The Strange Case of Tory Anarchism

What have Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, Peter Cook, Spike Milligan and, more recently, Chris Morris got in common? They are all Tory anarchists – which sounds like a contradiction in terms – but Peter Wilkin explains why it is not.

Surely conservatism and anarchism are opposites? Tories respect and venerate tradition whilst anarchists want to smash the system. And how can figures as politically distinct as George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh be similar? Part dandy, part fogey, part anti-establishment satirist, sometime nostalgist for lost empire, the Tory anarchist is a walking contradiction, with only his distrust of all politicians, ideologies and utopias to keep him together. From Cobbett and Swift through to Chris Morris, The Strange Case of Tory Anarchism explores an awkward strain of good-old-fashioned Englishness that refuses to conform.