Our Politicians Don't Read. That's Why Britain Is Failing

Most MPs couldn't name three works of political theory if their seats depended on it. And yet we trust them to govern our country.

I recently had the privilege of attending a Liberty Fund Colloquium. For those unfamiliar, Liberty Fund is a private educational foundation established to enrich the understanding and appreciation of the complex nature of a society of free and responsible individuals. Their colloquia are invitation-only events, typically lasting four days, built around a Socratic-style discussion of a set of readings. Participants are required to complete a substantial amount of preparation reading on a chosen topic and then spend the conference discussing those readings and that topic through guided roundtable sessions.

It is, as their founder Pierre Goodrich put it, a format designed so that “the reasoning process and experience of each individual will be helped by other individuals, each of whom is the product of his own pressures, experiences, habits, and thoughts.” The topic for this conference was the balance of powers - examining how constitutional arrangements can protect liberty and how different thinkers, from Montesquieu to the American Founders, have contributed to this area. Among other online educational resources, Liberty Fund maintains the remarkable Online Library of Liberty, one of the world’s most extensive digital libraries of scholarly works focused on individual liberty and free markets, spanning the centuries from Hammurabi to Hume.

Liberty Fund believes in the importance of the continued study and discussion of political theory. They believe that learning is a lifelong process of discovery. They do not engage in political activity, advocacy, or policymaking. They simply foster the study of ideas and trust that good ideas, properly studied and debated, will bear fruit in the public sphere. It is an admirable mission and one that FFF shares.

The Absence of Ideas in British Politics

Reflecting on my four days at the conference, I have never been more certain that a key reason politics in the UK has gone so catastrophically wrong in recent years is a succession of political leaders and Parliaments who treat political theory as if it is somehow separate from politics. As if governing a country of nearly 70 million people, with a budget of over a trillion pounds, with policies that affect every aspect of citizens’ lives - from their property to their liberty to their very livelihoods - can be done without ever seriously grappling with the ideas that underpin those policies.

How many of our current Parliamentarians - or indeed those in the successive Conservative Governments since 2010 - have read Hayek, Mises, or Bastiat? How many could even explain the concept of spontaneous order or the economic calculation problem? How many MPs could tell you their three favourite works of political theory or the three that influenced their political thought the most? Few members of our Parliament could even quote figures like Hayek or Mises, let alone explain their work on national television.

On the left, how many have read Karl Polanyi, R.H. Tawney, or Anthony Crosland? These are the very theorists that are supposed to animate their political tradition? When was the last time our Prime Minister read any political theory? If he had, then maybe his Government would not be so directionless, U-turning constantly. The sad truth of “the grown-ups being back in charge” is that the grown-ups apparently do not read very much.

You Cannot Govern Without Political Theory

Consider the charge sheet. Keir Starmer is a directionless lawyer. Asked to bring one book of his choosing to a desert island on BBC Radio 4, he chose an atlas. During the 2024 election campaign, he told the Guardian he had neither a favourite novel nor a favourite poem. It is often said, even by those who have worked closely with him, that Starmer has no politics. I would rather debate John McDonnell, Jesse Norman, or Danny Kruger than Starmer. I know where they stand. I can have a serious political debate with them about the great ideas of our time and a genuine discussion about ideology. A political debate with Starmer is like arguing with a wind-up doll that can only say “international law,” “free breakfast clubs,” and “I will not take any lessons from the Party that crashed the economy.” (It didn’t, but that is an article for another day.)

Rishi Sunak before him was a directionless management consultant. Boris Johnson can quote the Greek lyric poets, but could he quote Hayek? Could he articulate the philosophical foundations of the free society he claimed to champion? Johnson’s intellectual hinterland was not political, and it showed in the incoherence of his Government.

The Selection Problem

The rot starts long before anyone gets to Parliament. MPs are rarely selected as candidates, let alone elected, for their understanding of political theory. I have been at selection meetings that seemed to be debates about who could be the best super councillor. “I will fight for a new roundabout.” “I will ensure the bins are collected on time.” “I will campaign tirelessly for new GP surgeries in our area.” While of course MPs should pursue things for their areas, their main job is voting on legislation and governing the country: you cannot do either without political theory.

At one such selection meeting, I was internally begging for anyone, literally anyone at all, to actually mention politics. To tell me who they aligned with in their political theory. To name a single political thinker who had shaped their worldview. Nothing. I therefore propose a modest requirement: you should not be able to stand to be an MP unless you can spend ten minutes telling voters and association members about your favourite political theorists and their work. Now, I accept that many would-be MPs would then only learn enough political theory to scrape through those ten minutes. But my word, that would be a vast improvement on their current level of approximately zero.

The Problem of Continued Study

It is an unfortunate reality that, due to time constraints, limited resources, and the nature of the modern world, even if individuals study political theory at university, as soon as they enter their careers, they do not pick it up again. The pressures of their careers, families, current affairs etc… all of these crowd out the time and space needed for serious intellectual engagement.

But this is not an acceptable answer. If you are working in public policy, the public sphere, or politics, you must commit yourself to the continued study of political theory. You must continue to challenge and refine your own ideas. You must discuss these works as best you can with those who work alongside you.

As Hayek put it,

Unless we can make the philosophical foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. - F.A. Hayek

Plato put it more bluntly,

Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, cities will never have rest from their evils, nor the human race. - Plato

Ideas matter. Their study is not a luxury; it is the very foundation upon which good governance rests.

A Challenge to All of Us

There will be many of you reading this who do not work in politics. The challenge is the same to you, nonetheless. As a country, we must recommit to political ideology and political study. Discuss with your friends your most recent readings. Discuss with your friends whether the constitutional thought of the late 19th century still holds up today.

We should return to the spirit of the Coffeehouses of the 17th century. These were remarkable institutions where, for the price of a single penny, any man could enter, sit at a shared table, read the latest news, and join conversations that ranged from philosophy and science to politics, trade, and gossip. They were nicknamed “penny universities” because knowledge circulated freely across tables and benches. Merchants debated with sea captains, lawyers argued points of law beside clergymen, poets tested verses aloud, and political factions exchanged arguments. Informed political conversation was no longer the preserve of the elite. These coffeehouses helped shape the modern world. The Enlightenment itself was forged in part within their walls. We need that culture of debate and intellectual engagement back.

Pick Up a Great Work

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. It is widely considered the founding text of modern economics and one of the most important works in social science to come out of the Enlightenment. Two and a half centuries later, after free markets have fundamentally transformed global living standards, Smith’s insights remain the essential guide for escaping economic stagnation and unlocking growth. As Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said this week, “this milestone anniversary is a time for policymakers, businesses, and citizens alike to rediscover Smith’s vision of natural liberty as a blueprint for addressing our problems today.”

So here is my call to action. Pick up one of the great works of political theory. Read Smith. Read Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. Read Bastiat’s The Law. If you are on the left, read Polanyi, read Tawney, read Crosland. Whatever your political side, please just read the thinkers who are supposed to inform your worldview. Discuss them with your friends, your colleagues, and your family. And if you are an aspiring politician, for all our sakes, read them before you dare ask for our vote. Britain’s problems will not be solved by managerial competence. They will be solved by leaders with the courage of their convictions, and convictions require ideas. Let us get reading.

Harry Richer is the Director of Fighting for a Free Future, working Chairman the Rt Hon Steve Baker. He worked as the senior aide to Mr Baker for four years and was intimately involved in all of Mr Baker's national campaigns, including his work on the monetary system, Net Zero, and the Covid Recovery Group, acting as its Head of Research. He has also co-written multiple publications on Austrian School economics, including the 2024 Springer book, The Age of Debt Bubbles.