If we don't defend free markets, who will?

In the mid to late 1970s Jim Callaghan and Denis Healey, rocked by the collapse of "In Place of Strife" and the ensuing Winter of Discontent, lost their confidence and stopped defending collectivisation, trades unionism and nationalisation. This created the political space needed for Maragaret Thatcher to privatise state assets and roll back the post-war Butskill consensus.

For too long now the Conservative Party has failed to defend the free market. For too long now we have sat by and allowed a narrative to take hold which confuses globalisation and capitalism with free markets and consumer choice, to a point where public mood has now turned.

And now we have headlines like this:

Globalisation and corporate greed are not the same as entrepreneurship, competition and choice.

Unless we stand up for free markets we will have allowed, in fact created, the space for Socialism to return.

And we will only have ourselves to blame.