This weekend, the Liberal Party celebrates its 75th anniversary, at a time when its ideal of personal empowerment has never been more important. It is a party of people, not vested interests. Yet the forces of illiberalism, and the darkness they bring, are gathering.

It is long past time for us to reclaim the notion that firms should put people before profit, because without people there is no profit. As Adam Smith pointed out two centuries ago, no one can make a profit without first offering a product or service that another person wants. This one thing turns private vice into public good, he said. An attack on profit is actually an attack on public good.