong culture, and any other bureaucratic managerial approach to our economy which tosses about on top of a weak and division-ridden foundation will flounder.
We’ve been rocked by economic and global shocks, and are facing severe headwinds. Progressivism is a dark force that weakens institutions and threatens ordinary people who depend on them in their time of need.
The Archbishop of Canterbury does not speak for Christians when he says that the government’s Rwanda policy is ungodly. Jesus did not say that we must be neighbours to the whole world. Welby’s proclamations only serve to make quiet decent lifelong Christians in churches around the country despairingly depart the pews, never to return.
He follows in a long tradition of church leaders claiming to have a monopoly to interpret Bible wisdom which has not always gone well for them.
A strong culture does not need to insist on groupthink, badges, “days” for this or that cause, slogans or virtue signalling. It only requires citizens to “live with” their differences, which ultimately do not matter, because we are all British. A strong culture would deter British people from identifying with jihadis marching on the streets of our cities chanting “free Palestine” - a place where they have never been and know absolutely nothing about except what they have been brainwashed into thinking by the idiotic infants on the left.
A strong culture would agree that the state owes nobody a living, that we all have a responsibility to give not just to demand, that we are fortunate to live in the best country in the world and that it is up to us to keep it that way.
A strong culture gives birth to a strong economy, and it is evident to me our current weaknesses flow from cultural and political deficiencies.
Cultural strength creates optimum attractiveness for entrepreneurs and wealth creators, the only engine of wealth and prosperity on the planet. “The business of business is business”3 in the words of Milton Friedman. From that clarity of purpose the fruits of freedom flow for everyone in society.
A foundation of cultural strength frees citizens to live in acceptance and grace in a nation, welcomed because of the content of their character not superficial outer characteristics, be they race, faith or sex.
Robust leadership in a government founded on strong cultural values would mandate it to confine itself to only the things it can do. In this sphere, self help is expected and demanded of each person fortunate enough to be living in the best country in the world.
Our country is culturally conservative - you can see that in the way that the Labour party, riding high in the polls, is garnering support for its idea of “securonomics”. Our current government has failed to demonstrate how it can deliver those things that people want to feel secure and confident in their families, homes and neighbourhoods.
Yet the Labour party, its progressive friends and allies applauded by the chorus of lefty commentary pouring into our ears from every media outlet will never make peace with the idea that some things “can be lived with”. They will always, always die in a ditch over identities and divisions, as they are now doing over Israel and Gaza. As a politician who has cultivated deep expertise in what my political opponents think, learned the hard way in hand to hand combat on the streets of Labour heartlands, I can tell you for a fact these divisions are not new and they haven’t gone away despite Sir Keir’s valiant efforts to sanitise them.
We Conservatives must be determined to learn from our current malaise and regroup. Only the centre right can provide a strong culture because in our hearts, we are united by a strong commitment to the bigger things, the things we know we can and must live with, in the service of our great nation.
Links
Waking up from Woke from Bari Weiss’s Free Press is well worth your time
A Jewish friend recommends the next book on my reading list, it is time for me to learn more about Judaism. Will be reading “Sabbath” by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
She also sent me this statement of Jewish values. I agree with every word
Discovered a fantastic new TV show on Apple TV. “Make or Break” about surfers, waves, nature, but more about human psychology. The camera work lets you surf through the barrel of an ocean wave
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. I had him as a tutor at Oxford, I remember him talking about the meme idea which seemed ground breaking at the time.
The title of this piece is taken from the immortal Peter Drucker who described culture in any organisation as “the way we do things around here”. Read any of his work to understand the small p politics of the civil service. More useful in my business career than any other insight
This interview from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella considers this idea and much more