This must be a first for any politician to publicly invoke Oakeshott. Of course we all know that Thatcher invoked Hayek. I have been assured by correspondents of mine in the know that it it highly unlikely that Howard has read any Oakeshott but that Howard “is a quick absorber of ideas he finds useful. He has had some good and well-read speechwriters.” Another has written saying that “I have not been aware that he [Howard] has ever referred to Oakeshott before this and it is quite a while since he has described himself as a conservative – lately preferring ‘nationalist’ – but that is the pragmatism of politics. (I feel that the current Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, may well have read a bit of MO though).” So all in all political glove-puppetry is alive and well.
PM’s speech on indigenous recognition.
Their roots lie in a Burkean respect for custom and cultural tradition and the hidden chain of obligations that binds a community together. In the world of practical politics they owe much to the desire for national cohesion Disraeli spoke to in 19th Century Britain – another time of great economic and social change. And in a literary sense they find echoes in Michael Oakeshott’s conservatism and the sense of loss should precious things disappear.
manwithoutqualities 