The Cornerstone Group is a socially conservative or traditional conservative

Traditionalist Conservatism

Traditionalist conservatism, also known as "traditional conservatism," "traditionalism," "Burkean conservatism", "classical conservatism" and , "Toryism", describes a political philosophy emphasizing the need for the principles of natural law and transcendent moral order, tradition, hierarchy and...

 political organisation within the British

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...

 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...

. The group emphasises traditional values

Traditional values

Traditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community.-Summary:Since the late 1970s in the U.S., the term "traditional values" has become synonymous...

, exemplified by the motto: Faith, Flag, and Family. It consists of Members of Parliament with a traditionalist stance, and was founded in 2005. The Group is currently led by its president Edward Leigh

Edward Leigh

Edward Julian Egerton Leigh is a British Conservative politician. He has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire since 1997, and for its predecessor constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle between 1983 and 1997...

 and chairman John Hayes

John Henry Hayes

John Henry Hayes FRSA is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for South Holland and The Deepings, and a member of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group...

. There are around forty Conservative Party Members of Parliament who belong to the group at present.

Within the Conservative Party there are three main schools of thought; along with the traditional-leaning Cornerstone Group, there are also the One Nation

One Nation Conservatism

One nation, one nation conservatism, and Tory democracy are terms used in political debate in the United Kingdom to refer to a certain wing of the Conservative Party...

 and Thatcherite elements. There is sometimes an overlap between these groups, depending on certain issues. The Cornerstone Group supports the unitary

Unitary state

A unitary state is a state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate...

 governance of the British state and opposes attempts to transfer power away from it — either downward to regionalism

Regionalism (politics)

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...

s in the shape of devolution

Devolution

Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...

, or upwards to the international control of the European Union

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...

. A manifesto released around the time of foundation set out its intentions:

Principles

The name stems from its support for three British social institutions: the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

, the unitary British state

Unitary state

A unitary state is a state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate...

, and the family. To this end, they emphasise England's Anglican heritage (although many are looking to Roman Catholicism in the wake of increasing liberalism in the Church of England), oppose any transfer of power away from the United Kingdom

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...

 -- either downwards to the nations and regions or upwards to the European Union

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...

 -- and seek to place greater emphasis on traditional family structures

Nuclear family

Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...

 to repair what they see as a broken society in Britain, as well as opposing high levels of immigration into the UK

Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922

Immigration to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1922 has been substantial, in particular from Ireland and the former colonies and other territories of the British Empire - such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Caribbean, South Africa, Kenya and Hong Kong - under...

.

Prominent MPs from this wing of the party include Owen Paterson

Owen Paterson

Owen William Paterson is a British Conservative Party politician and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He is the Member of Parliament for North Shropshire.-Early life and career:Paterson was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire...

 and Edward Leigh

Edward Leigh

Edward Julian Egerton Leigh is a British Conservative politician. He has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire since 1997, and for its predecessor constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle between 1983 and 1997...

—himself a prominent Roman Catholic, notable in an organisation marked out by its support for the established Church of England. Alan Duncan

Alan Duncan

Alan James Carter Duncan is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton, and a Minister of State in the Department for International Development....

 once referred to this wing as a "Taliban tendency" within the party. The conservative English philosopher Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton

Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...

 represents the intellectual wing of the Cornerstone Group: his writings rarely touch on economics and instead concentrate on providing conservative perspectives on political, social, cultural and moral issues.

Members

Below are the current MPs who are part of the Cornerstone Group, as listed on the organisation's website.

Member	Constituency	MP since
Edward Leigh Edward Leigh Edward Julian Egerton Leigh is a British Conservative politician. He has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire since 1997, and for its predecessor constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle between 1983 and 1997...	Gainsborough Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) Gainsborough 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....	1983
John Henry Hayes John Henry Hayes John Henry Hayes FRSA is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for South Holland and The Deepings, and a member of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group...	South Holland and the Deepings	1997
Brian Binley Brian Binley Brian Arthur Roland Binley is a British Conservative politician, and the Member of Parliament for Northampton South.-Early life:...	Northampton South Northampton South (UK Parliament constituency) Northampton South is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for February 1974 general election when the old constituency of Northampton was split into Northampton North and Northampton South.-Boundary...	2005
Nadine Dorries Nadine Dorries Nadine Vanessa Dorries is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire since 2005. She has been involved in parliamentary attempts to change the laws on abortion....	Mid Bedfordshire Mid 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...	2005
Charles Walker	Broxbourne Broxbourne (UK Parliament constituency) -Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Elections in the 1980s:-Notes and references:...	2005
David TC Davies David Davies (politician) David Thomas Charles Davies, MP is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Monmouth in South Wales. Davies is also a special police constable, and volunteers with his local police force....	Monmouth Monmouth (UK Parliament constituency) Monmouth is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post of election...	2005
Stephen Crabb Stephen Crabb Stephen Crabb is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Preseli Pembrokeshire.-Background:Crabb was born in Inverness and brought up in council housing in Pembrokeshire...	Preseli Pembrokeshire Preseli Pembrokeshire (UK Parliament constituency) Preseli Pembrokeshire is a constituency of 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....	2005
David Burrowes David Burrowes David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate, Parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and an Officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.-Early life:David Burrowes was born in Cockfosters...	Enfield Southgate	2005
Julian Brazier Julian Brazier Julian William Hendy Brazier TD is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Canterbury...	Canterbury Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency) Canterbury is a county constituency which has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....	1987
Greg Hands Greg Hands Gregory William "Greg" Hands, MP is a Conservative Party politician. He is currently the Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham having been elected during the 2010 general election for the newly-created constituency formed with the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and...	Chelsea and Fulham Chelsea and Fulham (UK Parliament constituency) Chelsea and Fulham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was first contested in the 2010 general election....	2005
Owen Paterson Owen Paterson Owen William Paterson is a British Conservative Party politician and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He is the Member of Parliament for North Shropshire.-Early life and career:Paterson was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire...	North Shropshire North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency) North Shropshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From its first creation in 1832 to the abolition of the first creation in 1885 it elected two Knights of the Shire...	1997
David Jones David Jones (Welsh politician) David Ian Jones MP , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he is currently the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales, and a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Clwyd West.-Early life:...	Clwyd West Clwyd West (UK Parliament constituency) Clwyd West is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post method of election...	2005
David Amess David Amess David Anthony Andrew Amess is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983, first for Basildon, and since 1997 for Southend West.-Early life:...	Southend West Southend West (UK Parliament constituency) Southend West 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....	1983
Ian Liddell-Grainger	Bridgwater and West Somerset	2001
Bill Cash	Stone Stone (UK Parliament constituency) Stone is a county constituency in Staffordshire which is 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 :...	1984
John Redwood John Redwood John Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...	Wokingham Wokingham (UK Parliament constituency) Wokingham 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:...	1987
Laurence Robertson Laurence Robertson Laurence Anthony Robertson is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire since 1997...	Tewkesbury Tewkesbury (UK Parliament constituency) Tewkesbury 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....	1997
John Whittingdale John Whittingdale John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale OBE, , is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1992.-Education:...	Maldon Maldon (UK Parliament constituency) Maldon 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...	1992
Philip Davies Philip Davies Philip Andrew Davies is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Shipley in West Yorkshire.-Early life:...	Shipley Shipley (UK Parliament constituency) -Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Elections in the 1980s:-Elections in the 1970s:-Elections in the 1910s:...	2005
Philip Hollobone Philip Hollobone Philip Thomas Hollobone is a British Conservative Party politician who is both a Member of Parliament for the Kettering constituency and a member of Kettering Borough Council for the Piper's Hill ward .-Early life:Hollobone was educated at Dulwich College, London, and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford...	Kettering Kettering (UK Parliament constituency) Kettering is a county constituency in Northamptonshire which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....	2005
Christopher Chope Christopher Chope Christopher Robert Chope OBE is a British barrister and Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Christchurch.-Early life:...	Christchurch Christchurch (UK Parliament constituency) Christchurch is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Centred on the town of Christchurch in Dorset, it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....	1997 (prev. 1983)
Peter Bone Peter Bone Peter William Bone is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wellingborough and Rushden.-Personal life:Bone was born in 1952 in Billericay and was educated at Westcliff-on-Sea High School for Boys...	Wellingborough Wellingborough (UK Parliament constituency) Wellingborough 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...	2005
Lee Scott Lee Scott (UK politician) Lee Scott is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ilford North, and an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.-Early life:Scott was born in the East End of London to a British Jewish family,...	Ilford North Ilford North (UK Parliament constituency) Ilford North is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprises the north part of the town of Ilford in the London Borough of Redbridge, and elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of...	2005
Andrew Turner	Isle of Wight Isle 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.-...	2001
Douglas Carswell Douglas Carswell John Douglas Wilson Carswell is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Clacton, having been first elected as MP for Harwich in 2005....	Clacton Clacton (UK Parliament constituency) Clacton 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:...	2005
Robert Goodwill Robert Goodwill Robert Goodwill is a British farmer and Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby and a former Member of the European Parliament .-Early life:...	Scarborough and Whitby	2005
Adam Holloway Adam Holloway Adam James Harold Holloway is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Gravesham.-Early life:...	Gravesham Gravesham (UK Parliament constituency) Gravesham 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...	2005
Daniel Kawczynski Daniel Kawczynski Daniel Robert Kawczynski is the Conservative Party Member for Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, England.-Biography:...	Shrewsbury and Atcham Shrewsbury and Atcham (UK Parliament constituency) Shrewsbury and Atcham 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....	2005
Greg Knight Greg Knight Gregory Knight is a British politician and author. He is Conservative Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire.-Education and professional life:...	East Yorkshire East Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency) East Yorkshire 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 :...	2001 (prev. 1983)
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...	Romford Romford (UK Parliament constituency) Romford 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 :...	2001

External links

• The Cornerstone Group
• Press release about the founding of the Cornerstone Group 25 July, 2005