Benjamin Thomas
@benjthomas.bsky.social
Political Ideologies, 20th Century Centre-Right, Neoliberalisms, Thought in Political Parties of UK & DE, Transnational discourses and the conjuncture
benjaminjthomas.net
benjaminjthomas.net
Etwas kleines - Thatcher und Joseph gründeten die Centre for Policy Studies, nicht die IEA.
Aber das ist ein tolles Wortspiel.
Aber das ist ein tolles Wortspiel.
October 20, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Etwas kleines - Thatcher und Joseph gründeten die Centre for Policy Studies, nicht die IEA.
Aber das ist ein tolles Wortspiel.
Aber das ist ein tolles Wortspiel.
Here's the names acknowledged in Hamilton's 'Foundations of Alignment' basically an EDS manifesto. Half become quite significant figures in politics and civil service (with Wikipedia pages and the lot) and the other half are a pain to track down, if even possible.
[There is an EDS alumni network]
[There is an EDS alumni network]
October 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Here's the names acknowledged in Hamilton's 'Foundations of Alignment' basically an EDS manifesto. Half become quite significant figures in politics and civil service (with Wikipedia pages and the lot) and the other half are a pain to track down, if even possible.
[There is an EDS alumni network]
[There is an EDS alumni network]
Ashford was less of a diplomat and more ideological, involved with libertarian circles. He became an academic, contributing to noteworthy Layton-Henry volume, but then went into the American conservative networks, as a long-running Program Officer for the Institute for Humane Studies.
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Ashford was less of a diplomat and more ideological, involved with libertarian circles. He became an academic, contributing to noteworthy Layton-Henry volume, but then went into the American conservative networks, as a long-running Program Officer for the Institute for Humane Studies.
Hamilton works for the party for a time and then becomes a lobbyist in the UK and Brussels. His career seems to have gone dark after he and his partners (or at least his firm) were involved in the Priti Patel lobbying scandal (remember that?).
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Hamilton works for the party for a time and then becomes a lobbyist in the UK and Brussels. His career seems to have gone dark after he and his partners (or at least his firm) were involved in the Priti Patel lobbying scandal (remember that?).
The careers of EDS functionaries are interesting things. At the apex for centre-right student politics they could be the big step before national office or a dead end. Looking at EDS execs in this period is indicative. A number of these people went into national politics
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
The careers of EDS functionaries are interesting things. At the apex for centre-right student politics they could be the big step before national office or a dead end. Looking at EDS execs in this period is indicative. A number of these people went into national politics
Hamilton who is on the cover of the book, was a Chairman of the EDS and then Head of the Conservative International Office. Ashford was Hamilton's Secretary General 1976-78. This was the EDS’s great moment of Europeanisation but also the beginning of its end.
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Hamilton who is on the cover of the book, was a Chairman of the EDS and then Head of the Conservative International Office. Ashford was Hamilton's Secretary General 1976-78. This was the EDS’s great moment of Europeanisation but also the beginning of its end.
I wonder how much thought and discussion (from author and publisher) went into this copy and what word choices will be used for the next one.
October 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I wonder how much thought and discussion (from author and publisher) went into this copy and what word choices will be used for the next one.
I would imagine that this newspaper article was probably the first (and only?) to read Margaret Thatcher alongside Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Jusos.
September 12, 2025 at 8:09 AM
I would imagine that this newspaper article was probably the first (and only?) to read Margaret Thatcher alongside Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Jusos.
Really dispiriting reading this article about Reeves' comments about regulators to a venture capital and private equity summit. The implied subservience from regulators and government to business, and the finance behind it, is telling.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
September 11, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Really dispiriting reading this article about Reeves' comments about regulators to a venture capital and private equity summit. The implied subservience from regulators and government to business, and the finance behind it, is telling.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Rogaly did respond in his next column, with some snarky comments clearly engaging with Wassell's response. What is interesting here is the engagement with social markets as not just the moment of Währungsreform but in the context of developments in subsequent decades.
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Rogaly did respond in his next column, with some snarky comments clearly engaging with Wassell's response. What is interesting here is the engagement with social markets as not just the moment of Währungsreform but in the context of developments in subsequent decades.
The CPS responded with a Letter to the Editor later that week. It's fascinating to see the acceptance that West Germany had deviated from ordoliberalism but a doubling down on them. Here West Germans hadn't deviated from social markets because of the emergence of new challenges, their deviation from
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
The CPS responded with a Letter to the Editor later that week. It's fascinating to see the acceptance that West Germany had deviated from ordoliberalism but a doubling down on them. Here West Germans hadn't deviated from social markets because of the emergence of new challenges, their deviation from
An interesting response came from Joe Rogaly of the FT, who wrote a piece on how dated the focus on social markets was. This theory/history may have been relevant in the late 1940s when it was seen to kickstart the economic miracle, but it simply wasn't relevant in West Germany anymore where the
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
An interesting response came from Joe Rogaly of the FT, who wrote a piece on how dated the focus on social markets was. This theory/history may have been relevant in the late 1940s when it was seen to kickstart the economic miracle, but it simply wasn't relevant in West Germany anymore where the
Check out this letter from Simon Webley of the CPS to the economic historian Bob Coats. Not only is the social market identified as the focus of the CPS, it mentions a seminar held with Sir Paul Chambers, who had been actively involved in the reforms.
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Check out this letter from Simon Webley of the CPS to the economic historian Bob Coats. Not only is the social market identified as the focus of the CPS, it mentions a seminar held with Sir Paul Chambers, who had been actively involved in the reforms.
People may be vaguely familiar with the term 'social market economy' in relation to the early Centre for Policy Studies, whose first publication was 'Why Britain needs a Social Market Economy' or Andrew Gamble's work in the 1970s on 'social market doctrine'.
socialistregister.com/index.php/sr...
socialistregister.com/index.php/sr...
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
People may be vaguely familiar with the term 'social market economy' in relation to the early Centre for Policy Studies, whose first publication was 'Why Britain needs a Social Market Economy' or Andrew Gamble's work in the 1970s on 'social market doctrine'.
socialistregister.com/index.php/sr...
socialistregister.com/index.php/sr...
I'm chuffed that the edited volume 'Conservatism, Christian Democracy and the dynamics of transformation' is now out, including my chapter 'Britain's social market moment', which includes the most interesting finding from my PhD thesis, the transnational influence of West Germany on Thatcherism.
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
I'm chuffed that the edited volume 'Conservatism, Christian Democracy and the dynamics of transformation' is now out, including my chapter 'Britain's social market moment', which includes the most interesting finding from my PhD thesis, the transnational influence of West Germany on Thatcherism.
As a follow up and linked to my analogy of football support: if it is illegal to wear a shirt that can be read as bearing the name of a terrorist group, Tottenham Hotspur and many Spurs fans (and Tottenham residents), may be at risk of prosecution.
August 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
As a follow up and linked to my analogy of football support: if it is illegal to wear a shirt that can be read as bearing the name of a terrorist group, Tottenham Hotspur and many Spurs fans (and Tottenham residents), may be at risk of prosecution.
Spiked is likewise a range of companies but the figures on the accounts I've seen (for Spiked, Academy of Ideas, and Ideas Matter) are far smaller for revenue and expenditure, suggesting that speakers are generally not paid.
August 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Spiked is likewise a range of companies but the figures on the accounts I've seen (for Spiked, Academy of Ideas, and Ideas Matter) are far smaller for revenue and expenditure, suggesting that speakers are generally not paid.
Television and Film Productions is profitable but opaque about its revenue streams, with almost all coming from 'rendering of services' - although opacity is common for company accounts. I do think it's noteworthy that a third of the income is listed as coming from overseas.
August 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Television and Film Productions is profitable but opaque about its revenue streams, with almost all coming from 'rendering of services' - although opacity is common for company accounts. I do think it's noteworthy that a third of the income is listed as coming from overseas.
I had a look at the accounts (disclaimer, not an accountant). So the festival is nominally run by the company Art and Ideas Limited which makes a massive annual loss. However that company is a subsidiary of a bigger company Television and Film Productions Ltd who makes up for the losses.
August 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I had a look at the accounts (disclaimer, not an accountant). So the festival is nominally run by the company Art and Ideas Limited which makes a massive annual loss. However that company is a subsidiary of a bigger company Television and Film Productions Ltd who makes up for the losses.
A bit too quick with the press release
August 5, 2025 at 5:12 PM
A bit too quick with the press release
Instead of narratives of an inevitable slide to neoliberalism or the political right, I emphasise how the adoption of the language of social markets fits with internal discursive trends for modernisation, an ideological refresh and futurity.
August 5, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Instead of narratives of an inevitable slide to neoliberalism or the political right, I emphasise how the adoption of the language of social markets fits with internal discursive trends for modernisation, an ideological refresh and futurity.
My argument suggests that existing literature on the EPP has focused too much on the EPP itself as a rational actor and insufficiently on the discursive production of the wider Christian democratic political network.
August 5, 2025 at 10:02 AM
My argument suggests that existing literature on the EPP has focused too much on the EPP itself as a rational actor and insufficiently on the discursive production of the wider Christian democratic political network.
Happy to share the publication of my new article, ‘Universalizing the social market economy c.1978: stepping away from institutions and towards discourse’ in European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Thread⌄
Thread⌄
August 5, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Happy to share the publication of my new article, ‘Universalizing the social market economy c.1978: stepping away from institutions and towards discourse’ in European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Thread⌄
Thread⌄
My next article is in final proofs so I thought I'd tease it by sharing the vignette that the article opens on. Jean-Claude Juncker in Bottrop, 2018.
I remember visiting my aunt and uncle for the holidays, running out of easy conversation topics, and watching this on the news.
I remember visiting my aunt and uncle for the holidays, running out of easy conversation topics, and watching this on the news.
July 30, 2025 at 6:55 AM
My next article is in final proofs so I thought I'd tease it by sharing the vignette that the article opens on. Jean-Claude Juncker in Bottrop, 2018.
I remember visiting my aunt and uncle for the holidays, running out of easy conversation topics, and watching this on the news.
I remember visiting my aunt and uncle for the holidays, running out of easy conversation topics, and watching this on the news.
An example from British political history. More the name of a faction than a book, but overlapping.
July 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
An example from British political history. More the name of a faction than a book, but overlapping.