Dialogue

Brown’s Britain is Bankrupt

June 2009

Frank Field MP and political theorist Jeremy Jennings discuss liberty, equality and the ethics of public life with Standpoint editor Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson: Parliament is supposed to be the guardian of liberty, but it seems rather that its members have been taking liberties. The result is a great upsurge of righteous indignation, a demand for equality in the name of justice. The ruling class, the political class, deserve to be swept away — off to the tumbrils with them! It's a Jacobin mood. Get out the guillotine! 

We can joke about it, but there have been real revolutions. Frank, seeing as you're on the receiving end: how do you see the relationship between liberty and equality?

Frank Field: I don't see it relating to our present discontent at all. I think the last word entering people's heads is equality. I think they're after blood, partly because they're worried about what's happening to the country. I think this is a very good way of punishing people who should have had more foresight, who have landed them in this particular set-up.

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