The future of the centre right in the UK is in flux.  The Conservative Party wholeheartedly adopted a form of populist nationalism under Boris Johnson and then small state libertarianism under Liz Truss.  Both experiments ended badly.  Rishi Sunak has sought to provide a period of calm but the Conservatives trail badly in the opinion polls and may well face an election defeat.  In any event, it is clear that there is a growing debate about the future direction of centre right politics in the UK.

All too often, this debate has been dominated by those who want to embrace an approach that may appeal to the Conservative base but will fail to deliver a prosperous, sustainable and less polarised society.  Policies that make it harder to trade with important markets, are fiscally irresponsible, ignore environmental challenges or try to provoke culture wars would be bad for the country and further alienate those who might be sympathetic to centre right values.  Instead, now is the time to make the case for liberal centre right values and an approach to politics that is practical, engaged in addressing long term problems and willing to recognise that policy can be complex and involves trade-offs.   The future of the centre right must involve the recognition of the importance of institutions, especially the rule of law, the benefits of internationalism and be fiscally responsible and realistic.  That case needs to be made and I am very grateful to all the contributors for making it in this book.