One of the main speakers at a conference attended by two cabinet ministers and a series of other Tory MPs has blamed “globalists” for the world’s political problems, repeatedly using a term associated with the far right and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, a US thinktank, mentioned the idea, which has been condemned by Jewish groups as an antisemitic trope, more than a dozen times in his address to the National Conservatism (NatCon) event in London.
Roberts also likened Brexit to the views of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Viktor Orbán, and said leftwingers wanted to end all democracy to impose their opinions on the world. While “globalist” can be a neutral term, its use as a term of abuse for over-powerful elites supposedly seeking global domination is closely associated with the far right and conspiracy theories about the extent of Jewish power. Michael Gove, the communities secretary, will address the event later on Tuesday, and Suella Braverman, the home secretary, spoke on Monday. Miriam Cates, another Tory MP who also spoke on Monday, used the idea of “cultural Marxism” in her speech, another concept linked with antisemitic conspiracy theories. Roberts repeatedly condemned what he called “the leftist control of globalist corporations and entities”, seemingly indicating this was part of a conspiracy to end democracy, calling this “the gathering storm”. “The new left, greedy, elitist, woke and globalist, has foresworn every principle their ideological predecessors once espoused: democracy, equality, diversity, justice,” said Roberts, whose thinktank is sometimes addressed by Conservative politicians in the US. “It abhors religion, and Christianity especially, as well as the nation state, political accountability and even objective truth. Their goal is not to win political contests but to end them altogether – to sweep away dissent and any subversive institution that dares facilitate.” He went on: “This new left is not in competition. It is at war with the west, with the moral, intellectual and social foundations on which our entire civilisation rests. Which is why it reserves a singular hatred for the kind of conservatism represented by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, by Brexit, by Viktor Orbán and, yes, by this conference.” He explicitly praised the populism practised by people such as DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, and Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, saying UK politicians could follow their lead. Roberts argued: “The emergence of nationalism and populism on the right is a re-emergence. It’s a rebirth of the principles western conservatives de-emphasised over the last three decades, to their nations’ peril. “The great awokening and normalisation of anti-western, anti-Christian, anti-democratic, cultural totalitarianism in western newsrooms, classrooms and bureaucracies, and then of course the Covid lockdown debacle – these are not distinct, discrete phenomenon, but myriad symptoms of one ruling class’s contempt for everyday working families and the institutions that prioritise their rights and interests over elite privilege.” Earlier, the conference heard from the Conservative MP John Hayes, a pioneer of the party’s culture war-leaning right, who also intimated that true conservatism was being resisted by shadowy liberal forces. He said: “You know, as I do, that the solution is to be found in conservatism. But not in the desiccated, hollowed-out, sugar-free conservatism deemed to be just about acceptable by our liberal masters. Too many conservatives opt out of conflict, instead seeking the approval of the very establishment which wants to grind them into the dust.”