That feels like a reasonable way to describe some of the similarities the Conservatives have come up with. A start in that direction?
Badenoch's current Conservative project is explicitly about reducing the role of the state, emphasising individual responsibility, economic freedom, stronger borders and a much more expansive conception of free speech. Their October 2026 statement, The Right Way, says government should be “restrained where people are better placed to decide for themselves”, while being strong in areas where only the state can act.
There are some particularly American-looking elements :
A much stronger emphasis on free speech, including opposition to laws that the Conservatives argue criminalise offensive speech. Badenoch has explicitly presented America as an example in the broader Western argument over free expression.
Lower taxes, deregulation and free enterprise, with a philosophical emphasis on wealth creation rather than redistribution.
A harder-line approach to immigration, including proposals to leave the ECHR, repeal the Human Rights Act and restrict judicial review in immigration cases.
A rejection of the traditional One Nation/centrist Conservative approach. Badenoch has explicitly said that the party has been moving to the right and that Conservatives who disagree with that direction should “get out of the way”.
She has also argued that Britain should, like America, be much more explicit about putting national interests first.
It's worth looking at where these ideas have taken demodracy in the USA. The most striking recent figures come from three major emocracy/freedom measurement projects, and they all show deterioration in the US.
Economist Intelligence Unit
The EIU's 2025 Democracy Index, released in 2026, puts the United States at 34th, down from 28th the previous year.
Its score fell from 7.85 to 7.65, and the US remains classified as a “flawed democracy”, rather than a “full democracy”.
V-Dem — an even more dramatic finding
The Swedish-based Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project measures democracy differently and produces some particularly striking numbers.
For the US:
Measure 2024/2025
Liberal Democracy Index- 0.750.57
Electoral Democracy Index - 0.840.74
Liberal Democracy rank - 51st / 179
Electoral Democracy rank - 46th / 179
V-Dem says the US experienced the largest one-year decline in its Liberal Democracy Index in its entire historical dataset, going back to 1789.
Its 2026 Democracy Report goes further, saying that America's Liberal Democracy Index fell 24% in one year, with the country's score returning to approximately its 1965 level.
The biggest deterioration was in things such as:
constraints on executive power
legislative oversight
judicial/constitutional constraints
freedom of expression
media environment
academic and cultural freedom
civil liberties.
That's a significant distinction. At precisely the point when some British Conservatives are drawing inspiration from aspects of the American conservative political model, international democracy measurements are documenting significant deterioration in some of the institutions and norms associated with that model.
I'm sure there is a counter argument to the this. I would be interested in any data that supports an opposite view.
