Tory Inspiration

Republicans Love David Cameron

Look across the pond for party rehab strategy.

Republican Party leaders are looking to Britain, to David Cameron's resuscitation of the Conservative party, for inspiration on how to revive their nearly comatose party. The Telegraph reports that three major conservative thinkers are on board. As the Telegraph put it, Bush speechwriter David Frum "advocated modernizing the Republican Party along Cameroonian lines" in his 2007 book. A year ago, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that Republicans should take cues from Cameron's Conservatives, who "want voters to think of the Tories as the party of society while Labour is the party of the state." Later, The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes told party members to "pay attention" to Cameron because "What worked in Britain may work in America—probably a lot of it." Cameron's chief tactic? Appealing to moderate Republicans who think he's socially liberal and fiscally conservative.