From hegemony to Herrschaft? the growth and potential of a reactionary strain of politics on the British Right

Abstract

This article argues that a reactionary mode of politics is emerging and informing more and more debate on the British Right. It defines reaction as 1) historicist attacks on liberal institutions or proxies, 2) the assertion of an anti-historicist ‘birth-culture’ axiom and 3) a platform of the ‘racialisation’ of welfare and the targeting of welfare in ways which promotes traditionalist values. It then assesses the published works of Nick Timothy, former chief of staff to Theresa May, and Munira Mirza, former political advisor to Boris Johnson, to assess the degree to which a reactionary mode of politics is present within the Party. I argue that both adopt political ontologies consistent with reaction, especially in mounting attacks on liberalism and “identity politics”, and that this ontological starting point allows both Timothy and Mirza to assert visions of society which serve to justify the reassertion of authority and inequality. It concludes by arguing that the Conservative Party’s increasing abandonment of pluralism in favour of Herrschaft, authority, over the British polity is an indication that the reactionary position is influential on the contemporary British Right.