Theresa May has promised to bring back the 'British Dream' during her Conservative Party Conference speech, describing it as the idea that 'each generation should do better than the one before it'. The Prime Minister cited her own family history, noting that her grandmother, a domestic servant, has three professors and a prime minister as grandchildren, as proof the dream could be real. However, she admitted the dream feels 'distant' and 'out of reach' for many people today.
The phrase has caused confusion among the public. One Twitter user, David Hendy, asked: 'The British Dream? What on earth is that? Never heard of it. What's in it? Unicorns?' Others offered their own interpretations, with former UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe describing it as the chance to 'succeed in your life, no matter your postcode, your gender or the colour of your skin'. Mr Woolfe, who grew up on a council estate in Moss Side, Manchester, claimed he was 'living proof' of the British Dream.
The concept echoes the American Dream, coined by writer James Truslow Adams in 1931, which described a land where life is 'better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement'. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson insisted Mrs May had set out a vision of 'how to renew' the British Dream, and previously argued in 2005 that the UK had been 'hopeless' at communicating such a dream. He called for teaching English and British history as practical steps.
Former Conservative leader Michael Howard saw the dream differently, emphasising values of 'decency, tolerance and a sense of fair play'. He said: 'We need to break down the barriers that exist in too many people's lives – and minds – that prevent or deter them from making a success of life.' Academic Prof George Rodosthenous defined the British Dream as 'the desire to do better than one's own parents, the forbidden desire to dream and the action of dreaming', using the story of Billy Elliot as an example.
Professor Pamela Cox, a social historian at the University of Essex, said the British Dream has come to stand for home ownership, a secure job, and a living standard higher than your parents. However, she noted it is 'not a phrase that rolls off the tongue like the American Dream'. She identified a 'British drawbridge' as a key barrier, where elites are 'very good at pulling up the drawbridge behind them' through private schools and an inflated housing market. 'The British elite don't have much interest in sharing spoils,' she said. 'The American Dream is much more 'anyone can make it'. The British Dream is a different version – there is not a willingness for everyone to make it.'
