Foreword / by The Rt Hon. David Willetts MP -- Introduction -- First principle -- pt. 1. What Conservatism is ; Knowledge -- Change -- What Conservatism stands for -- pt. 2. What Conservatism is not -- Misperceptions -- Misconceptions -- Conservatism and liberalism -- pt. 3. What Conservatism might be -- The viability of Conservatism in the modern and postmodern worlds -- Green Conservatism -- The hardest political task : telling the truth.

Kieron O'Hara gives a new account of what 'conservative' actually means, refashioning the traditional conservative philosophy for a modern age. He draws on the works of thinkers such as Edmund Burke and Adam Smith, philosophers from Plato to Ludwig Wittgenstein, and today's social commentators such as Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Jared Diamond.