In the 19th Century, Jewish MPs were pretty equally divided between Tory and Whig, although the most famous ethnically Jewish MP, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (a Christian convert in religion, but still extremely Jewish in name, looks, and self-presentation), was Conservative.
After WWII, Jewish MPs were overwhelmingly Labour: in 1966, there were 38 Jewish Labour MPs compared to 2 Tory Jews. But Mrs. Thatcher, who had strong ties to the Jewish community (e.g., Keith Joseph was her idea man), raised the popularity of the Tories among Jews. By her last general election in 1987, there were 16 Tory Jewish MPS to 7 Labour and 1 Lib-Dem. These days, quite a few MPs are a little bit Jewish, such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
I believe Ed Miliband in 2015 was the first Jewish leader of Labour to contest (and lose) a general election. Michael Howard was the unsuccessful Tory leader in the 2005 election. Before that, Disraeli led the Tories from 1868 to 1881, serving twice as Prime Minister. He was, famously, Queen Victoria’s favorite PM.
The differing trajectories of Jewish voters in Britain and the U.S. is curious. Ronald Reagan was roughly as pro-Semitic as Margaret Thatcher, but this did not lead to the kind of historic realignment in America as Thatcher was able to bring about in Britain.
One factor might be that the Jewish community in Britain is relatively smaller than in America. Plus gentile Brits are quite good at journalism jobs. A friend of mine who is a retired Canberra MP and big time lawyer in Melbourne is driven nuts by American theories that Rupert Murdoch must be Jewish because, after all, he is a press baron and gentiles are incapable of managing large media organizations and Rupert’s mother’s maiden name was Greene and that must be Jewish.
No, my Melbourne friend protests, people of indigenous British descent, such as Lord Beaverbrook (Lord Copper in Waugh’s Scoop), have an outstanding record as press lords. And the Greene family was Irish, English, and Scottish. “I know the family, I went to Rupert’s mother’s funeral when she died at 103,” he points out.
COMMENTS AT STEVE SAILER:
* The great socio-political achievement in the West was precisely suppressing tribalism and creating nations. This is what enabled modernity. The East-Asians also did this effectively–though the Chinese lag at the “trust at scale” benefit. (The third great civilization–India–took a different–pretty hideous–approach.) Moderns often aren’t aware how critical this transition was, but if you look at the societies unable to do it and still mired in tribalism–the Arab world, Africa–and their incompetence at launching modern states and making decent societies, you get a clue.
That we’re continual enmeshed in the drama of the one tribe that refused to be part of the new nations but clung to its tribalism is a shame.
Then on top we’ve allow this anti-national, minoritarian cancer to grow and grow. And we’re regressing from nationalism/modernity back to tribalism/primitivism and losing our great nations in the deal. Shameful and pathetic.
* Here’s the percentage choosing [British PM Theresa] May by group (overall 57.6%)
Jewish 75.5%
Christian 69.7%
Chinese 66.0%
Whites 59.3%
Buddhist 50.0%
Hindu 49.3%
No Religion 43.9%
Indian 37.3%
Mixed Race 33.3%
Sikh 28.6%
Black 19.9%
Muslim 15.9%
Pakistani 11.0%
Bangladeshi 8.7%
* Jews are the most pro-Western group in the West, moreso than even Christians, who often seek to commit suicide for supposed sins of the past. In the Trump election, no group was more supportive than Orthodox Jews. In this election, no group was more supportive of Tories and May than Jews at large.
* A recognition of the fundamental truth that jewish people are, like muslims, a foreign group tending to external patriotic and cultural loyalties is also not unknown and similarly misrepresented, though increasingly suppressed by the establishment and even by the state.
* One point worth noting in regards to British Jews is that they are basically an invisible minority. There are plenty of Jews in public life, but they are very well assimilated and intermarry a lot, to the extent that the secular Ashkenazi have all but disappeared as a distinct ethnic group. In the 19th/20th century many of them anglicised their names (consider actor Andrew Garfield, the family name was originally Garfinkel).
Most British people, if asked to name famous Jews, would struggle. Although many Jewish or part Jewish public figures are extremely well-known (Steven Fry, Ed Miliband, Natasha Kaplinsky, Alan Sugar and so on).
