ABSTRACT
Every once in a while questions arise as to whether some leader of a conservative party is really faithful to conservatism: Is David Cameron an authentic conservative? Was Margaret Thatcher? Leaders of conservative parties, if confronted with such doubts, usually rush to assert their truly conservative credentials – just as Cameron has done more than once – while fellow party members, journalists, and other commentators weigh in on both sides of the dispute. There is something at stake in such disputes, or so it seems. Yet what does it take to be a true conservative? Can the question be answered plausibly in more than one way? And on what grounds, if any, can we dismiss at least some claims to being truly conservative?
