Conservative Monday Club
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
Overview
Founded in the early 1960s during the party's internal debate over decolonisation, its published aims state that "The Monday Club seeks to evolve a dynamic application of traditional Tory principles".Roger Griffin
Roger Griffin
Roger D. Griffin is a British academic political theorist at Oxford Brookes University, England. His recent efforts have focused on a definition and examination of fascism...
referred to the Club as practising an anti-socialist and elitist
Elitism
Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
form of conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
.
The club is notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, repatriation
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
for non-white immigrants, which mirrored the pledge made in the Conservative Party's General Election Manifesto of 1970.
After its 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
defeat, the Conservative Party began decisive moves towards becoming more centrist; the 2002–2003 party chairman, Theresa May
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May is a British Conservative politician who is Home Secretary in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party, 2003–04...
, would later state that it had been perceived by voters as the "Nasty Party". The then party leader, Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
, suspended the Monday Club's longstanding links with the party in October 2001, saying his party would have nothing to do with the organisation unless it stopped making "distasteful" remarks on race and immigration.
Since 1993 new full members of the club must be members of the Conservative Party, though there is no such requirement for associate membership. Monday Club observers, such as Denis Walker
Denis Walker
Wilfrid Denis Walker is a former Rhodesian cabinet minister resident in the United Kingdom. He is known for his monarchist activities and anti-communism and is also the Company Secretary, Director and Treasurer of the International Monarchist League and its UK subsidiary, the Constitutional...
, have attended Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
(DUP) conferences.
Part of the club's agenda stresses support for what it calls "traditional Conservative values", including "resistance to 'political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
.
Foundation and early years
The club was founded on 1 January 1961, by four young Conservative Party members, Paul Bristol (a 24 year-old shipbrokerShipbroking
Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of ships.Some brokerage firms have developed into large...
and the Club's first Chairman, who left the Club in 1968), Ian Greig (Membership Secretary until 1969), Cedric Gunnery (Treasurer until 1992) and Anthony Maclaren. The club was formed "to force local party associations to discuss and debate party policy". Its first general policy statement deplored the tendency of recent Conservative governments to adopt policies based upon expediency and demanded that instead Tory principles should be the guiding influence. It believed that the principles needing to be reasserted included the preservation of the constitution and existing institutions, the freedom of the individual, the private ownership of property, and the need for Britain to play a leading part in world affairs. It disliked what it regarded as the expediency, cynicism and materialism which motivated Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
's government. In addition it was concerned that during this period "the left wing of the Party (had) gained a predominant influence over policy" and that as a result the Conservative Party had shifted to the left, so that "the floating voter could not detect, as he should, major differences between it and the Socialists" and, furthermore, "loyal Conservatives had become disillusioned and dispirited."
The group initially brought together supporters of White Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
; the main impetus for the group's formation was the Conservative's new decolonisation policies, in particular as a general reaction to Macmillan's 'Wind of Change
Wind of Change (speech)
The Wind of Change speech was a historically important address made by British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to the Parliament of South Africa, on 3 February 1960 in Cape Town. He had spent a month in Africa visiting a number of British colonies, as they were at the time...
' speech made at Cape Town, South Africa. The club stated that Macmillan had "turned the Party Left", and their first pamphlet opposed these policies, as indicative of the Conservative Party's move towards liberalism.
The 5th Marquess of Salisbury (1893–1972), who had resigned from Macmillan's Cabinet over the Prime Minister's liberal direction, became its first president in January 1962, when he stated "there was never a greater need for true conservatism than there is today". By the end of 1963 there were eleven Members of Parliament in the Club, which then only had an overall membership of about 300.
The Club was courted by many Conservative politicians, not least the Conservative Party leader Alec Douglas Home who was guest-of-honour at the Club's annual dinners of 1964 and 1969, and Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
, who, in a speech in 1968, claimed that "it was due to the Monday Club that many are brought within the Conservative Party who might otherwise be estranged from it". Some argued that the Club had a disproportionate influence within Conservative circles, especially after six of its MPs joined the Cabinet in 1970.
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, twice Labour Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, sarcastically described the club as "the guardian of the Tory conscience".
Members
By 1970 eighteen Members of Parliament were Club members:- Geoffrey RipponGeoffrey RipponGeoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC, was a British Conservative politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group....
(HexhamHexham (UK Parliament constituency)- Elections in the 2000s :- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1980s :- Elections in the 1970s :-Notes and references:...
) - Julian Amery (Brighton Pavilion)
- Ronald BellRonald Bell (UK politician)Sir Ronald McMillan Bell, , QC , Knight Bachelor , was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom representing South Buckinghamshire from 1950 to 1974 and Beaconsfield from 1974 to 1982.-Family and education:The younger son of John Bell, Ronald was educated at Cardiff High...
QCQueen's CounselQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(South Buckinghamshire) - Harold GurdenHarold GurdenHarold Edward Gurden was a British Conservative Party politician.Gurden was educated in Birmingham at Lyttelton School and Birmingham University. He married Lucy Isabella, née Izon, on the 16th April, 1929...
(Selly Oak) - Teddy TaylorTeddy TaylorSir Edward MacMillan Taylor, usually known as Teddy Taylor , is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1979 for Glasgow Cathcart and from 1980 to 2005 for Rochford and Southend East.He was a leading member and sometime Vice-President of the Conservative...
(Glasgow CathcartGlasgow Cathcart (UK Parliament constituency)Glasgow Cathcart was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 2005, when it was replaced by the larger Glasgow South constituency....
) - John PeytonJohn Peyton, Baron Peyton of YeovilJohn Wynne William Peyton, Baron Peyton of Yeovil PC, FZS was a British politician. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Yeovil for 32 years, from 1951 to 1983, and an early and leading member of the Conservative Monday Club...
(Yeovil) - Joseph HileyJoseph HileyJoseph Hiley was a British Conservative Party politician, and a member of the Conservative Monday Club. He was Member of Parliament for Pudsey from 1959 until his retirement at the February 1974 general election....
(PudseyPudsey (UK Parliament constituency)Pudsey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
) - John Biggs-DavisonJohn Biggs-DavisonSir John Alec Biggs-Davison was a Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Chigwell from 1955 and then, after boundary changes in 1974, Epping Forest until his death. He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club.-Early years:The son of Major John Norman Biggs-Davison,...
(ChigwellChigwell (UK Parliament constituency)Chigwell was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
) - Stephen HastingsStephen HastingsSir Stephen Lewis Edmonstone Hastings, Kt, MC, MFH, was a war hero, former MI6 operative, Master of Foxhounds, author, painter, sculptor, and British Conservative Party politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire in a 1960 by-election caused by the elevation to the...
(Mid BedfordshireMid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)Mid Bedfordshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
) - Victor GoodhewVictor GoodhewSir Victor Henry Goodhew was a British politician. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for St Albans for 24 years, from 1959 to 1983, and was an early member of the Conservative Monday Club...
(St AlbansSt Albans (UK Parliament constituency)St Albans is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Established in 1885, it is a county constituency in Hertfordshire, and elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.From 1554 to 1852 there was a...
) - Wilfred Baker (BanffshireBanffshire (UK Parliament constituency)Banffshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800, and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1983...
) - Jasper MoreJasper MoreSir Jasper More was a British Conservative Party politician, the son of Sir Thomas Jasper Mytten More , a Shropshire landowner, and Lady Norah Browne, daughter of Henry Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo....
(LudlowLudlow (UK Parliament constituency)Ludlow is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
) - Jill Knight (Edgbaston)
- Patrick WallPatrick WallMajor Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
(HaltempriceHaltemprice (UK Parliament constituency)Haltemprice was a constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire, a traditional sub-division of the historic county of Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
) - Mark Woodnutt (Isle of WightIsle of Wight (UK Parliament constituency)Isle of Wight is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created by the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, it covers the whole of the Isle of Wight and elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system.-...
) - Sir Jerry WigginJerry WigginSir Alfred William Wiggin, known as Jerry Wiggin, is a British Conservative Party politician.-Education:Born in Worcestershire, in the West of England, Jerry Wiggin was educated at Eton College, an independent school for boys in the town of Eton in Berkshire, in Southern England, followed by...
(Weston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare (UK Parliament constituency)Weston-super-Mare is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
)
In the 1970 Conservative Party election victory
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
, six club MPs
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
were given government positions. In addition, the following club members were elected that year:
- Geoffrey Stewart-SmithGeoffrey Stewart-SmithGeoffrey Stewart-Smith was a British politician. He served one term as Conservative Member of Parliament for Belper in Derbyshire after he defeated the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party George Brown...
(BelperBelper (UK Parliament constituency)Belper is a former constituency in the UK Parliament. It was created at the 1918 general election as a county division of Derbyshire, comprising the area in the centre of the county and surrounding Derby, and named after the market town of Belper although this was in the north of the constituency....
) - Patrick CormackPatrick CormackPatrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, FSA DL is a British politician, historian, journalist and author. He was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010.-Early life:...
(CannockCannock (UK Parliament constituency)Cannock was a parliamentary constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.- Members of Parliament :...
) - Anthony FellAnthony Fell (politician)Sir Anthony Fell was a British Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons for most the years from 1951 to 1983....
(Great YarmouthGreat Yarmouth (UK Parliament constituency)Great Yarmouth is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
) - Robert BoscawenRobert BoscawenRobert Thomas Boscawen is a retired British Conservative politician.-Background and education:The son of Evelyn Hugh John Boscawen, eighth Viscount Falmouth, of Tregothnan, near Truro, and a member of a very old Cornish family, Boscawen was educated at West Downs School and Eton College...
(WellsWells (UK Parliament constituency)Wells is a county constituency centred on the city of Wells in Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system...
) - Harold SorefHarold SorefHarold Benjamin Soref was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate before being elected Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the 1970 General Election. He subsequently lost that seat to Labour in February 1974...
(OrmskirkOrmskirk (UK Parliament constituency)Ormskirk was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 as a division of the parliamentary county of...
) - William BenyonWilliam BenyonSir William Richard Benyon is a retired British Conservative Party politician, Berkshire landowner and former High Sheriff...
(BuckinghamBuckingham (UK Parliament constituency)Buckingham is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
) - Roger White (GravesendGravesend (UK Parliament constituency)Gravesend was a county constituency centred on the town of Gravesend, Kent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election....
) - Peter Rost (South East DerbyshireSouth East Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)South East Derbyshire was a parliamentary constituency in Derbyshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system....
) - Norman TebbitNorman TebbitNorman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment...
(EppingEpping (UK Parliament constituency)Epping was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
) - Piers DixonPiers DixonPiers John Shirley Dixon is a British Conservative Party politician.Dixon was educated at Eton College, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Harvard Business School. He worked as a stockbroker.Dixon contested Brixton in 1966...
(Truro) - David JamesDavid James (politician)David Pelham James, MBE, DSC was a British Conservative Party politician, author and adventurer. Eldest son of Sir Archibald James and Bridget James Miller...
(North Dorset) - John Heydon StokesJohn Heydon StokesSir John Heydon Romaine Stokes, KBE , was a British politician and a Conservative Party Member of Parliament.-Education and Early Career:...
Oldbury and HalesowenOldbury and Halesowen (UK Parliament constituency)Oldbury and Halesowen was a parliamentary constituency in the West Midlands, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election....
)
Among sitting MPs who joined the Club after the election and other elections were:
- Sir Stephen McAddenStephen McAddenSir Stephen James McAdden was a British Conservative politician.McAdden was educated at the Salesian School, Battersea and worked as an export sales manager and company director...
(Southend EastSouthend East (UK Parliament constituency)Southend East was a parliamentary constituency in Essex. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
) - Richard Body (Holland with BostonHolland with Boston (UK Parliament constituency)Holland with Boston was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...
) - Sir Ronald RussellRonald RussellSir Ronald Stanley Russell was a British Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Wembley South from 1950 until the constituency was abolished by boundary changes at the February 1974 general election. Sir Ronald died less than two months after the election was held at the age of...
(Wembley SouthWembley South (UK Parliament constituency)Wembley South was a parliamentary constituency in what was then the Borough of Wembley in North-West London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
) - Colin Campbell MitchellColin Campbell MitchellColin Campbell Mitchell was a British Army lieutenant-colonel and politician. He became famous in July 1967 when he led the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in the British reoccupation of the Crater district of Aden. At that time, Aden was a British colony and the Crater district had briefly been...
(West Aberdeenshire) - Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (UK politician)Robert George Taylor was Conservative Member of Parliament for Croydon North West, South London from 1970 until his death in 1981, which triggered the Croydon North West by-election in which the Tories lost the seat to Liberal MP Bill Pitt.- External links :...
(Croydon North WestCroydon North West (UK Parliament constituency)Croydon North West was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Politics and history of the constituency :...
) - Nicholas WintertonNicholas WintertonSir Nicholas Raymond Winterton is a retired British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Macclesfield from 1971 until he retired from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election....
(MacclesfieldMacclesfield (UK Parliament constituency)Macclesfield is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
) - Ann WintertonAnn WintertonJane Ann, Lady Winterton is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Congleton from 1983 to 2010...
(CongletonCongleton (UK Parliament constituency)-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...
)
A number of other Monday Club members contested Labour-held seats, some of which had large majorities, and although the challenge was unsuccessful the majorities were reduced. These included Tim Keigwin, who almost unseated the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe
Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and was the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time...
at North Devon
North Devon (UK Parliament constituency)
North Devon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....
, and David Clarke who failed by only 76 votes at Watford
Watford (UK Parliament constituency)
Watford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
.
By 1971, the Club "undoubtedly had the largest membership of any conservative group and included 55 different groups in universities and colleges, 35 Members of Parliament with six in the government, and 35 Peers". Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
was a constant supporter of the club until his death, although he never took up membership.
John Biggs-Davison
John Biggs-Davison
Sir John Alec Biggs-Davison was a Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Chigwell from 1955 and then, after boundary changes in 1974, Epping Forest until his death. He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club.-Early years:The son of Major John Norman Biggs-Davison,...
, MP, in his Foreword to Robert Copping's second book on the history of the club, stated that "by its principles [the club] has kept alive true Tory beliefs and held within its ranks many who contemplated defecting from the Conservative and Unionist Party". The club's Chairman, David Storey, described it in June 1981 as "an anchor to a ship", referring to the Conservative Party.
The Thatcher years
- to maintain loyalty to the Crown and to uphold the sovereignty of Parliament, the security of the realm, and defence of the nation against external aggression and internal subversion;
- to safeguard the liberty of the subject and integrity of the family in accordance with the customs, traditions, and character of the British people;
- to maintain the British constitution in obedience and respect for the laws of the land, freedom of worship and our national heritage;
- to promote an economy consistent with national aspirations and Tory ideals;
- to encourage members of the club to play an active part, at all levels, in the affairs of the Conservative and Unionist Party."
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
led the Conservative Party, the Monday Club were prolific publishers of booklets, pamphlets, policy papers, an occasional newspaper, Right Ahead, and a magazine Monday World edited for some years by Sir Adrian FitzGerald, Bart.
Adrian Fitzgerald
Sir Adrian James Andrew Denis FitzGerald, 6th Baronet, 24th Knight of Kerry is a hereditary knight, a Conservative Party politician in the UK, and former Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.-Family:...
, Sam Swerling, and later, Eleanor Dodd. In the October 1982 edition MP Harvey Proctor
Harvey Proctor
Harvey Proctor was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. He represented Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and Billericay from 1983 to 1987. Proctor became known for his right-wing views and for the manner in which scandal forced the end of his Parliamentary career.- Background :Proctor's father...
called for the scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality
Commission for Racial Equality
The Commission for Racial Equality was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. Its work has been merged into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.-History:...
, Sir Patrick Wall
Patrick Wall
Major Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
commented on the 'Falkland Islands Campaign
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
', James Molyneaux
James Molyneaux
James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, KBE, PC is a Northern Irish Unionist politician and was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1979 to 1995. He was a leading member and sometime Vice-President of the Conservative Monday Club...
had an article 'What Future for Ulster', and Dr. Harvey Ward
Harvey Ward
Harvey Grenville Ward was Director-General of the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation, noted for his anti-communism and for his support for Ian Smith's government in Rhodesia and South Africa. He was a leading member of the Conservative Monday Club.-Background:Ward was born in Southern Rhodesia to...
had an article on 'Zimbabwe Today'. The September 1984 edition of Monday News carried the headline 'Kinnock Talks to Terrorists', quoting former Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
leader Neil Kinnock
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
's declaration to the South African African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
's Oliver Tambo
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
that the ANC in South Africa could expect financial and material assistance from a future Labour government. Other attacks were made upon then-Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
leader Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
inviting Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
leader Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
to visit London in 1982.
Old Guard departs
Personal legal problems forced Lauder-Frost's departure on 31 May 1992 and subsequently the Club descended into in-fighting, with more departures and failed expulsion attempts resulting in huge legal bills. Dr. Mark Mayall's term as Chairman expired in April 1993 and he left the group. Control passed effectively into the hands of Denis Walker
Denis Walker
Wilfrid Denis Walker is a former Rhodesian cabinet minister resident in the United Kingdom. He is known for his monarchist activities and anti-communism and is also the Company Secretary, Director and Treasurer of the International Monarchist League and its UK subsidiary, the Constitutional...
, a former Minister for Education in the Rhodesian government. He changed the role of the club from a pressure group to a Conservative Party support group, bringing in a rule that all members must firstly be members of the party, something that prior to 1992 had been constantly opposed.
Premises
The national club established itself in offices at 51-53 Victoria Street, a few minutes walk from the Palace of WestminsterPalace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
. The club was, however, always a pressure group, remaining separate from the Conservative Party organisation. Around 1980, the Victoria Street building was cleared for demolition, and the club moved its offices to 122 Newgate Street, London, EC1, opposite the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
. High rents forced another move to 4 Orlando Road, Clapham Common, and finally, in 1991, the club's office was moved to an office belonging to W. Denis Walker
Denis Walker
Wilfrid Denis Walker is a former Rhodesian cabinet minister resident in the United Kingdom. He is known for his monarchist activities and anti-communism and is also the Company Secretary, Director and Treasurer of the International Monarchist League and its UK subsidiary, the Constitutional...
, opposite Highams Park railway station
Highams Park railway station
Highams Park railway station is in Highams Park which is in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in north east London. It is in Travelcard Zone 4, and the station and all trains are operated by National Express East Anglia.- History :...
, with new telephone numbers, and a new Post Office Box number in central London. The newsletter stated that "it is our long-term aim to relocate back to the very heart of London".
Branches
In addition to the national club, which operated through an elected Executive Council and numerous policy groups or committees, there were semi-autonomous county branches, a Young Members Monday Club, and numerous university Monday Clubs, the most prominent and active being at the University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
Policy committees
The Monday Club had various study groups (later renamed policy committees) including:- Immigration and Repatriation: notable chairmen being George Kennedy YoungGeorge Kennedy YoungGeorge Kennedy Young, CB, MBE, M.A. was a deputy director of MI6, and later involved in British right-wing politics. He was also a merchant banker....
, Jonathan Guinness, and K. Harvey ProctorHarvey ProctorHarvey Proctor was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. He represented Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and Billericay from 1983 to 1987. Proctor became known for his right-wing views and for the manner in which scandal forced the end of his Parliamentary career.- Background :Proctor's father...
, MP; (John BercowJohn BercowJohn Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....
, now an MP and Speaker of the House of CommonsSpeaker of the British House of CommonsThe Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
, was committee secretary 1981-82, whilst a student); - Africa and Rhodesia: Harold SorefHarold SorefHarold Benjamin Soref was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate before being elected Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the 1970 General Election. He subsequently lost that seat to Labour in February 1974...
, MP; - Home Affairs;
- Aviation;
- Economics: George Kennedy YoungGeorge Kennedy YoungGeorge Kennedy Young, CB, MBE, M.A. was a deputy director of MI6, and later involved in British right-wing politics. He was also a merchant banker....
- Ulster;
- Taxation: David Rowell
- Universities Group;
- Defence: The Hon. Archibald HamiltonArchie Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of EpsomArchibald Gavin Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom, PC is a British Conservative Party politician.-Background and education:...
, MP, Patrick WallPatrick WallMajor Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
, MP, and Commander Anthony CourtneyAnthony CourtneyCommander Anthony Tosswill Courtney, OBE, RN was a British Royal Navy officer and politician. While a Member of Parliament, he was a victim of a plot apparently instituted by the KGB to discredit him, which appeared to contribute to the loss of his seat...
(former MP for Harrow East); and - Foreign Affairs: Geoffrey Stewart-SmithGeoffrey Stewart-SmithGeoffrey Stewart-Smith was a British politician. He served one term as Conservative Member of Parliament for Belper in Derbyshire after he defeated the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party George Brown...
, MP (joined Club 1964), John CarlisleJohn Russell CarlisleJohn Russell Carlisle is a former Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Luton West constituency and later Luton North constituency in Bedfordshire...
, MP, and Gregory Lauder-Frost.
Anti-communism
Patrick Wall
Major Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
, MP, MC, and produced much literature on the perceived threat posed by Soviets and communists everywhere.
When it appeared that communism was failing in the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
, the Club's Foreign Affairs Committee called upon Members of Parliament to be ready and to argue for the German borders to be restored to the position they stood at on 1 January 1938, saying there must be no gains for communism.
Club officers attended a Western Goals Institute
Western Goals Institute
The Western Goals Institute was a conservative pressure group in Britain, re-formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation...
dinner in September 1989 in honour of Salvadorian
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
president Alfredo Cristiani
Alfredo Cristiani
Alfredo Félix Cristiani Burkard, popularly known as Alfredo Cristiani was President of El Salvador from 1989 to 1994....
, whose military was at the time fighting the FMLN.
The Club also took a hard line on the return of White Russians by the British Army to Stalin's forces in 1945–6, who executed nearly all of them. In this respect they gave their support to Count Nikolai Tolstoy
Nikolai Tolstoy
Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky is an Anglo-Russian historian and author who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. A member of the prominent Tolstoy family, he is of part Russian descent and is the stepson of the author Patrick O'Brian...
, historian and author of Victims of Yalta
Victims of Yalta
Victims of Yalta is the British and The Secret Betrayal the American title of a 1977 book by Nikolai Tolstoy that chronicles the fate of Soviet people who had been under German control during World War II and at its end fallen into the hands of the Western Allies...
and The Minister and the Massacres, who was then being sued for libel, by holding a major dinner for him at London's Charing Cross Hotel on 26 October 1988.
Africa
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and the breakup of the Central African Federation, which was the subject of its first major public meeting in September 1961. It was fundamentally opposed to decolonisation, and defended white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
.
During the Unilateral Declaration of Independence
Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia)
The Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia from the United Kingdom was signed on November 11, 1965, by the administration of Ian Smith, whose Rhodesian Front party opposed black majority rule in the then British colony. Although it declared independence from the United Kingdom it...
(UDI) period in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, the club strongly backed the government of Ian Smith
Ian Smith
Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...
and the Rhodesian Front
Rhodesian Front
The Rhodesian Front was a political party in Southern Rhodesia when the country was under white minority rule. Led first by Winston Field, and, from 1964, by Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Front was the successor to the Dominion Party, which was the main opposition party in Southern Rhodesia during the...
, being seen as its strongest supporters in Britain. In November 1963, the club had hosted a large reception for Smith at the Howard Hotel in London. That was followed the next year by receptions for Clifford Dupont
Clifford Dupont
Clifford Walter Dupont, GCLM ID was a British-born Rhodesian politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of Officer Administrating the Government and President...
and Moise Tshombe
Moise Tshombe
Moïse Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese politician.- Biography :He was the son of a successful Congolese businessman and was born in Musumba, Congo. He received his education from an American missionary school and later trained as an accountant...
. The Club continued its support for white minority rule in South Africa with Lauder-Frost organising a large dinner in central London, on 5 June 1989, for their guest-of-honour Dr. Andries Treurnicht
Andries Treurnicht
Andries Petrus Treurnicht was a South African politician, Minister of Education during the Soweto Riots and for a short time leader of the National Party in Transvaal...
, Leader of the Conservative Party of South Africa, and his delegation. Tim Janman
Tim Janman
Timothy Simon Janman is a former Conservative Party politician in England. He was Member of Parliament for Thurrock in Essex from 1987 to 1992, when he lost to the Labour Party candidate.-Early years:...
, MP, and the Lord Sudeley were amongst those present from parliament.
Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
invited the Monday Club to send a delegation to observe their conflict with Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, in October 1991, when the Serbian Orthodox minority in the Roman Catholic-dominated country refused to recognise Tuđman's nationalist government. It was the first British political delegation to go to Croatia during the conflict.
European Union
Debate within the Club was intense on the European issue. In the early days of the EECEEC
EEC is an abbreviation that usually refers to the European Economic Community, the forerunner to the European Union.It may also refer to;* The East Erie Commercial Railroad, a shortline in Pennsylvania...
one of the Club's MPs, Geoffrey Rippon
Geoffrey Rippon
Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC, was a British Conservative politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group....
, was so pro-EEC that he was known as 'Mr Europe'. Because of the divisions within the Club on this issue the decision was taken not to have a policy on it. However, by 1980 the mood had changed. A Club Discussion Paper in October 1980 was entitled Do Tories Really want to Scrap 80% of Britain's Fishing Fleet, and the Club adopted a firm anti-EU position
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. Teddy Taylor
Teddy Taylor
Sir Edward MacMillan Taylor, usually known as Teddy Taylor , is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1979 for Glasgow Cathcart and from 1980 to 2005 for Rochford and Southend East.He was a leading member and sometime Vice-President of the Conservative...
MP, an anti EEC man, became Chairman of the Club's EEC Affairs Policy Committee and authored a Club Policy Paper in December 1982 entitled Proposals to Rescue the British Fishing Industry. The Club's Scottish branch's newspaper, The Challenger, carried a further article against the EU by Taylor in September 1985 entitled Swallowing the Nation, and Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
also spoke against the EU at one of the Club's fringe meetings at the Conservative Party Conference at Blackpool on 8 October 1991, with Lauder-Frost presiding, which was filmed and broadcast on BBC TV
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
that night. In 1992 the Chairman, Dr. Mark Mayall, authored another Club booklet entitled: Maastricht: The High Tide of European Federalism, a fierce attack on the EU.
Immigration
In September 1972, the club held a "Halt Immigration Now!" public meeting in Westminster Central HallWestminster Central Hall
The Westminster Central Hall or Methodist Central Hall is a Methodist church in the City of Westminster. It occupies the corner of Tothill Street and Storeys Gate just off Victoria Street in London, near the junction with The Sanctuary next to the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and facing...
, opposite Parliament, at which the speakers Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell (UK politician)
Sir Ronald McMillan Bell, , QC , Knight Bachelor , was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom representing South Buckinghamshire from 1950 to 1974 and Beaconsfield from 1974 to 1982.-Family and education:The younger son of John Bell, Ronald was educated at Cardiff High...
, QC, MP, John Biggs-Davison
John Biggs-Davison
Sir John Alec Biggs-Davison was a Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Chigwell from 1955 and then, after boundary changes in 1974, Epping Forest until his death. He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club.-Early years:The son of Major John Norman Biggs-Davison,...
, MP, Harold Soref
Harold Soref
Harold Benjamin Soref was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate before being elected Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the 1970 General Election. He subsequently lost that seat to Labour in February 1974...
, MP, and John Heydon Stokes
John Heydon Stokes
Sir John Heydon Romaine Stokes, KBE , was a British politician and a Conservative Party Member of Parliament.-Education and Early Career:...
, MP, (all club members) called on the government to halt all immigration, repeal the Race Relations Act
Race Relations Act 1968
The Race Relations Act 1968 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom making it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to a person on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origins. It also created the Community Relations Commission to promote 'harmonious...
, not the separate Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968, and start a full repatriation scheme. A resolution was drafted, approved by the meeting, and delivered to the Prime Minister, Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
, who replied that "the government had no intention of repealing the Race Relations Act". When Reginald Maudling
Reginald Maudling
Reginald Maudling was a British politician who held several Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had been spoken of as a prospective Conservative leader since 1955, and was twice seriously considered for the post; he was Edward Heath's chief rival in 1965...
resigned from the Cabinet, the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
leader, Jeremy Thorpe
Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and was the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time...
, commented that "Mr. Heath has been left to wrestle with the Monday Club single-handed."
In October 1982, the Monday Club published its latest, slightly revised, policy on immigration. It called for:
- Scrapping of the Commission for Racial EqualityCommission for Racial EqualityThe Commission for Racial Equality was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. Its work has been merged into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.-History:...
and Community Relations Councils. - Repeal of the race relations laws.
- An end to the use of race or colour as criteria for the distribution of state benefits & loans.
- An end to positive discrimination and all special treatment based upon race or colour.
- An end to all further large-scale permanent immigration from the New Commonwealth.
- An improved repatriation scheme with generous resettlement grants for all those from New Commonwealth countries who wish to take advantage of them.
- The redesignation of the Ministry of Overseas Aid as a Ministry for Overseas Resettlement.
The Club's position on immigration was reiterated in a letter in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
from Lauder-Frost on the Club's behalf in October 1991 where he stated that the annual levels of immigration "were unacceptable" and called for "the strictest possible entry to Britain for those of other cultures."
Northern Ireland
Following an Official Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing at AldershotAldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, in February 1972, club member and MP Jill Knight
Jill Knight
Joan Christabel Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, DBE , known as Jill Knight, is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. She was created a Life Peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire in 1997 after standing down at...
called for legislation to outlaw the Official IRA and its political wing, Official Sinn Féin. The club was opposed to the dismantling of the Stormont government
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
in Northern Ireland and the imposition of direct rule. On 7 September 1989, Lauder-Frost, on behalf of the Club, denounced "the disgraceful Anglo-Irish Agreement
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
" in The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
.
Controversies and criticism
The club has been described as "far-right" by journalists in newspapers across the political spectrum from The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and, in 2002, as a "bastion on the Tory hard right" by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Guardian claimed in 1968 that the organisation was "probably the nearest British equivalent to the American John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
".
It was claimed by opponents of the club that many members had drawn closer to the National Front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
, it being reported as early as 1973 that NF members were moving to take over branches of the club. Thurlow, however, stated that it was doubted that members of the Monday Club were secret or even potential nazis
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
. Nevertheless the bad publicity led to a series of purges, mainly in Club branches.
On 24 February 1991, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
ran a lengthy article entitled "Far Right takes over the Monday Club", stating that a number of senior members had tendered their resignations in protest at the Club's "takeover" by "extreme right-wingers", some of whom were associated with the Western Goals Institute
Western Goals Institute
The Western Goals Institute was a conservative pressure group in Britain, re-formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation...
. The Club's solicitors, Rubenstein, Callingham & Gale, sent a formal letter of protest to the editor of the Observer about the article, and demanded a right-of-reply for the Club. The editor agreed and Lauder-Frost, writing on behalf of the Club, subsequently challenged the article's accusations in a Letter to the Editor
Letter to the editor
A letter to the editor is a letter sent to a publication about issues of concern from its readers. Usually, letters are intended for publication...
, which was published the following Sunday. He denied that a takeover had occurred, and claimed that none of the Club's policies had changed and that its direction was consistent with its aims and historical principles.
The playwright David Edgar
David Edgar (playwright)
David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...
described the Monday Club in an academic essay as "proselytis[ing] the ancient and venerable conservative traditions of paternalism
Paternalism
Paternalism refers to attitudes or states of affairs that exemplify a traditional relationship between father and child. Two conditions of paternalism are usually identified: interference with liberty and a beneficent intention towards those whose liberty is interfered with...
, imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
."
Suspension of links by the Conservative party (2001)
Regardless of the fact that the Monday Club was a completely autonomous pressure-group and not part of the Conservative Party organisation, in 2001, Conservative Party chairman David DavisDavid Davis (British politician)
David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
informed the club's National Executive that links between it and the party were being severed until it stopped promoting several of its (long-held and established) policies such as the voluntary repatriation of ethnic minorities. Davis later told the media: "I have told them that until a number of things are concluded—particularly some concerns about the membership of the club, and a review of the club's constitution and a requirement that the club will not promulgate or discuss policies relating to race—the club is suspended from any association with the Conservative party". Three MPs, Andrew Hunter
Andrew Hunter (British politician)
Andrew Robert Frederick Ebenezer Hunter is a United Kingdom politician and a member of the Orange Order. He was Member of Parliament for Basingstoke from 1983 until 2005...
, Andrew Rosindell
Andrew Rosindell
Andrew Richard Rosindell is an English Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the Romford constituency in Greater London...
and Angela Watkinson
Angela Watkinson
Angela Eileen Watkinson is a politician in the United Kingdom. She is Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Hornchurch and Upminster, and was first elected in 2001 to the earlier seat of Upminster, beating Keith Darvill who had taken the seat from the Conservatives in 1997...
, were ordered to resign from the club.
On the 10 May 2002, the British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that the club sought to restore its links with the Conservative Party. At the following Club Annual General meeting in April 2002, members approved two motions proposed by Michael Keith Smith
Michael Keith Smith
Michael Keith Smith , commonly known as Mike Smith, had been founder-chairman of the Conservative Democratic Alliance, a British right-wing pressure group. He was also the successful claimant in Keith-Smith v Williams, a landmark English libel case in 2006 that confirmed that existing libel laws...
, (also Chairman of the Conservative Democratic Alliance
Conservative Democratic Alliance
The Conservative Democratic Alliance was a United Kingdom pressure group. The CDA referred to itself as the "authentic voice of conservatism"...
); one reaffirming the Club's opposition to mass immigration, and another empowering Club officers to institute legal action against the Conservative Party following the Club's 'suspension' by them. A third motion, asking the Club to call for the sacking of John Bercow
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....
, then Shadow
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the third most senior ministerial position in HM Treasury, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer . In recent years, the office holder has usually been given a junior position in the British Cabinet...
, and former Monday Club member, for his "hypocrisy", was defeated.
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported (2 June 2006) that, as the club "is now slowly nudging back into the mainstream, many members feel that it is time to return to the fold".
The Monday Club, having changed its original raison d'être as a pressure group, and whose membership is now said to be back below 600, now has very little influence on the agenda of the Conservative Party. Many of its former members subsequently joined the Conservative Democratic Alliance
Conservative Democratic Alliance
The Conservative Democratic Alliance was a United Kingdom pressure group. The CDA referred to itself as the "authentic voice of conservatism"...
.