Atlas / Comparisons / Neoliberalism vs UK Conservative Party
Neoliberalism and UK Conservative Party
Measured distance across six axes
The same broad family. They agree within three points on EC, SC, CH. No axis separates them by eight points or more.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Mont Pèlerin, Chicago | Tories | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +09 | +06 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +01 | +05 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −02 | +02 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +02 | +03 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −02 | +03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −02 | −05 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · ID −02
Coded mildly universalist: free movement of capital, goods and, for most exponents, labour.
- ScholarshipFriedman and Hayek both defended open immigration in principle, with Friedman qualifying it against a welfare state.
Tories · ID +03
Coded +5 on migration policy rather than ancestry.
- Documented act or statuteThe Rwanda removals policy was legislated in 2024 and found unlawful by the supreme court in 2023.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Neoliberalism
1947– · International
Market competition as the organising principle of policy, insulated from democratic interference by rules and independent institutions.
UK Conservative Party
1834– · Britain
Fiscal restraint, national sovereignty, property ownership, controlled migration, gradualism.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas