Lord Sumption, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2012-2018), in conversation with Dr Tom Simpson, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, as part of the series International Perspectives on Conservatism.

Conservatism has been a continual theme of political discourse since the foundation of modern democracies in the nineteenth century. Conservatives have been in power in Britain, France and the United States for most of their modern history. Yet conservatism is a chameleon, a shifting compromise with more radical political traditions. This has led to its being condemned, not least by conservatives themselves, as an incoherent and unprincipled quest for power. Yet there are consistent ideas behind conservative thought which explain why it has been such a powerful force in the political life of the leading western democracies.

Biography

Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, OBE, PC, FSA, FRHistS, KC is a renowned historian and former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He is the author of several books on medieval history and modern constitutional issues, including an acclaimed five-volume history of the Hundred Years’ War, the third volume of which won the 2009 Wolfson History Prize. He also gave the BBC Reith Lectures (Law and the Decline of Politics) in 2019.

Lord Sumption is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research at London University, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and was a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College in 2019-20.