The not-so-global conservative movement

David Brooks has a column in The New York Times entitled ‘The Conservative Revival’, which argues that American conservatives (who are on their way down) should learn from British conservatives (who are on their way up). It seems to me that Brooks is a little free and easy with his assessment of the state of the Tories: yes, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is looking vulnerable after last week’s local elections and Boris Johnson’s election as Mayor of London. On the other hand, the next general election is still years away and there are plenty of Tory weaknesses for Labour to exploit (including the Etonian background of much of the Opposition front bench).

But the observation that really stuck out for me was this one: ‘(Tory leader David) Cameron describes a new global movement, with rising center-right parties in Sweden, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, California and New York’. To quote John Howard in a different context: ‘hello?!?’ Brendan Nelson will be delighted, but slightly discombobulated, to hear that the Liberal Party is on the up-and-up.