Tory Reform Group

From Free net encyclopedia

The Tory Reform Group (TRG) is a group within the United Kingdom's Conservative Party, that uphold the One Nation Tory vision, which they describeTemplate:Fact as being the promotion of:

• Social justice
• Political progress
• Prosperity for all

Contents 1 Europe 2 Decline 3 Defections from the Conservative Party 4 Officers 5 External links

Europe

The TRG is commonly seen as being pro-European. Most pro-European 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 is a constituent organisation of Conservative Mainstream alongside the Conservative Group for Europe and Parliamentary Mainstream, and all are run from shared offices in Westminster. TRG members formed the core of the short lived Pro-Euro Conservative Party.

Decline

In recent years, the Tory Reform Group has lost influence among core Conservative Party activists. The number of prominent members of the group in positions of influence in the party has gradually declined. For example the most prominent member of the Shadow Cabinet who was also a member of the TRG, Damian Green, was forced from the Shadow Cabinet in 2004.

There are many reasons for this decline. The rebirth of economic liberalism has meant that many Conservative members no longer saw the need for a centrist position on economics. The growing importance of Europe as an issue in British politics also meant that the Conservative Party's euroscepticism attracted new eurosceptic members. New Labour's moderation and the revival of the Liberal Democrats attracted the sort of young centrist politicians who would otherwise have been One Nation Tories.

Defections from the Conservative Party

Because of the decline of influence within the Conservative Party, many younger members of the TRG have recently defected to more left wing parties. 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

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

Officers

• President: Ken Clarke
• Patrons: David Curry, Stephen Dorrell, Michael Heseltine, Douglas Hurd, Chris Patten, Malcolm Rifkind, Tim Sainsbury, Ian Taylor, George Young, Lord Hunt of Wirral, Lord Kingsland, Peter Walker.
• Vice-Presidents: Alistair Burt, Damian Green, Jonathan Evans, Caroline Jackson.

External links

• Tory Reform Group official site
• Oxford University Tory Reform Group student branch at Oxford University

Template:Poli-stub