On stage in a corner of east London, the US folk singer Oliver Anthony got a rapturous reception this week for a rendition of his smash hit Rich Men North of Richmond, a tune about inequality and the political elite’s disregard for the working class.
Rather than performing in one of London’s dozens of music venues, however, Anthony – who has claimed his song doesn’t take any particular partisan side – was playing to an elite gathering: the well-heeled conservative activists, donors and politicians from the US, the UK and around the world who descended on the now yearly Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc).
