The Freedom Association
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| Founders | Viscount De L'Isle, Norris McWhirter, Ross McWhirter and John Gouriet |
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| Type | Pressure group |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Headquarters | Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England |
| Staff | Christopher Gill RD (President) Vladimir Bukovsky (Vice-President) Management Committee Roger Helmer MEP (Chairman) Professor Antony Flew (Treasurer) TFA Council The Rt. Hon. Sir Rhodes Boyson Christopher Chope OBE MP Winston Churchill Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox Philip Davies MP Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bt, OBE, PM Teresa Gorman Daniel Hannan MEP Gerald Howarth MP Professor Patrick Minford CBE, PhD Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch Andrew Roberts Andrew Rosindell MP David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon Walter Sweeney Jillian Becker |
| Focus | Conservatism, libertarianism, euroscepticism |
| Motto | For Freedom |
| Website | http://www.tfa.net |
The Freedom Association is a free market libertarian pressure group pledged to support individual freedom in the United Kingdom. The group has no formal affiliations with any political party but historically many members of the TFA have also been associated with the Conservative Party.
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[edit] Origin
The Freedom Association was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom by the Viscount De L'Isle, Norris McWhirter, Ross McWhirter (killed in the same year by the IRA) and John Gouriet [1].
[edit] Core Principles
The Freedom Association has seven core principles:[2]
- Individual freedom
- Personal and family responsibility
- The rule of law
- Limited government
- Free market economy
- National parliamentary democracy
- Strong national defences
[edit] Leadership
The present Hon. Chairman of the TFA is Conservative MEP Roger Helmer. Hon Secretary is Tony Hilder. Director is Simon Richards.[3].
[edit] Campaigns
During the 1970s the power of the UK trade union movement was considered by some to be excessive and out of control. Soon after its formation the National Association for Freedom as the TFA was then known became involved in a number of industrial disputes providing support to both employers and non-unionised workers to counter to the power of the Trades Unions. The best known of these actions was Operation Pony Express during the Grunwick dispute[1]. Following the election of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 the TFA became more low-profile.
More recently the group has campaigned against ID cards and the UK's membership of the EU. The TFA also speaks out in defence of free speech and civil liberties. In April 2006 The Freedom Association launched Better Off Out -- a high profile campaign for the UK to leave the EU. This has attracted the support of a number of MPs, MEPs and Peers [4].
In 2007 it held its first Free Spirits events. Since then, these - aimed at students and young people - have been held around the United Kingdom, including university campuses.
In 2008 it held its inaugural Freedom Zone on the Conservative Party Conference Fringe, in Birmingham. This was a two-day event running throughout the day and evening, involving different centre-right groups, with talks in a lecture theatre and a lounge area for exhibition stands, blogging etc.
In 2009 The Freedom Association is launching Freedom Fighters, its group for non-violent protest against measures damaging freedom.
TFA Scotland was established in September 2008, with Philip Lardner as its Hon. Spokesman. TFA Ulster launches on 19 June 2009, with a meeting in Belfast, to be addressed by Roger Helmer MEP and Jeffrey Donaldson MP MLA, with Philip Davies in the chair.
The main publication of the TFA is the bi-monthly magazine, Freedom Today.
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (March 2009) |
