Among the several writers whom Melanie Phillips cites with approval is the English political philosopher John Gray. People will have their enthusiasms, and we are prepared to forgive Phillips her enthusiasm for John Gray. It is a failing that she shares with many writers for whom we have the highest regard. We would, however, be less than candid if we failed to note that we find the enthusiasm that many conservatives feel for John Gray baffling. Gray did make his reputation as a kind of maverick conservative a decade or so ago. Since then, however—and especially since the rise of Tony Blair—he has been like Henry James’s chameleon on a piece of plaid, taking on just about every coloring it is possible to imagine. Gray has elevated inconsistency and equivocation almost to an art. Is there a potentially influential position that John Gray has not at least tacitly endorsed (and subsequently half taken back)? If so, it is a mere oversi ...

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