High Tories

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High Toryism is a term used in Britain, Canada and elsewhere to refer to a traditionalist, aristocratic conservatism which is in line with the Toryism of the nineteenth century but which tends to be at odds with the modern emphasis of the Conservative Party in these countries, which often seems to owe more to nineteenth century classical liberalism than to Toryism of past centuries.

High Tories prefer the values of a landed aristocracy and gentry to those of the modern commercial business class. Their focus is on maintaining a traditional, rooted society and way of life, which is often as threatened by modern capitalism as by socialism or the Welfare State. The archetypal High Tory would be a gentleman, a fervent monarchist (if not a Jacobite), likely a High Anglican or traditionalist Catholic in religion, a classically-educated believer in high culture with a suspicion and dislike of contemporary popular culture, cool towards the idea of democracy, (if Canadian or Australian rather than English) a devoted Anglophile, and leaning rather more towards anti-Americanism than to pro-Americanism in foreign policy (America being seen as the ultimate propenent of democracy and popular culture, a country without rooted traditions, long history, monarchy or aristocracy).

The distinction between a "High Tory" and a conventional contemporary Tory bears some resemblance that between a paleoconservative and mainstream or neo-conservatives in the United States. In Canada the term Red Tory used to mean something like a High Tory, although now it is often used for centrists who are liberal on social issues rather than Anglophile monarchists.

An example of English High Tory views in the twentieth century would be those of the novelist Evelyn Waugh and Alan Clark.