You can understand why a global conservative organisation, soaked in muscular traditionalism and religiosity, would call themselves the “ARC”. The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship — founded by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and Tory peer Philippa Stroud — is holding its annual conference in London this week, timed ideally for the relative monotony of parliamentary recess. So far, both Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform chief Nigel Farage have addressed delegates — as the competition for cultural clout intensifies on the British right.
For the religious right, the acronym “ARC” [sic] will inspire the image of a safe vessel — mighty and divine — constructed ahead of a civilisational cataclysm. Right-wingers arrive two-by-two — Peterson and Stroud, Badenoch and Farage — to simultaneously protect and practise the principles of their ascendant strand of paranoid conservatism. Despite recent advances — notably by Donald Trump in the United States, the ARC worldview requires its patrons to fear an unrelenting, apocalyptic siege. That provides for the imperative of protection.
Old Testament allusion aside, the word “arc” also refers to the development or resolution of a principal theme, typically in literary or theatrical sense. It is in these terms that Peterson’s conclave this week is best understood. In her address on Monday, Badenoch in particular exhibited her understanding of and appreciation for the ARC narrative. Warning of an imminent societal collapse, she argued that the Conservative Party has acted for centuries as a civilisational bulwark — the frontier legion defending Britain’s political order from encroaching barbarians.
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This is comfortable territory for Badenoch. Unlike some of her predecessors as Conservative leader, we have no reason to doubt Badenoch’s fervent belief in the worldview she propounds. This was no performance; the Tory leader’s speech demanded no ideological contortion. When it comes to Badenoch’s politics, what you see is what you get. There is no need for finer scrutiny or deep doctrinal analysis. Her influences, modes and motivations are manifest.
Indeed, Badenoch addressed ARC’s inaugural conference last year in its own — and her — terms. There can be no meaningful differentiation. In a sit-down with UnHerd editor-in-chief Freddie Sayers, she told the conference floor that “silly things like pronouns” and considering “people’s skin colour” were distracting the UK from major challenges like the rise of China.
The world has undergone transformational change since Badenoch last addressed ARC activists. But her remarks yesterday were in effect identical.
Badenoch began appropriately. “Western civilisation is in crisis”, she informed nodding delegates. “Our ideas and our culture have dominated the world for well over two centuries. This is not a crisis of values, it’s a crisis of confidence that has set in at exactly the same time that we face existential threats.”
The Conservative leader continued: “We know that the West has given the world amazing ideas and values, from democracy and free markets to our banking systems, yet around us, we see so much cultural and economic decline.
“We doubt ourselves. We doubt our ability to build like our predecessors Did. We doubt liberal values of tolerance or free trade, demanding a post-liberal world.”
She went on to critique “leftwing progressivism” and its various manifestations in Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practises, climate activism and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). She reserved particular scorn for Keir Starmer, whom she derided for “taking the knee” during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
The prime minister “was cowed by the mob”, Badenoch said. For the Conservative leader, the PM’s bent knee — which no one beyond the Online Right or those who cover it remembers — epitomes the West’s “weakness”.
Then came a warning about mass migration. Badenoch suggested some of those who come to Britain bring “behaviours, cultures and practices” that undermine Western civilisation. She added: “They find common cause with our useful idiots who don’t appreciate their own inheritance.”
Trump came in for praise. The US president, Badenoch said, is “showing that sometimes you need that first stint in government to spot the problems, but it’s the second time around when you really know how to fix them.”
For those who have been paying attention to Badenoch’s tenure as Tory leader, these pronouncements will prove no cause for surprise. She has referenced the “take the knee” trope in several sessions of prime minister’s questions. And in a speech late last year at a dinner hosted by the International Democracy Union Forum (another global conservative organisation), she blasted “Progressive Authoritarianism”. To make her point, Badenoch quoted the film The Usual Suspects: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”
She clarified: “That is the trick that our opponents on the left, whatever you want to call them — communists, socialists, in this country they call them liberal — I don’t know why, there’s nothing liberal about them.”
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Badenoch’s worldview is unapologetically uncomplicated, steely in its simplicity. On just about every issue — particularly those cultural ones that concern the Online Right — her pronouncements are predictable. Despite advocating the “small target” strategy pursued by Starmer in opposition from 2020-2024, what — after just three months — more is there to learn about Kemi Badenoch and her politics?
The incumbent Conservative leader is doing what Liz Truss did upon leaving office: performing for radical right institutes and conservative “movements”. There is no ostensible strategy. There is no gain to be found in courting Jordan Peterson. Badenoch’s worldview demands ideological maximalism at every possible moment. There can be no room for temperance or concession. This is simply what Badenoch thinks. Therefore she does it.
After all, the Tory leader is not policing the border between the mainstream and the online fringe. She is opening the floodgates — one intervention at a time.
That is before we consider Badenoch’s speech yesterday in the context of international developments. The Conservative leader’s consideration of civilisational threats did not include any acknowledgement of the geopolitical ructions the European continent is currently undergoing. The decision to praise US president Donald Trump as “fixing” things — indeed the decision to deliver the speech at all — reflects a distinct lack of strategic awareness.
Starmer will appreciate the dichotomy. As he negotiated with fellow European leaders in Paris over an agreed stance on the future Ukraine, Badenoch took to the stage to denounce “cultural” threats before a mainly American audience.
New YouGov polling released today speaks to the pitfalls of issuing such sweeping statements when the British public — far from enamoured with the current government — could be genuinely considering the Conservative Party’s offer. On the month, the number who hold a negative view of Badenoch has increased from 46 per cent to 51 per cent, while the number with a positive view fell from 22 per cent to 17 per cent.
The Conservative leader’s struggles, it is often commented, have not prompted a wider strategic rethink. Her PMQs style remains maladroitly scattergun; her charm offensive on the Online Right, the cultural space in which ARC operates, is intensifying.
That, more than anything, should concern those Conservative MPs and activists for whom a sense of “buyer’s remorse” may already be crystallising.
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