Steve Hilton is an interesting fellow. In seven short years, he has transitioned from a British political moderate to one of President Trump’s most fervent supporters. Where Hilton once redesigned Britain’s Conservative Party to focus on climate change and greater foreign aid spending, he now offers near-absolute loyalty for Trump.
Just consider Hilton’s Monday appearance on the Fox News’ Outnumbered.
Debating the Ukraine impeachment proceedings with colleague Marie Harf, Hilton suggested that only Joe Biden should be investigated for corruption. The evidence against Biden, he suggested, is overwhelming. This is untrue.
But Hilton wasn’t done. He then accused John Kerry of also engaging in Ukraine-related corruption. This led to Harf’s rebuttal. Hilton wasn’t having it. Time to add another corrupter to his list. Pointing at Harf, Hilton exclaimed, “You’re covering up the corruption, too!”
Harf and the rest of the panel appeared shocked. The show went to break.
But Hilton’s rhetoric isn’t surprising. It’s been clear for at least the past 12 months that Hilton today is no longer the Hilton of old. Back in the 2006-2012 period, when he served as top public relations guru to then-Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, Hilton was an ardent enthusiast of free trade and action to reduce carbon emissions. Hilton orchestrated Cameron’s April 2006 trip to Norway, which saw Cameron riding around on a dog-sled to draw focus on climate change. Hilton’s influence was vast, and his ideas wide-ranging. As the columnist Andrew Rawnsley memorably observed, Hilton’s “ideas are a fizzy cocktail of the good, the bad, and the mad.”
But it was successful.
Hilton’s campaign to break the Conservative Party’s perception as a stuffy redoubt for upper-class old white men was successful. In 2010, Cameron became the first Conservative prime minister in 13 years. On Downing Street, Hilton earned a reputation for unconventional policy ideas, casual dressing, and haywire cycling habits.
It’s ironic, then, that a man who once coined the Conservative phrase “Vote Blue, Go Green” is now an ardent Trumper.
Though Hilton has shifted 180 degrees on climate change and trade policy, his populist streak has always been apparent. This is a man who, above all else, seeks to redesign the political establishment. Note that his Fox News Channel show is titled The Next Revolution.
That makes Trump a natural Hilton ally. But Hilton’s record suggests Trump won’t be the last revolutionary to earn his favor.
