A conference held in London this week was subjected to an extraordinary onslaught on social and mainstream media from people who weaponised antisemitism against it.
The conference was on National Conservatism, a concept developed by the Israeli-American philosopher and political theorist Yoram Hazony. Through his key insight that attachment to the nation is a core component of conservatism, he has launched an attempt to reclaim for the west authentically conservative principles that have become muddled and uncertain.
As a result of this confusion, conservatism is failing to protect the western nation-state against the progressive ideologies that threaten to destroy its culture.
The conference, at which I was one of the speakers, explored where conservatism went wrong and what it should be promoting.
The gathering provided a rare safe space for subjects that many have become too frightened to discuss, such as the transgender cult, the damaging impact of mass immigration and the need to restore the traditional family.
Those who express such views usually find themselves the targets of intimidation, smears and character assassination. So, unsurprisingly, the reaction of the left to the conference’s attempt to reinvigorate conservatism was to smear its organisers and speakers as fascists, antisemites and nutjobs.
The reason for such vitriol was that, to the left, promoting the traditional family, immigration controls and biological sex — mainstream views for millions of decent, civilised people — is akin to fascism.
Worse, however, were the false claims of antisemitism made to smear conference participants.
One of the speakers, the journalist and author Douglas Murray, talked in his keynote address about the need to have pride in one’s nation. Making the point that nationalism was given a bad name by Nazi Germany, he said, “I see no reason why every other country in the world should be prevented from feeling pride in itself because the Germans mucked up twice in a century.”
This provoked an instant meltdown on Twitter. Murray was accused of minimising Nazism and the Holocaust and being himself some kind of fascist and Jew-hater. Melanie Phillips.
