Thinking Ahead: David Cameron, the Henry Jackson Society and British Neo-conservatism Klaus Dodds and Stuart Elden The Conservative party under David Cameron’s leadership has embarked on a series of foreign policy initiatives which appear to revise the political right’s traditional reluctance to interfere in third-party conflicts with no obvious British interest. This article looks at whether this shift is substantial through an examination of Cameron’s and William Hague’s foreign policy pronounce- ments. Its particular focus is to discuss whether the Henry Jackson Society, a group of academics, parliamentarians and journalists, is exercising any influence over Conservative party foreign policy discussion. Finally, we consider how critics including individuals associated with the Henry Jackson Society have evaluated Cameron’s and Hague’s tentative interventionist convictions. It is suggested that the notion that idealism in foreign policy has to be conditioned by realism is actually a reworking of Blair’s foreign policy, especially when applied to overseas intervention. Keywords: Conservative party; foreign policy; David Cameron; William Hague Introduction Since his confirmation in the position in June 2007, Gordon Brown has had a turbulent time as the new British prime minister. Within days he had to confront an attempted car bombing of Glasgow Airport by suspected Islamic militants alongside further British military losses in Afghanistan and Iraq. Foot and mouth and blue- tongue outbreaks, the problems with Northern Rock and the debacle over the uncalled election all put a critical focus on his decision-making, his resolve and his handling of the media. While journalists have noted that Brown’s approach to security questions (especially in the immediate aftermath of the Glasgow incident) and the ‘war on terror’ is different in tone and substance compared to his prede- cessor Tony Blair, the new prime minister has also been swift to reinforce the importance of the Anglo-American ‘special relationship’. 1 In the aftermath of his first Camp David meeting with George Bush in July 2007, he travelled to the United Nations in order to secure an Anglo-French resolution authorising the dispatch of a substantial UN peacekeeping force to Darfur. As he noted: For today is an important decision day for Darfur—and for change. The situation in Darfur is the greatest humanitarian disaster the world faces today. Over 200,000 dead, 2 million displaced and 4 million on food aid. Following my meeting with President Bush, and I thank him for his leadership on Darfur, the UK and the French have now, with US support, agreed and tabled a UN Security Council resolution that will mandate the doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2008.00327.x BJPIR: 2008 VOL 10, 347–363 © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Political Studies Association