Examine the account of the role of the state provided by the Liberal New Right and consider its impact on policy of the British Conservative Party.

The liberal New Right as an Ideology can be traced back many years, Liberalism as a philosophy dates back to the 17th Century. There are two strands of political thought within Liberalism; these have been described as ‘Classical liberalism’ and ‘Modern liberalism’. The Ideology of the liberal new right draws more on the ‘Classical’ rather than ‘Modern’ view due to it’s emphasis upon minimal state intervention, whereas modern liberals argue for the State to hold more prevalence over welfare and economical issues. Features of Liberal New Right (Neo-Liberal) thinking in relation to the role of the state, involve such things as; a minimal, but strong state with a policy of laissez-fare politics, this has been summed up as “private, good; public, bad” (Heywood p81), maintenance of law and order and free market policy, each will be examined here with a view to the effect they’ve co…(short extract)