If the Conservatives are now committed to a philosophy of inequality, they are no longer conservatives

Recent revelations about David Cameron’s personal finances have chimed with wider debates about wealth inequality. The episode has not only raised questions about the way in which disparities of income are legitimated, but it has also led some to suggest that Britain’s social elite is engaged in the ‘veiled pursuit of the interests of one class against another’. But for commentators to see – and for Conservatives to treat – the defence of inequality as a core conservative commitment is to misunderstand the character of conservative ideology, argues Dean Blackburn.