Tory Reform Group

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Tory Reform Group banner/logo

The Tory Reform Group (TRG) is a group aligned to, but independent of, the United Kingdom's Conservative Party, that works to promote the values of the One Nation Tory vision. That is a modern, progressive Conservatism that strives for economic efficiency and social justice; a Conservatism that supports equality, diversity and civil liberties.

One of the largest groups aligned with the Party, the TRG is recognised as the authentic voice of moderate, One Nation Conservatism throughout the Party. In 2009, writing for the TRG's journal, Reformer, David Cameron stated that "the TRG has contributed greatly to the Conservative Party over the last 30 years and is central to where we need to be in the future. Not just because of the people involved and the events held. But because your core beliefs in 'freedom, individual responsibility and community' matter now more than ever".

The TRG is known for its extensive events programme, as well as its publications, which include the journal The Reformer. The TRG brings together members and supporters of the Conservative Party who share this approach to Conservative politics. Its strength lies in the breadth and blend of its membership, which is drawn from all ages and backgrounds. Members include parliamentarians, councillors, association officers and private individuals from all parts of the UK.

Europe

The TRG is commonly seen as being pro-Europe. However, it has no official position on Europe and it includes many Eurosceptics amongst its members and supporters.

Most pro-Europe Conservative politicians of the last thirty years have at one time or another been associated with the Tory Reform Group, while no TRG member of note has struck a view that is more eurosceptic than the official Conservative Party position. The TRG was a constituent organisation of Conservative Mainstream alongside the Conservative Europe Group and Parliamentary Mainstream, and, at one time, all were run from shared offices in Westminster. TRG members formed the core of the short lived Pro-Euro Conservative Party, which disbanded in favour of the Liberal Democrats just short of its third birthday.

History

The oldest known branch, which pre-dated the National TRG, was founded in the University of Oxford in 1962, when they split from the Oxford University Conservative Association.

The Tory Reform Group (TRG) was formally established in June 1975 from the merger of four like-minded groups: PEST (Pressure for Economic and Social Toryism), two separate London dining clubs named the Macleod Group and Social Tory Action Group, and a group in Manchester who had already been going by the name the TRG.

The TRG was conceived as a national forum for ordinary Conservative Party members and MPs alike who saw the need for the application of traditional Tory values in the modern world. Firmly entrenched in Tory principles, the philosophies of Benjamin Disraeli's "One Nation" and Harold Macmillan's "Middle Way", the TRG aimed to achieve economic efficiency with the exercise of compassion. It believed in a fair society, achieved through contemporary welfare reforms and mainstream policies. With an interventionist attitude towards unjust social conditions, the TRG was set in the image of historical figures such as Iain Macleod, Winston Churchill and R.A. Butler.

The key figure in the formation of TRG was Peter Walker MP, a former Minister in Heath's Government from 1970-1974. Once out of government, he was urged by MPs to form a parliamentary group that represented the liberal Conservative view of the Tory Party.

Walker was reluctant to form such a group at first, not least because he was sensitive to the damaging effects the Tribune Group had wrought on Labour and did not like the idea of similarly factionalising the Conservative Party. As time passed, however, other groups emerged, including right-wing Conservative groups, and justification for a counteracting group increased. At his home in Westminster, Walker met with chairmen of four organizations he had previously had contact with, and they agreed to come together to form the TRG. From the start, the TRG was an activist group with membership, as opposed to being a think tank. The TRG hoped to spread its moderate view through publication of pamphlets, discussion with MPs, use of media, and by widening its membership. Weekly lunches were inherited from PEST. London PEST had organized a Tuesday Luncheon Club in local pubs, such as Magpie and Stump in Old Bailey. These lunches provided a programme of speakers as well as opportunities for members to become involved in constituency activities.

In January 1976, TRG released its first publication, entitled Home Run by Nicholas Scott MP, the President of TRG. It was a very important publication in the campaign to make the sale of council houses to their tenants a key part of the Conservative policy platform. TRG patron Michael Heseltine was to implement this policy in Government after 1979.

The 1980s saw TRG pitched headlong into some passionate debates within the Conservative Party, notably over the direction of economic policy and the apartheid regime in South Africa. The TRG refused to compromise on its opposition to apartheid and from time to time clashed with Lady Thatcher's Government as a result. The annual Budget submissions of the Group reflected concern in the wider party that Government economic policy was sometimes too focused on ends and took insufficient account of the consequences of some of the means.

Officers

• President: Ken Clarke MP
• Chairman: Timothy Crockford
• Deputy Chairman: Victoria Roberts
• Patrons: Sir John Major, Nicholas Bourne AM, David Curry, Stephen Dorrell MP, Charles Hendry MP, Lord Heseltine, Lord Hunt, Lord Hurd, Michael Howard, Steven Norris, Lord Patten, Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP, Sir Timothy Sainsbury, Ian Taylor, Lord Trimble, Lady Verma, Sir George Young MP.
• Vice-Presidents: Alistair Burt MP, Damian Green MP, Jonathan Evans MP.

Defections from the Conservative Party

In the past, some Conservatives, who were also members of the TRG, have defected to parties to the left of the Conservatives. The following TRG members subsequently left the Conservative Party to other parties:

• Liberal Democrats: Emma Nicholson, Susan Bell, Arthur Bell, Hugh Dykes, John Lee, Paul Howell, Bill Newton Dunn, Peter Price, Keith Raffan, Anna McCurley

• Labour Party: Shaun Woodward, Alan Howarth, Peter Temple-Morris, Judith Symes

• Pro-Euro Conservative Party: Sir Anthony Meyer, John Stevens, Brendan Donnelly, Ian Gilmour

• Social Democratic Party: Stuart Bayless; Tom Hayhoe.

External links

• Tory Reform Group official site
• Catalogue of the Tory Reform Group papers at LSE Archives