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Monday Club

The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Northern Ireland.

Conservative Monday Club
Header of the Monday Club from the 1970s
Formation1 January 1961; 62 years ago (1961-01-01)
FoundersPaul Bristol
Ian Grieg
Cedric Gunnery
Anthony Maclaren
PurposeBritish conservatism
High Toryism
Anti-communism
Anti-immigration
Location

Founded in 1961, in reaction to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's opposition to white majority rule in Southern Rhodesia, the club became embroiled in the decolonisation and immigration debate, inevitably highlighting the controversial issue of race, which has dominated its image ever since. The club was known for its fierce opposition to non-white immigration to Britain and its support for apartheid-era South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. By 1971, the club had 35 MPs, six of them ministers, and 35 peers, with membership (including branches) totalling about 10,000.

In 1982, the constitution was re-written, with more emphasis on support for the Conservative Party, but it remained autonomous from the party. In-fighting over the club's traditional Tory agenda led to many resignations in 1991. In 2001, the Conservative Party formally severed relations with the club, which has ceased to exercise significant influence, with full membership below 600.

History edit

Foundation and early years edit

The club was founded on 1 January 1961, by four young Conservative Party members, Paul Bristol (a 24-year-old shipbroker and the club's first chairman,[1] who left the club in 1968), Ian Greig (Membership Secretary until 1969), Cedric Gunnery (Treasurer until 1992; died 16 Mar 2023[2]), 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.[3]

The club disliked what it regarded as the expediency, cynicism and materialism which motivated Harold Macmillan'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".[4] The club's published aims stated that it "seeks to evolve a dynamic application of traditional Tory principles".[5]

The group brought together supporters of Rhodesia and South Africa; the main impetus for the group's formation was the Conservatives' new decolonisation policies, in particular as a general reaction to Macmillan's 'Wind of Change' speech made in South Africa. The club stated that Macmillan had "turned the Party Left", and its first pamphlet opposed these policies as indicative of the Conservative Party's move towards liberalism.[6] The club is notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, repatriation for Commonwealth immigrants, a policy subsequently adopted in the 1970 Conservative Party manifesto.[7][8]

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".[9] By the end of 1963 there were eleven Members of Parliament in the Club, which then had an overall membership of about 300.[10][11] The club was courted by many Conservative politicians, including the Conservative Party leader Sir Alec Douglas-Home who was guest-of-honour at the club's annual dinners of 1964 and 1969, and Enoch Powell, who, in a speech in 1968, said that "it was due to the Monday Club that many are brought within the Conservative Party who might otherwise be estranged from it".[12]

That year Alan Clark joined the club and was soon chairman of its Wiltshire branch.[13] Under its chairman from 1964 to 1969, Paul Williams, who until 1964 had been MP for Sunderland South, the club enjoyed significant growth and influence. Some argued that the club had a disproportionate influence within Conservative circles, especially after six of its members who were MPs joined the Cabinet in 1970.[14]: 138 

Harold Wilson, twice Labour Prime Minister, described the club as "the guardian of the Tory conscience".[12] Oxford political scholar Roger Griffin referred to the club as practising an anti-socialist and elitist form of conservatism.[15]

Membership edit

By 1970, eighteen Members of Parliament were club members:[16]

In the 1970 Conservative Party election victory, six MPs who were club members were given Cabinet positions.[14]: 138)  In addition, the following club members were elected that year:[16]

Among sitting MPs who joined the club after that and other elections, along with those who became MPs were:

Peers of the House of Lords who were Monday Club members:

Other notable members:

A number of other Monday Club members contested Labour-held seats, some of which had large majorities, and although the challenge was unsuccessful, their majorities were reduced. These included: Tim Keigwin, who almost unseated the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe at North Devon, Councillor John Pritchard of Bromley London Borough Council, who contested Wrexham and Norwood, and David Clarke, whose personal campaign assistant was the chairman of the club's Young Members' Group, Christopher Horne, and who failed by only 76 votes at Watford.[32]

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". At the club's Annual General Meeting on 26 April 1971, in Westminster Central Hall, the chairman, George Pole, announced that "our membership, including national, branches and universities is around 10,000."[33]

MP John Biggs-Davison, in his foreword to Robert Copping's second book on the history of the club,[34] 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 in June 1981, David Storey, described it as "an anchor to a ship", referring to the Conservative Party.

The Thatcher years edit

 
Three of the Young Members' Group at a Club Conference at Chilham Castle, 1980: John R. Pinniger (YMG Chairman), Richard Turnbull and Gregory Lauder-Frost.

The club's revised constitution (21 May 1984) stated that "the objects of the Club are to support the Conservative & Unionist Party in those policies designed:

  • 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."
 
Members gather for the club's 20th anniversary riverboat party organised by the Young Members' Group, 15 July 1981.

During the period that Margaret Thatcher 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., Sam Swerling, and later, Eleanor Dodd. In the October 1982 edition, MP Harvey Proctor called for the scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality, Sir Patrick Wall commented on the Falklands War, James Molyneaux had an article "What Future for Ulster", and Dr. Harvey Ward had an article on "Zimbabwe Today". The September 1984 edition of Monday News carried the headline "Kinnock Talks to Terrorists", quoting former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock's declaration to the African National Congress's Oliver Tambo 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 leader Ken Livingstone inviting Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to visit London in 1982.

An early member, in his Diaries, Alan Clark describes speaking later to a county-branch of the Monday Club in 1982: "I really cannot bear the Monday Club. They are all mad, quite different from its heyday, when it was a right-wing pressure group at the time of Ted Heath's Government. Now they are a prickly residue in the body politic, a nasty sort of gallstone."[35]

The playwright David Edgar described the Monday Club, in 1986, as "proselytis[ing] the ancient and venerable conservative traditions of paternalism, imperialism and racism."[36]

Old Guard departs edit

 
The Foreign Affairs Committee were responsible for the club's Russia Dinner on 11 January 1990, with Vladimir Cyrillovich, Grand Duke of Russia, pretender to the Imperial throne, being the guest-of-honour.[37][38]

In 1988–89, a group of longstanding members, led by Gregory Lauder-Frost, the club's Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, succeeded in getting elected to the key posts on the Executive Council, with Dr. Mark Mayall as deputy chairman, and Lauder-Frost as the Political Secretary.

At the beginning of January 1991, the Monday Club News announced the abolition of the only salaried position, that of Director (then held by the club's Treasurer, Cedric Gunnery, one of the club's founders). Although this was due to the club's precarious financial state,[39] some felt more sinister moves afoot. Negative news stories began emerging[40] and resignations followed. An internal investigation followed. The chairman, David Storey, lost an almost unanimous vote of no confidence on 17 January 1991, and his membership was terminated by the club's Executive Council on 11 February on the grounds that "he has engaged in behaviour prejudicial to the best interests, reputation, objects, and other members of the Monday Club; by abusing his position as Chairman in encouraging members to leave the Monday Club and to join a new political group".[41] Dr. Mayall became Acting Chairman until the May AGM when he was confirmed in that post by election. By 1992, the new team had the national (as opposed to branches) membership over 1600 again.

Lauder-Frost's resignation on 31 May 1992 saw the club descend into faction fighting and to a period of instability, with more departures and a resulting loss of membership and the club's influence declined. Subsequent failed expulsion attempts resulted in huge legal bills, and when Dr. Mark Mayall's term as chairman expired in April 1993 he left the group. Control passed effectively into the hands of Denis Walker, a former Methodist missionary, and later 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 opposed.

Organisation edit

Premises edit

The national club established its offices at 51–53 Victoria Street, a few minutes' walk from the Palace of Westminster. 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. High rents forced another move to 4 Orlando Road, Clapham Common. In 1991 the club's office was moved to an office belonging to W. Denis Walker, opposite Highams Park railway station in Waltham Forest, east London, 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". Since then the club office has moved to the premises of other companies associated with Walker, at 65 Chapel Hill, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3XR[42] and Southmill Trading Centre, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3DY, which according to Companies House[43] is the current address as of Jan 2023.

Branches edit

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 Oxford.

Policy committees edit

The Monday Club had various study groups (later renamed policy committees) including:

Foreign affairs edit

Anti-communism edit

 
At the Western Goals Institute's El Salvador Dinner, London, 25 September 1989. L to R: Denis Walker, Lord Sudeley, El Salvador's Foreign Minister, Andrew Smith (yellow tie), Dr Harvey Ward

The club was anti-communist and had an active Defence Committee chaired for over 15 years by Sir Patrick Wall 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, the club's Foreign Affairs Committee in 1990 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.[47] By challenging the Oder-Neisse line, the club was arguing that Germany should take back all of the parts of Poland and the Soviet Union that been part of Germany in 1938, through what was to happen to the Poles living in such cites as Wrocław (formerly the German city of Breslau), Szczecin (formerly the German city of Stettin), and the Russians living in Kaliningrad (formerly the German city of Königsberg) was left unexplained.

Club officers, including Gregory Lauder-Frost, Denis Walker, and Lord Sudeley, attended a Western Goals Institute dinner in September 1989 in honour of Salvadorian president Alfredo Cristiani, whose military was at the time fighting the FMLN.[48]

The club also took a hard line on the return of White Russians by the British Army to Joseph Stalin's Red Army in 1945–46, who executed nearly all of them. In this respect it gave its support to Count Nikolai Tolstoy, historian and author of Victims of Yalta and The Minister and the Massacres, who was then being sued for libel, by holding a dinner for him at London's Charing Cross Hotel on 26 October 1988.[49]

Africa edit

 
Ian Smith makes a point at a dinner organised in his honour by The Hon. Denis Walker (far left) at Lympne Castle, Kent, 23 July 1990. Smith is flanked by Nicholas and Ann Winterton, both MPs, and Rhodesian flags.

The club opposed what it described as the "premature" independence of Kenya, and the breakup of the Central African Federation, which was the subject of its first major public meeting in September 1961.[50] It was fundamentally opposed to decolonisation, and defended white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia.

During the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) period in Rhodesia, the club strongly backed the White minority government of Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front, 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 and Moise Tshombe. 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 its guest-of-honour Dr Andries Treurnicht, leader of the pro-apartheid Conservative Party of South Africa, and his delegation. Tim Janman MP and the Lord Sudeley were amongst those present from Parliament.[51]

Croatia edit

 
Meet the President: The Monday Club delegation to Croatia, 12 October 1991: L to R: Roger Knapman MP, Andrew Hunter MP, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, President Franjo Tuđman, Gregory Lauder-Frost, The Hon. Denis Walker, Rod Morris.

The government of Franjo Tuđman in Croatia invited the Monday Club to send a delegation to observe its conflict with Serbia, in October 1991, when the war for Croatian independence from the tottering Yugoslavia was at its height, with the armies of both sides engaged in serious fighting. The club delegation arrived just days after the Yugoslav Air Force bombing of the historic upper city in Zagreb.[52] It was the first British political delegation to go to Croatia during the conflict.[53]

 
Denis Walker and Andrew Hunter MP on the Croatia-Serbia front line as part of the Monday Club delegation, 12 October 1991

European Union edit

Debate within the club was intense on the European Union. In the early days of the European Economic Community (EEC) one of the club's MPs, Geoffrey Rippon, 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-European Union (EU) position. Teddy Taylor, an anti-EEC MP, 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 EEC by Taylor in September 1985 entitled "Swallowing the Nation".

Enoch Powell also spoke against the EEC at one of the Monday 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's Newsnight 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 EEC.

Immigration edit

In September 1972, the club held a "Halt Immigration Now!" public meeting in Westminster Central Hall, opposite Parliament, at which the speakers Ronald Bell QC MP, John Biggs-Davison MP, Harold Soref MP, and John Heydon Stokes MP (all club members) called on the government to halt all immigration, repeal the Race Relations Act, (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, who replied that "the government had no intention of repealing the Race Relations Act". When Reginald Maudling resigned from the Cabinet, the Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe, commented that "Mr. Heath has been left to wrestle with the Monday Club single-handed."[54]

In October 1982, the Monday Club published a slightly revised, policy on immigration. It called for:

  1. Scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality and Community Relations Councils.
  2. Repeal of the race relations laws.
  3. An end to the use of race or colour as criteria for the distribution of state benefits and loans.
  4. An end to positive discrimination.
  5. To bring an end to large-scale permanent immigration from the New Commonwealth.
  6. An improved repatriation scheme with generous resettlement grants for all those who wish to take advantage of them.

Although more explicit in detail, the general thrust of policy accorded with that found in the Conservative Party manifesto published ahead of the general election the following year.

The club's position on immigration was reiterated in a letter in The Times from Lauder-Frost on the club's behalf in October 1991, in which he stated that the annual levels of immigration "were unacceptable".[55]

Northern Ireland edit

Following an Official Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing at Aldershot, Hampshire, in February 1972, club member and MP Jill Knight called for legislation to outlaw the Official IRA and its political wing, Sinn Féin (Official). The club was opposed to the dismantling of the Stormont government in Northern Ireland and the imposition of direct rule.[56]

Controversies and criticism edit

The Guardian claimed back in 1968 that the organisation was "probably the nearest British equivalent to the American John Birch Society".[57] It was claimed by opponents that the National Front had started an active programme of entryism into the organisation, mainly via the growing number of regional branches. Throughout the early part of the 1970s the leadership stepped up its efforts considerably to try to address this issue. A new standardised set of rules and procedures were instituted which sought to institute a far greater level of centralised control over the growth and activity of the regional branches. There were a number of expulsions, and some branches were forced to disband.

On 24 February 1991, The Observer 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." 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, which was published the following Sunday. He denied that a takeover had occurred, said that none of the club's policies had changed and that its direction was consistent with its aims and historical principles. Faction fighting within the club following Lauder-Frost's departure at the end of May 1992 led to a period of instability and a resulting loss of membership. The club's influence declined.

Suspension of links by the Conservative Party (2001) edit

After the defeats in the 1997 general election and 2001 general election, the Conservative Party began decisive moves towards becoming more centrist; the 2002–2003 party chairman and future Prime Minister, Theresa May, would later state that it had been perceived by voters as the "Nasty Party". The then party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, suspended the Monday Club's longstanding links with the party in October 2001,[58] saying his party would have nothing to do with the organisation unless it stopped making "distasteful" remarks on race and immigration.[59] Although the Monday Club was a completely autonomous pressure-group and not part of the Conservative Party organisation, Conservative Party chairman David Davis then 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[14]: 138 ) policies such as the voluntary repatriation of ethnic minorities.[60] 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".[61] Three MPs, Andrew Hunter, Andrew Rosindell and Angela Watkinson, were ordered to resign from the club.

The club today edit

Since 1993 new full members of the club must be members of the Conservative Party, though there is no such requirement for associate membership.[62] Monday Club observers, such as Denis Walker, have attended Democratic Unionist Party conferences.

In 2002 the club was described as a "bastion on the Tory hard right" by BBC News Online.[63] The club's agenda stresses support for what it calls "traditional Conservative values", including "resistance to 'political correctness'".[64]

On 10 May 2002, the BBC reported that the club sought to restore its links with the Conservative Party.[59]

The Times reported on 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". Having returned to being a much smaller organisation, the Club continues to lobby Parliamentarians, to publish comment pieces and an annual journal. It also organises occasional meetings and hosts dinners in London. Recent[when?] speakers have included Sir Christopher Chope MP, Michael Nazir-Ali, Andrew Rosindell MP, Arlene Foster and Ian Paisley Jr MP.

The group's website lists its priorities as the maintaining the monarchy and the Union; protecting the "family unit"; restoring law and order; opposition to Britain's membership in the EU; promoting a "sound economy" and a "robust defence capability"; opposition to "political correctness" and maintaining traditional values.[64]

Monday Club publications edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Seyd, Patrick, Factionalism within the Conservative Party: The Monday Club in Government and Opposition, volume 7, no. 4., 1972.
  2. ^ "GUNNERY - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements".
  3. ^ Policy and Aims. The Monday Club, December 1961.
  4. ^ The Aims of the Monday Club, Executive Council publication, Monday Club, 1970, p. 1.
  5. ^ The Monday Club - Organization & Membership published on the back cover of the Club's 1968 booklet Student Power by Patrick Wall MC MP.
  6. ^ Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, Current Affairs Information Unit, London, April 1972: 5.
  7. ^ Watt, Nicholas (19 October 2001). "Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies". The Guardian.
  8. ^ Woolf, Marie (29 August 2001). "Five more names go in purge of Tory right". The Independent. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  9. ^ Copping, 1972, p. 5.
  10. ^ Copping, 1972, p. 7.
  11. ^ Thurlow, Richard, Fascism in Britain, London, 1st edition 1987, revised reprint 2006, p.246, ISBN 1-86064-337-X where the author also refers to "traditional party supporters feeling intensely alienated by the Heath administration and made their opposition felt through their support of Enoch Powell".
  12. ^ a b Copping, 1972, p. 26.
  13. ^ a b Trewin, Ion, Alan Clark – The Biography, London, 2009, ISBN 978-0-297-85073-1, pps: 230 & 246-7.
  14. ^ a b c d Messina, Anthony M., Race and Party Competition in Britain, Clarendon Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-827534-X
  15. ^ Griffin, Roger, The Nature of Fascism, London, 1991, p. 161, ISBN 0-86187-112-X
  16. ^ a b Copping, 1972, p. 21.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g Copping, Robert, The Story of the Monday Club - The First Decade, London: Current Affairs Information Service, April 1972
  18. ^ a b Copping, Robert, The Monday Club—Crisis and After May 1975, page 34, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  19. ^ Copping, Robert, The Monday Club—Crisis and After May 1975, page 43, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  20. ^ Copping, Robert, The Monday Club—Crisis and After May 1975, page 25, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  21. ^ a b Copping, Robert, The Monday Club—Crisis and After May 1975, page 28, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  22. ^ a b Copping, Robert, The Monday Club—Crisis and After May 1975, page 46, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  23. ^ a b c Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, Current Affairs Information Service, London, April 1972, (P/B)
  24. ^ a b Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1991, 172nd edition, Hurst Green, Sussex, p.172.
  25. ^ Copping, Robert, The Monday Club—Crisis and After May 1975, page 50, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  26. ^ a b c Amery, Julian, et al., Rhodesia and the Threat to the West, Monday Club, London, 1976 (P/B)
  27. ^ a b c Copping, Robert (1975). The Monday Club - Crisis and After. Ilford: Current Affairs Information Service. p. 25.
  28. ^ Monday Club Newsletter, July/August 1970, p.7.
  29. ^ a b Amery, Julian, "Facing up to Soviet Imperialism", in the Monday Club's October 1985 Conservative Party Conference issue of its newspaper, Right Ahead
  30. ^ Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, London, April 1972, p.6, and 14,
  31. ^ "AIM25 collection description". www.aim25.ac.uk.
  32. ^ Copping, 1972, p. 22.
  33. ^ Monday Club 'Newsletter'. May/June 1971.
  34. ^ Copping, Robert, The Monday Club - Crisis and After, Current Affairs Information Unit, London, May 1975
  35. ^ Alan Clark, Diaries: Into Politics, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000, p. 337, ISBN 0-297-64402-5
  36. ^ Levitas, Ruth, (editor), The Ideology of the New Right, Cambridge, 1986, p. 60, ISBN 0-7456-0190-1
  37. ^ 'The Daily Telegraph', 12 January 1990, p. 16.
  38. ^ The Independent, 13 January 1990, article: "Tsar's heir plans for day of Restoration".
  39. ^ Monday Club News, January 1991 (circular)
  40. ^ The Observer, 24 February 1991, major article by David Rose.
  41. ^ Club Minutes
  42. ^ "Contact Details". The Conservative Monday Club. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  43. ^ "ASPENCHASE ENTERPRISES LIMITED". Companies House. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  44. ^ Monday Club Newsletter, July 1968, p.6.
  45. ^ Graham Webster-Gardiner was elected Chairman of the club's Universities Group in 1969; he was later the UKIP Candidate for Epsom and Ewell in the 2001 General Election.
  46. ^ Monday Club Newsletters, 1990-91
  47. ^ The Independent, 4 March 1990.
  48. ^ The Daily Telegraph and The Times, Court & Social pages, both on 26 September 1989.
  49. ^ The Daily Telegraph, Court & Social columns, 27 October 1988.
  50. ^ Copping, 1972 p.6
  51. ^ The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, Court & Social columns, 6 June 1989.
  52. ^ Almond, Mark, Europe's Backyard War - The War in the Balkans, Heinemann, London, 1994, pps:223-9.
  53. ^ The Times, 5 May 1992, carried a letter from Gregory Lauder-Frost on behalf of the club about this delegation and its findings.
  54. ^ Copping, 1975, pp. 6–7.
  55. ^ The Times (letters), 9 October 1991.
  56. ^ Copping, 1975, pp. 5, 6, 9.
  57. ^ Powell and His Allies, Labour Research Department, (p. 12) 1969.
  58. ^ "Tories suspend link with Monday Club." BBC News. 18 October 2001.
  59. ^ a b Right-wing club appeals for Tory return." BBC News. 10 May 2002.
  60. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (19 October 2001). "Duncan Smith orders Monday Club to suspend Tory links". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  61. ^ Watt, Nicholas (19 October 2001). "Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies". The Guardian.
  62. ^ Monday Club membership application form 2016-04-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  63. ^ "Right-wing club appeals for Tory return". BBC News. 10 May 2002.
  64. ^ a b "Welcome to the Monday Club". Monday Club. Bishop's Stortford. March 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2019.

References edit

  • Copping, Robert, No Punches Pulled - Britain Today, Current Affairs Information Service (CAIS), Ilford, Essex, n/d but probably circa 1970 (P/B).
  • Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, (i) (Foreword by George Pole), Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, April 1972 (P/B).
  • Copping, Robert, The Monday Club - Crisis and After, (foreword by John Biggs-Davison MP), (ii) CAIS, Ilford, May 1975 (P/B).
  • Rose, Professor Richard, Politics in England - Persistence and Change, London, 1st published 1965. 4th edition 1985, p. 301, ISBN 0-571-13830-6
  • Heffer, Simon, Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell, London, 1998, ISBN 0-297-84286-2 (many references to the Monday Club).
  • Coxall, Bill, and Lynton Robins, Contemporary British Politics, Macmillan Press, Basingstoke, 1993 reprint, (P/B), Monday Club profile on p. 239. ISBN 0-333-34046-9

External links edit

  • Parliament & Europe: 1967 Monday Club Pamphlet - UK Parliament Living Heritage
  • Official website

monday, club, conservative, usually, known, british, political, pressure, group, aligned, with, conservative, party, though, longer, endorsed, also, links, democratic, unionist, party, ulster, unionist, party, northern, ireland, conservative, header, from, 197. The Conservative Monday Club usually known as the Monday Club is a British political pressure group aligned with the Conservative Party though no longer endorsed by it It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party DUP and Ulster Unionist Party UUP in Northern Ireland Conservative Monday ClubHeader of the Monday Club from the 1970sFormation1 January 1961 62 years ago 1961 01 01 FoundersPaul Bristol Ian Grieg Cedric Gunnery Anthony MaclarenPurposeBritish conservatismHigh ToryismAnti communismAnti immigrationLocationUnited KingdomFounded in 1961 in reaction to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan s opposition to white majority rule in Southern Rhodesia the club became embroiled in the decolonisation and immigration debate inevitably highlighting the controversial issue of race which has dominated its image ever since The club was known for its fierce opposition to non white immigration to Britain and its support for apartheid era South Africa and Southern Rhodesia By 1971 the club had 35 MPs six of them ministers and 35 peers with membership including branches totalling about 10 000 In 1982 the constitution was re written with more emphasis on support for the Conservative Party but it remained autonomous from the party In fighting over the club s traditional Tory agenda led to many resignations in 1991 In 2001 the Conservative Party formally severed relations with the club which has ceased to exercise significant influence with full membership below 600 Contents 1 History 1 1 Foundation and early years 1 2 Membership 1 3 The Thatcher years 1 4 Old Guard departs 2 Organisation 2 1 Premises 2 2 Branches 2 3 Policy committees 3 Foreign affairs 3 1 Anti communism 3 2 Africa 3 3 Croatia 3 4 European Union 4 Immigration 5 Northern Ireland 6 Controversies and criticism 7 Suspension of links by the Conservative Party 2001 8 The club today 9 Monday Club publications 10 Notes 11 References 12 External linksHistory editFoundation and early years edit The club was founded on 1 January 1961 by four young Conservative Party members Paul Bristol a 24 year old shipbroker and the club s first chairman 1 who left the club in 1968 Ian Greig Membership Secretary until 1969 Cedric Gunnery Treasurer until 1992 died 16 Mar 2023 2 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 3 The club disliked what it regarded as the expediency cynicism and materialism which motivated Harold Macmillan 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 4 The club s published aims stated that it seeks to evolve a dynamic application of traditional Tory principles 5 The group brought together supporters of Rhodesia and South Africa the main impetus for the group s formation was the Conservatives new decolonisation policies in particular as a general reaction to Macmillan s Wind of Change speech made in South Africa The club stated that Macmillan had turned the Party Left and its first pamphlet opposed these policies as indicative of the Conservative Party s move towards liberalism 6 The club is notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary or assisted repatriation for Commonwealth immigrants a policy subsequently adopted in the 1970 Conservative Party manifesto 7 8 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 9 By the end of 1963 there were eleven Members of Parliament in the Club which then had an overall membership of about 300 10 11 The club was courted by many Conservative politicians including the Conservative Party leader Sir Alec Douglas Home who was guest of honour at the club s annual dinners of 1964 and 1969 and Enoch Powell who in a speech in 1968 said that it was due to the Monday Club that many are brought within the Conservative Party who might otherwise be estranged from it 12 That year Alan Clark joined the club and was soon chairman of its Wiltshire branch 13 Under its chairman from 1964 to 1969 Paul Williams who until 1964 had been MP for Sunderland South the club enjoyed significant growth and influence Some argued that the club had a disproportionate influence within Conservative circles especially after six of its members who were MPs joined the Cabinet in 1970 14 138 Harold Wilson twice Labour Prime Minister described the club as the guardian of the Tory conscience 12 Oxford political scholar Roger Griffin referred to the club as practising an anti socialist and elitist form of conservatism 15 Membership edit By 1970 eighteen Members of Parliament were club members 16 Geoffrey Rippon Hexham Julian Amery Brighton Pavilion Ronald Bell QC South Buckinghamshire Harold Gurden Selly Oak Teddy Taylor Glasgow Cathcart John Peyton Yeovil Paul Williams Sunderland South 17 Duncan Sandys Streatham 17 Joseph Hiley Pudsey John Biggs Davison Chigwell Stephen Hastings Mid Bedfordshire Victor Goodhew St Albans Wilfred Baker Banffshire Jasper More Ludlow Jill Knight Edgbaston Patrick Wall Haltemprice Mark Woodnutt Isle of Wight Sir Jerry Wiggin Weston super Mare In the 1970 Conservative Party election victory six MPs who were club members were given Cabinet positions 14 138 In addition the following club members were elected that year 16 Geoffrey Stewart Smith Belper Patrick Cormack Cannock Anthony Fell Great Yarmouth Robert Boscawen Wells Harold Soref Ormskirk William Benyon Buckingham Roger White Gravesend Peter Rost South East Derbyshire Norman Tebbit Epping Piers Dixon Truro David James North Dorset John Heydon Stokes Oldbury and Halesowen Among sitting MPs who joined the club after that and other elections along with those who became MPs were Alan Clark Plymouth Sutton and Kensington amp Chelsea 13 Harvey Proctor Basildon Sir Stephen McAdden Southend East 17 Richard Body Holland with Boston Sir Ronald Russell Wembley South George Gardiner Reigate 17 William Craig Belfast East 17 Gerald Howarth Aldershot 17 Evelyn King South Dorset 17 John Carlisle Luton North Rhodes Boyson Brent North The Hon Archibald Hamilton Epsom and Ewell Tim Janman Thurrock Peter Bottomley Worthing West Colin Campbell Mitchell West Aberdeenshire Bernard Braine Castle Point James Molyneaux Lagan Valley 18 John Taylor Strangford 18 Neil Hamilton Tatton 19 Robert Taylor Croydon North West Nicholas Winterton Macclesfield Ann Winterton Congleton Peers of the House of Lords who were Monday Club members Iain Murray 10th Duke of Atholl 20 Robert Gascoyne Cecil 5th Marquess of Salisbury 21 Robert Gascoyne Cecil 6th Marquess of Salisbury 21 Dermot Chichester 7th Marquess of Donegall 22 Patrick Maitland 17th Earl of Lauderdale 22 Victor Montagu 10th Earl of Sandwich 23 Charles Carnegie 11th Earl of Southesk 23 John Wodehouse 4th Earl of Kimberley 23 24 George Jellicoe 2nd Earl Jellicoe 25 John Whyte Melville Skeffington 13th Viscount Massereene 26 John Skeffington 14th Viscount Massereene 26 Alan Lennox Boyd 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton 26 Merlin Hanbury Tracy 7th Baron Sudeley 27 Jonathan Guinness 3rd Baron Moyne 27 Vernon Willey 2nd Baron Barnby 28 Wavell Wakefield 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal 27 Other notable members General Sir Walter Walker 29 Sir Adrian FitzGerald 24th Knight of Kerry 30 Sir Horace Cutler Leader of Greater London Council from 1977 to 1981 Sir James Goldsmith 29 Sir Victor Raikes former Conservative MP for Liverpool Garston 1931 1957 14 95 Commander Anthony Courtney former Conservative MP for Harrow East 1959 1966 31 Vernon Willey 2nd Baron BarnbyA number of other Monday Club members contested Labour held seats some of which had large majorities and although the challenge was unsuccessful their majorities were reduced These included Tim Keigwin who almost unseated the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe at North Devon Councillor John Pritchard of Bromley London Borough Council who contested Wrexham and Norwood and David Clarke whose personal campaign assistant was the chairman of the club s Young Members Group Christopher Horne and who failed by only 76 votes at Watford 32 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 At the club s Annual General Meeting on 26 April 1971 in Westminster Central Hall the chairman George Pole announced that our membership including national branches and universities is around 10 000 33 MP John Biggs Davison in his foreword to Robert Copping s second book on the history of the club 34 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 in June 1981 David Storey described it as an anchor to a ship referring to the Conservative Party The Thatcher years edit nbsp Three of the Young Members Group at a Club Conference at Chilham Castle 1980 John R Pinniger YMG Chairman Richard Turnbull and Gregory Lauder Frost The club s revised constitution 21 May 1984 stated that the objects of the Club are to support the Conservative amp Unionist Party in those policies designed 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 nbsp Members gather for the club s 20th anniversary riverboat party organised by the Young Members Group 15 July 1981 During the period that Margaret Thatcher 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 Sam Swerling and later Eleanor Dodd In the October 1982 edition MP Harvey Proctor called for the scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality Sir Patrick Wall commented on the Falklands War James Molyneaux had an article What Future for Ulster and Dr Harvey Ward had an article on Zimbabwe Today The September 1984 edition of Monday News carried the headline Kinnock Talks to Terrorists quoting former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock s declaration to the African National Congress s Oliver Tambo 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 leader Ken Livingstone inviting Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to visit London in 1982 An early member in his Diaries Alan Clark describes speaking later to a county branch of the Monday Club in 1982 I really cannot bear the Monday Club They are all mad quite different from its heyday when it was a right wing pressure group at the time of Ted Heath s Government Now they are a prickly residue in the body politic a nasty sort of gallstone 35 The playwright David Edgar described the Monday Club in 1986 as proselytis ing the ancient and venerable conservative traditions of paternalism imperialism and racism 36 Old Guard departs edit nbsp The Foreign Affairs Committee were responsible for the club s Russia Dinner on 11 January 1990 with Vladimir Cyrillovich Grand Duke of Russia pretender to the Imperial throne being the guest of honour 37 38 In 1988 89 a group of longstanding members led by Gregory Lauder Frost the club s Foreign Affairs Committee chairman succeeded in getting elected to the key posts on the Executive Council with Dr Mark Mayall as deputy chairman and Lauder Frost as the Political Secretary At the beginning of January 1991 the Monday Club News announced the abolition of the only salaried position that of Director then held by the club s Treasurer Cedric Gunnery one of the club s founders Although this was due to the club s precarious financial state 39 some felt more sinister moves afoot Negative news stories began emerging 40 and resignations followed An internal investigation followed The chairman David Storey lost an almost unanimous vote of no confidence on 17 January 1991 and his membership was terminated by the club s Executive Council on 11 February on the grounds that he has engaged in behaviour prejudicial to the best interests reputation objects and other members of the Monday Club by abusing his position as Chairman in encouraging members to leave the Monday Club and to join a new political group 41 Dr Mayall became Acting Chairman until the May AGM when he was confirmed in that post by election By 1992 the new team had the national as opposed to branches membership over 1600 again Lauder Frost s resignation on 31 May 1992 saw the club descend into faction fighting and to a period of instability with more departures and a resulting loss of membership and the club s influence declined Subsequent failed expulsion attempts resulted in huge legal bills and when Dr Mark Mayall s term as chairman expired in April 1993 he left the group Control passed effectively into the hands of Denis Walker a former Methodist missionary and later 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 opposed Organisation editPremises edit The national club established its offices at 51 53 Victoria Street a few minutes walk from the Palace of Westminster 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 High rents forced another move to 4 Orlando Road Clapham Common In 1991 the club s office was moved to an office belonging to W Denis Walker opposite Highams Park railway station in Waltham Forest east London 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 Since then the club office has moved to the premises of other companies associated with Walker at 65 Chapel Hill Bishop s Stortford CM23 3XR 42 and Southmill Trading Centre Bishop s Stortford CM23 3DY which according to Companies House 43 is the current address as of Jan 2023 Branches edit 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 Oxford Policy committees edit The Monday Club had various study groups later renamed policy committees including Immigration and Repatriation notable chairmen being George Kennedy Young CB MBE Harvey Proctor MP The Honourable Jonathan Guinness John Bercow later an MP and former Speaker of the House of Commons was committee secretary 1981 82 Africa and Rhodesia Harold Soref MP Home Affairs Aviation Economics George Kennedy Young CB MBE Geoffrey Baber Piers Dixon MP 44 Taxation David Rowell LL B Universities Group Graham Webster Gardiner 45 Richard Turnbull Michael Clack 46 Young Members Group Christopher Horne the Conservative Party candidate in both 1974 General Elections in the Manchester Central and Meriden Constituencies Dr Anna Bramwell David Rowell Eleanor Dodd John R Pinniger AVR Smith Rod Morris Defence The Honourable Archibald Hamilton MP Major Sir Patrick Wall MP KBE MC VRD Commander Anthony Courtney MP OBE Rear Admiral Martin Wemyss CB Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Stewart Smith MP The Earl of Kimberley 24 John Carlisle MP and Gregory Lauder Frost Foreign affairs editAnti communism edit nbsp At the Western Goals Institute s El Salvador Dinner London 25 September 1989 L to R Denis Walker Lord Sudeley El Salvador s Foreign Minister Andrew Smith yellow tie Dr Harvey WardThe club was anti communist and had an active Defence Committee chaired for over 15 years by Sir Patrick Wall 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 the club s Foreign Affairs Committee in 1990 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 47 By challenging the Oder Neisse line the club was arguing that Germany should take back all of the parts of Poland and the Soviet Union that been part of Germany in 1938 through what was to happen to the Poles living in such cites as Wroclaw formerly the German city of Breslau Szczecin formerly the German city of Stettin and the Russians living in Kaliningrad formerly the German city of Konigsberg was left unexplained Club officers including Gregory Lauder Frost Denis Walker and Lord Sudeley attended a Western Goals Institute dinner in September 1989 in honour of Salvadorian president Alfredo Cristiani whose military was at the time fighting the FMLN 48 The club also took a hard line on the return of White Russians by the British Army to Joseph Stalin s Red Army in 1945 46 who executed nearly all of them In this respect it gave its support to Count Nikolai Tolstoy historian and author of Victims of Yalta and The Minister and the Massacres who was then being sued for libel by holding a dinner for him at London s Charing Cross Hotel on 26 October 1988 49 Africa edit nbsp Ian Smith makes a point at a dinner organised in his honour by The Hon Denis Walker far left at Lympne Castle Kent 23 July 1990 Smith is flanked by Nicholas and Ann Winterton both MPs and Rhodesian flags The club opposed what it described as the premature independence of Kenya and the breakup of the Central African Federation which was the subject of its first major public meeting in September 1961 50 It was fundamentally opposed to decolonisation and defended white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia During the Unilateral Declaration of Independence UDI period in Rhodesia the club strongly backed the White minority government of Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front 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 and Moise Tshombe 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 its guest of honour Dr Andries Treurnicht leader of the pro apartheid Conservative Party of South Africa and his delegation Tim Janman MP and the Lord Sudeley were amongst those present from Parliament 51 Croatia edit nbsp Meet the President The Monday Club delegation to Croatia 12 October 1991 L to R Roger Knapman MP Andrew Hunter MP Count Nikolai Tolstoy President Franjo Tuđman Gregory Lauder Frost The Hon Denis Walker Rod Morris The government of Franjo Tuđman in Croatia invited the Monday Club to send a delegation to observe its conflict with Serbia in October 1991 when the war for Croatian independence from the tottering Yugoslavia was at its height with the armies of both sides engaged in serious fighting The club delegation arrived just days after the Yugoslav Air Force bombing of the historic upper city in Zagreb 52 It was the first British political delegation to go to Croatia during the conflict 53 nbsp Denis Walker and Andrew Hunter MP on the Croatia Serbia front line as part of the Monday Club delegation 12 October 1991 European Union edit Debate within the club was intense on the European Union In the early days of the European Economic Community EEC one of the club s MPs Geoffrey Rippon 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 European Union EU position Teddy Taylor an anti EEC MP 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 EEC by Taylor in September 1985 entitled Swallowing the Nation Enoch Powell also spoke against the EEC at one of the Monday 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 s Newsnight 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 EEC Immigration editIn September 1972 the club held a Halt Immigration Now public meeting in Westminster Central Hall opposite Parliament at which the speakers Ronald Bell QC MP John Biggs Davison MP Harold Soref MP and John Heydon Stokes MP all club members called on the government to halt all immigration repeal the Race Relations Act 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 who replied that the government had no intention of repealing the Race Relations Act When Reginald Maudling resigned from the Cabinet the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe commented that Mr Heath has been left to wrestle with the Monday Club single handed 54 In October 1982 the Monday Club published a slightly revised policy on immigration It called for Scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality 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 and loans An end to positive discrimination To bring an end to large scale permanent immigration from the New Commonwealth An improved repatriation scheme with generous resettlement grants for all those who wish to take advantage of them Although more explicit in detail the general thrust of policy accorded with that found in the Conservative Party manifesto published ahead of the general election the following year The club s position on immigration was reiterated in a letter in The Times from Lauder Frost on the club s behalf in October 1991 in which he stated that the annual levels of immigration were unacceptable 55 Northern Ireland editFollowing an Official Irish Republican Army IRA bombing at Aldershot Hampshire in February 1972 club member and MP Jill Knight called for legislation to outlaw the Official IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein Official The club was opposed to the dismantling of the Stormont government in Northern Ireland and the imposition of direct rule 56 Controversies and criticism editThis article s criticism or controversy section may compromise the article s neutrality Please help rewrite or integrate negative information to other sections March 2021 The Guardian claimed back in 1968 that the organisation was probably the nearest British equivalent to the American John Birch Society 57 It was claimed by opponents that the National Front had started an active programme of entryism into the organisation mainly via the growing number of regional branches Throughout the early part of the 1970s the leadership stepped up its efforts considerably to try to address this issue A new standardised set of rules and procedures were instituted which sought to institute a far greater level of centralised control over the growth and activity of the regional branches There were a number of expulsions and some branches were forced to disband On 24 February 1991 The Observer 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 The club s solicitors Rubenstein Callingham amp 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 which was published the following Sunday He denied that a takeover had occurred said that none of the club s policies had changed and that its direction was consistent with its aims and historical principles Faction fighting within the club following Lauder Frost s departure at the end of May 1992 led to a period of instability and a resulting loss of membership The club s influence declined Suspension of links by the Conservative Party 2001 editAfter the defeats in the 1997 general election and 2001 general election the Conservative Party began decisive moves towards becoming more centrist the 2002 2003 party chairman and future Prime Minister Theresa May would later state that it had been perceived by voters as the Nasty Party The then party leader Iain Duncan Smith suspended the Monday Club s longstanding links with the party in October 2001 58 saying his party would have nothing to do with the organisation unless it stopped making distasteful remarks on race and immigration 59 Although the Monday Club was a completely autonomous pressure group and not part of the Conservative Party organisation Conservative Party chairman David Davis then 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 14 138 policies such as the voluntary repatriation of ethnic minorities 60 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 61 Three MPs Andrew Hunter Andrew Rosindell and Angela Watkinson were ordered to resign from the club The club today editSince 1993 new full members of the club must be members of the Conservative Party though there is no such requirement for associate membership 62 Monday Club observers such as Denis Walker have attended Democratic Unionist Party conferences In 2002 the club was described as a bastion on the Tory hard right by BBC News Online 63 The club s agenda stresses support for what it calls traditional Conservative values including resistance to political correctness 64 On 10 May 2002 the BBC reported that the club sought to restore its links with the Conservative Party 59 The Times reported on 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 Having returned to being a much smaller organisation the Club continues to lobby Parliamentarians to publish comment pieces and an annual journal It also organises occasional meetings and hosts dinners in London Recent when speakers have included Sir Christopher Chope MP Michael Nazir Ali Andrew Rosindell MP Arlene Foster and Ian Paisley Jr MP The group s website lists its priorities as the maintaining the monarchy and the Union protecting the family unit restoring law and order opposition to Britain s membership in the EU promoting a sound economy and a robust defence capability opposition to political correctness and maintaining traditional values 64 Monday Club publications editFurther information List of Conservative Monday Club publicationsNotes edit Seyd Patrick Factionalism within the Conservative Party The Monday Club in Government and Opposition volume 7 no 4 1972 GUNNERY Deaths Announcements Telegraph Announcements Policy and Aims The Monday Club December 1961 The Aims of the Monday Club Executive Council publication Monday Club 1970 p 1 The Monday Club Organization amp Membership published on the back cover of the Club s 1968 booklet Student Power by Patrick Wall MC MP Copping Robert The Story of The Monday Club The First Decade Current Affairs Information Unit London April 1972 5 Watt Nicholas 19 October 2001 Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies The Guardian Woolf Marie 29 August 2001 Five more names go in purge of Tory right The Independent Retrieved 9 September 2019 Copping 1972 p 5 Copping 1972 p 7 Thurlow Richard Fascism in Britain London 1st edition 1987 revised reprint 2006 p 246 ISBN 1 86064 337 X where the author also refers to traditional party supporters feeling intensely alienated by the Heath administration and made their opposition felt through their support of Enoch Powell a b Copping 1972 p 26 a b Trewin Ion Alan Clark The Biography London 2009 ISBN 978 0 297 85073 1 pps 230 amp 246 7 a b c d Messina Anthony M Race and Party Competition in Britain Clarendon Press 1989 ISBN 0 19 827534 X Griffin Roger The Nature of Fascism London 1991 p 161 ISBN 0 86187 112 X a b Copping 1972 p 21 a b c d e f g Copping Robert The Story of the Monday Club The First Decade London Current Affairs Information Service April 1972 a b Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After May 1975 page 34 published by the Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex P B Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After May 1975 page 43 published by the Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex P B Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After May 1975 page 25 published by the Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex P B a b Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After May 1975 page 28 published by the Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex P B a b Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After May 1975 page 46 published by the Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex P B a b c Copping Robert The Story of The Monday Club The First Decade Current Affairs Information Service London April 1972 P B a b Dod s Parliamentary Companion 1991 172nd edition Hurst Green Sussex p 172 Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After May 1975 page 50 published by the Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex P B a b c Amery Julian et al Rhodesia and the Threat to the West Monday Club London 1976 P B a b c Copping Robert 1975 The Monday Club Crisis and After Ilford Current Affairs Information Service p 25 Monday Club Newsletter July August 1970 p 7 a b Amery Julian Facing up to Soviet Imperialism in the Monday Club s October 1985 Conservative Party Conference issue of its newspaper Right Ahead Copping Robert The Story of The Monday Club The First Decade London April 1972 p 6 and 14 AIM25 collection description www aim25 ac uk Copping 1972 p 22 Monday Club Newsletter May June 1971 Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After Current Affairs Information Unit London May 1975 Alan Clark Diaries Into Politics Weidenfeld amp Nicolson 2000 p 337 ISBN 0 297 64402 5 Levitas Ruth editor The Ideology of the New Right Cambridge 1986 p 60 ISBN 0 7456 0190 1 The Daily Telegraph 12 January 1990 p 16 The Independent 13 January 1990 article Tsar s heir plans for day of Restoration Monday Club News January 1991 circular The Observer 24 February 1991 major article by David Rose Club Minutes Contact Details The Conservative Monday Club Retrieved 10 January 2023 ASPENCHASE ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 31 December 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2023 Monday Club Newsletter July 1968 p 6 Graham Webster Gardiner was elected Chairman of the club s Universities Group in 1969 he was later the UKIP Candidate for Epsom and Ewell in the 2001 General Election Monday Club Newsletters 1990 91 The Independent 4 March 1990 The Daily Telegraph and The Times Court amp Social pages both on 26 September 1989 The Daily Telegraph Court amp Social columns 27 October 1988 Copping 1972 p 6 The Daily Telegraph and The Independent Court amp Social columns 6 June 1989 Almond Mark Europe s Backyard War The War in the Balkans Heinemann London 1994 pps 223 9 The Times 5 May 1992 carried a letter from Gregory Lauder Frost on behalf of the club about this delegation and its findings Copping 1975 pp 6 7 The Times letters 9 October 1991 Copping 1975 pp 5 6 9 Powell and His Allies Labour Research Department p 12 1969 Tories suspend link with Monday Club BBC News 18 October 2001 a b Right wing club appeals for Tory return BBC News 10 May 2002 Sparrow Andrew 19 October 2001 Duncan Smith orders Monday Club to suspend Tory links The Daily Telegraph London Retrieved 16 November 2013 Watt Nicholas 19 October 2001 Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies The Guardian Monday Club membership application form Archived 2016 04 12 at the Wayback Machine Right wing club appeals for Tory return BBC News 10 May 2002 a b Welcome to the Monday Club Monday Club Bishop s Stortford March 2016 Retrieved 8 June 2019 References editCopping Robert No Punches Pulled Britain Today Current Affairs Information Service CAIS Ilford Essex n d but probably circa 1970 P B Copping Robert The Story of The Monday Club The First Decade i Foreword by George Pole Current Affairs Information Service Ilford Essex April 1972 P B Copping Robert The Monday Club Crisis and After foreword by John Biggs Davison MP ii CAIS Ilford May 1975 P B Rose Professor Richard Politics in England Persistence and Change London 1st published 1965 4th edition 1985 p 301 ISBN 0 571 13830 6 Heffer Simon Like the Roman The Life of Enoch Powell London 1998 ISBN 0 297 84286 2 many references to the Monday Club Coxall Bill and Lynton Robins Contemporary British Politics Macmillan Press Basingstoke 1993 reprint P B Monday Club profile on p 239 ISBN 0 333 34046 9External links editParliament amp Europe 1967 Monday Club Pamphlet UK Parliament Living Heritage Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Monday Club amp oldid 1182430961, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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