Content area
Full Text
Cameron's Conservative Party: poverty family policy and welfare reform
It is the Conservative Party that is the champion of progressive ideals in Britain today ... If you care about poverty, if you care about inequality ... forget about the Labour Party ... If you count yourself a progressive, a true progressive, only we can achieve real change. (Cameron, 2008b)
In this cheeky piece of political cross-dressing, David Cameron gave notice that he intended to move his troops firmly on to Labour political territory. He underlined the centrality of the issues of poverty and inequality to the new Conservative agenda. In the same piece he wrote that social justice was one of the 'priorities for the modern Conservative Party'.
In this article we explore this apparent revolution in modern Conservative Party thinking and how Cameron's Conservatives have identified poverty, in particular, as a major problem to be addressed by 'true progressives'. We then analyse their diagnosis of the problem and their prescription for change, based on statements and policy documents available at the time of writing (early March 201 0).
Recognition of the problem: the rehabilitation of the 'p' and T words
Considerable credit for the recognition of poverty as a problem, and one with which the modern Conservative Party must engage, lies with its former leader, lain Duncan Smith. During a visit to Glasgow's Easterhouse in 2002, Duncan Smith underwent a Damascene awakening when, he explained, he first understood 'the sheer desperation of the lives of people on society's margins' (Brindle, 2006; see also Derbyshire, 201 0).
When he was replaced as leader, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), with a number of members of the Conservative front bench on its advisory board. Its Executive Director, Philippa Stroud, describes the CSJ as the 'heartbeat and conscience' of the Tory party (Gentleman, 2009). The CSJ has hosted the Social Justice Policy Group (SJPG), chaired by Duncan Smith, which was commissioned by David Cameron 'to make policy recommendations to the Conservative Party on issues of social justice' (SJPG, 2006a, 2). This resulted in two reports: Breakdown Britain (2006a) and Breakthrough Britain (2007). In his 2009 party conference speech, Cameron praised Duncan Smith as 'the man who has dedicated himself to the cause of...