Tony Blair and the hallowed texts of St John’s College

Following Chapter Three, it is apparent that communitarianism, as defined by Etzioni (and to a lesser extent Selznick), is a derivative of ‘organisational theory’ and, therefore, a descendant of functionalism in the Parsonian sense. Being an early purveyor of communitarian rhetoric is a charge that is often levied at John Macmurray (Rentoul, 1997; Driver and Martell, 1998; Levitas, 1998; Hale, 2002). Accordingly, the intent of this chapter is to explore whether or not this is actually the case. By implication, it is also the purpose of this chapter to discover whether or not Macmurray was a functionalist with an associated benign interpretation of capitalist society.

In relation to this book, Macmurray is important mainly because it is Tony Blair himself who insists upon declaring that he is an avid reader and follower of Macmurray’s teachings. On this score alone, the work of Macmurray is worthy of further consideration, especially if Macmurray may have been misunderstood or wrongly applied to policy as a consequence. With regard to this latter exploration, a look at some of the history behind Blair’s initial dalliance with Macmurray, and subsequently a discussion of what Macmurray actually had to say in his philosophy, will enable a more informed decision to be made in the concluding chapters of this book.

In 1972, Tony Blair went to St John’s College Oxford to study law. During the time spent there, Peter Thompson, an Australian friend and fellow Christian, introduced him to the works of John Macmurray (1891-1976), a Scottish philosopher from Kirkcudbrightshire. According to John Rentoul (1997), Blair was profoundly affected by Macmurray’s sentiment and prescience. So much so, that, in 1994, Blair publicly acknowledged the extent of Macmurray’s influence: “If you really want to understand what I’m all about”, he declared, “you have to take a look at a guy called John Macmurray. It’s all there” (Scotland on Sunday, 24 July 1994, in Rentoul, 1997, p 42). Later, when writing a forward to Philip Conford’s (1996, p 9) book The personal world: John Macmurray on self and society, Blair underlined the point.