A new tug of war (over William Wilberforce)

The Economist: A new tug of war (over William Wilberforce)

TO WHOM does William Wilberforce—the best-known figure in the British campaign to end slavery—belong? As with many historical figures, his mantle is contested by devotees of different political hues.

To progressives, he was, of course, a pioneer of campaigns for social justice. To modern British Tories, he embodies a sort of compassionate conservatism of the kind that the party's present leader, David Cameron, is keen to proclaim.

In the end any analysis of the real William Wilberforce has to draw on theology as well as politics. He can hardly be understood except in the context of a strain of evangelical Christianity, one that stresses sin and atonement, to which he was converted in 1787. …