London’s National Conservatism (NatCon) conference saw condemnation from liberals and the Left. Novara journalist Moya Lothian Maclean took incisive aim at its anti-woke and authoritarian bromides, and more particularly its Christian-nationalist undercurrent. The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff and Rafael Behr framed the gathering in terms of Tory factions: dangerous lunatics against the supposed moderate realists. Yet the opprobrium was not confined to the socially liberal side of the political spectrum.

Watching from across the Atlantic, conservative Christian thinker Sohrab Ahmari was left cold. The cofounder of Compact magazine and a regular contributor to the American Conservative and Christian outlet First Things, Ahmari might have been expected to delight in the mainstreaming of anti-woke and nationalist rhetoric in the Conservative Party — or indeed, NatCon’s apparent focus on rediscovering the nation-state. Instead, responding to conference mainstay Christopher DeMuth’s praise of Thatcher, Ahmari tweeted, “Either the NatCon project is totally incoherent — or its rhetorical nods toward a more solidaristic politics are just that: empty rhetoric.”

Ahmari’s own alternative vision is set out in his forthcoming Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty — and What to Do About It. It reflects his role as part of a mounting current of American rightist thinkers, like Ross Douthat and Patrick Deneen, whose opposition to the cultural effects of a liberal society has seen them take a self-described populist stance, critical of the political economy of neoliberalism.