Ivor asks: "So what sort of economic system do Conservatives with a large C represent then?"

If you look back over the course of history you will see that that has continually changed and it will continue to do so.

Riginslinger offers up the example of Fascist regimes that relied on Capitalists under central control to refute what I said about centralised control being an anathema to the economic ideals of the capitalist system. What Riginslinger did not go on to mention was that both Fascist regimes in Italy and in Germany were completely and utterly destroyed by the USSR and the free Democracies of the West (primarily the USA and the UK). With the capitalist industrial might of the US actually supplying equipment to all Allied forces. So I will stand by my statement.

It is the ability to adapt free from central government interference that allows the capitalist system to work for the general benefit of all. That has been the case since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.