Coalition or Contradiction

I refer of course to the infamous and short-lived Fox-North coalition of 1783! Given that Lord North lived "next door" at Wroxton Abbey and is buried in the church I can see as I write this blog! Or maybe not! Can there be such a thing as a "Liberal Conservative"? David Cameron has presented himself as such in the early days of his leadership (see "After Blair" by Kieron O'Hara). Others have argued that the new regime is indeed a mixture of the two traditions and that there is a Republican Liberalism which contains the values of both (Demos paper of 2009). Meanwhile, Phillip Blond is "Red Tory", published just before the General Election in support of Mr Cameron heaps all the blame for the political and cultural ills of the UK on the liberal tradition and the power vacuums it creates. Each of these texts refers to the work of John Rawls.
I wonder who is right on this one. I also wonder whether it really matters? Do political principles or theories have any influence on what happens in practice? I would like to think so. If so, then there is a real debate here which needs to take place. What price principles for David Laws this morning, and which ones does he espouse? Is a liberal conservative a contradiction in terms? Likewise the idea of a "moral capitalism"? Maybe we are about to find out!