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Tory Action

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Tory Action was a right-wing pressure group within the British Conservative Party, founded in November 1974 by George Kennedy Young and Airey Neave[1] and right-wing defectors from the Monday Club.[2]

Activities

It was a secretive outfit in which membership was only open to Conservative Party members of two or more years standing, although their 'Aims' simply say "paid-up members". Its published 'Aims' state that "we do not have a corporate creed and our membership holds a variety of views but most feel strongly on sound public finance, on the need for denationalisation, European Union reform, law and order, combatting subversion, halting the growth of the non-European population in the UK, and a repatriation programme."[citation needed]

It published a newsletter entitled The Round Robin.[3]

The group claimed to have a "country-wide network of Conservative office-holders and activists" and claimed credit for canvassing for Margaret Thatcher in her constituency for the 1979 General Election.[citation needed] In 1981, George Young claimed it had the support of at least 25 Conservative MPs, including Ronald Bell who had hosted a Tory Action reception in the House of Commons in December 1980.[3]

By 1990, the Tory Action Committee consisted of (Chairman)  ?, Adrian Davies MA, Stephen Derry MA PhD, Geoffrey W Bevan BA(Econ), Michael R Wheddon.[citation needed]

The group ceased activities in the early 1990s.

References

  1. ^ Larkin, Paul (2004). A Very British Jihad: Collusion, Conspiracy & Cover-up in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Beyond the Pale. p. 4. ISBN 9781900960250.
  2. ^ Seidel, Gill (1988). "The White Discursive Order". In Zavala, Iris M.; Dijk, Teun A. van; Smith, Myriam Diaz-Diocaretz (eds.). Approaches to Discourse Poetics and Psychiatry. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 40. ISBN 9781556190599.
  3. ^ a b Mercer, Paul (1994). Directory of British Political Organisations. Harlow: Longman. p. 328. ISBN 9780582237292.