The Inventor of Modern Conservatism describes Disraeli’s life and philosophy:
Benjamin Disraeli — twice prime minister of Great Britain, romantic novelist, inventor of modern conservatism — was a neocon in the plain sense of the word, a ‘new conservative’ who began his career on the left. Conservative thinking dates to the dawn of organized society, but modern conservatism — a mass movement, a philosophy not for aristocrats and the rich but for everybody — was Disraeli’s creation.
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Disraeli’s approach was like Barry and Pugin’s in designing a new home for Parliament. The old one burned to the ground (except for a magnificent medieval hall and a few odds and ends) in 1834. The new structure, it was decided, should be built of modern materials and work like a modern building with all the conveniences — but should look medieval. The intention wasn’t play-acting or aesthetic fraud; it was to use the best ideas of the past and present alongside each other.The result was wildly successful, one of history’s greatest public buildings. Disraeli aimed to accomplish something similar for the Tory party. His underlying thought, which defined Disraeli-type Toryism and reshaped conservatism for all time, was that the Conservative party was the national party. Sounds simple and is. But everything else followed. If you understood “national” properly, then (on the one hand) the Tories must be a democratic, “universal,” progressive party that cared about the poor and working classes — since the party was national it must care for the whole nation, for all classes. But the Tories must also be a patriotic party that revered ancient traditions and institutions, again inasmuch as they were the national — and therefore honored profoundly the nation’s heritage and distinctive character.
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As Disraeli saw it, liberals and conservatives were equally progressive. But liberals were rational internationalists who worried what the Germans would say. Conservatives were romantic nationalists who worried what their forefathers would have said.