Airstrip One

Real Libertarians?

The Telegraph is all aquiver about a proposed "Libertarian Conservative" breakaway. Now I'm not going to go into the practicalities, although I have reservations on that.

What I would find interesting would be how Libertarian they are on foreign policy. Already they say that they are dismayed by the party's turn on Europe. So their solution to the decline in poll ratings will be to dump the only popular Tory policy at the moment.

Now how can Libertarianism apply to foreign policy? Well it should be a no-brainer. Libertarianism calls for the state to be stripped to its essential functions (I won't go into anarcho-capitalism). Therefore defence is OK, but worrying about religious diversity in the Middle East or the price of oil is about as relevant as funding lesbian collectives in Camden.

However knowing the way in which most British Libertarians and young right wing Tories think, there will be one hundred and one excuses to be made to basically follow Americans.

One can't blame them, after all it's what Maggie would do. Unfortunately they still think that they are libertarian in any realistic sense of the word.