Tories and others set about the task of dealing with the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution by calling upon the power of Government to … - Rab Butler

The term "planning" is a new word for coherent and positive policy. The conception of strong Government policy in economic matters is, I believe, the very centre of the Conservative tradition. We have never been a party of laissez-faire.

We must recognise that the absolutely free working of such a system cannot now be accepted. We are living too closely knit a structure of society in which the very complication of our immense programme of social reform and industrial development necessitates strong powers being retained at the centre. It will be necessary to use the organising power and majesty of the State in a variety of ways. The State will have to be the grand arbiter between competing interests.

You can imagine how lonely and sad I felt in Parliament, and indeed in the whole political world, when I knew that Mr Chamberlain had gone. I do not think that the party will ever be the same again. I looked upon him as the last leader of the organisation in the State which I joined very late in its life but which has been responsible for much of England's greatness.