- The Freedom Association
-
Not to be confused with freedom of association.
The Freedom Association 
Founder(s) Viscount De L'Isle, Norris McWhirter, Ross McWhirter and John Gouriet Type Pressure group Founded 1975 Location Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England Key people Tim Congdon (Honorary Chairman), Christopher Gill (Honorary President) and Vladimir Bukovsky (Honorary Vice-President) Focus Conservatism, libertarianism, euroscepticism Motto For Freedom Website http://www.tfa.net The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right and libertarian, which has links to the Conservative Party. TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom and gained public prominence through its anti-trade union campaigns. In the 1980s, TFA campaigned against sporting sanctions imposed on apartheid-era South Africa – earning a judicial rebuke after taking unsuccessful legal action to overturn the International Cricket Council ban on touring teams, which it saw as an imposition on cricketers' freedom. TFA has also campaigned against the UK's membership of the European Union. The Association's current President is Christopher Gill.
Contents
Origin
The Freedom Association was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom (NAFF) by the Viscount De L'Isle, Norris McWhirter, Ross McWhirter (murdered by the IRA in the same year) and John Gouriet. NAFF was renamed The Freedom Association in the winter of 1978.[1] Andrew Gamble reported shortly after that the renaming was undertaken in order to avoid understandable confusion with the National Front.[2]
Political stance
The Freedom Association describes itself as "a non-partisan, centre-right, libertarian, pressure group".[3] Marina Hyde, writing in The Guardian, has called the organisation a "charmless libertarian pressure group".[4] In their study of the use of litigation by pressure groups, Carol Harlow and Richard Rawlings call TFA "an avowedly conservative group".[5]
Principles
The organisation describes itself as having seven core principles, namely individual freedom, personal and family responsibility, the rule of law, limited government, free market economy, national parliamentary democracy and strong national defences.[3] Writing in 1989, Michael White differentiated between TFA's brand of libertarianism and that of civil liberties campaigners, arguing that: "The unavoidable fact is that TFA represents that ancient tradition of English concepts of freedom, easily traceable to Magna Carta, which see liberty in terms of freedoms from restraints and obligations, not civil rights and duties enunciated by Jefferson in the rebellious American colonies, by Tom Paine and the revolutionaries of 1789".[6]
Party links
The group has no formal party political affiliations[citation needed] but historically many members of TFA have also been associated with the Conservative Party.[7] In May 1978, this led to former Conservative minister William van Straubenzee accusing TFA of "extremist infiltration" of his party.[8] TFA has been described as the "conservative wing of the Conservative Party".[9] Since 2007, TFA has been running fringe events at the Conservative Party conference with speakers such as Daniel Hannan and John Redwood and groups including the Taxpayers' Alliance.[10]
Leadership
The Freedom Association's council includes Tim Congdon CBE (Honorary Chairman), Christopher Gill RD (Honorary President) and Vladimir Bukovsky (Honorary Vice-President). Other council members include Conservative MPs Christopher Chope, Philip Davies, Robert Halfon, Philip Hollobone, Gerald Howarth, John Whittingdale, and Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MEPs Daniel Hannan and Roger Helmer, Conservative MSP Brian Monteith, and former leader of UKIP Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch. TFA employs three members of staff, including director Simon Richards.[11]
Campaigns
Trade unions
In the seventies, the founders regarded the power of the UK trade union movement as excessive and out of control. Soon after its formation the National Association for Freedom as 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 TFA became more low-profile.[citation needed] In January 1989, The Guardian's Michael White reported that TFA "no longer has the power or glory it enjoyed when it was Thatcherism's extra-parliamentary advance guard against a fading Labour government and its union allies".[6]
Apartheid-era South Africa
In the 1980s, TFA campaigned in support of the right of England cricketers to tour in apartheid-era South Africa.[4] In 1989, when the International Cricket Conference (ICC) passed a resolution formalising sanctions against players, coaches and administrators who worked in South Africa, Norris McWhirter described the decision as "a crushing blow against cricketers' freedom to trade".[12] TFA had obtained a criminal summons against the ICC, alleging blackmail but this was subsequently quashed in the High Court, where the judge Lord Taylor ruled that TFA's application was "an abuse of the process of the court" and was "launched solely as a device to disrupt or embarrass the International Cricket Conference".[13] The organisation later received funding from the South African government.[14] In 1988, the association threatened to seek a legal injunction against the BBC to prevent the broadcaster from airing the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute from Wembley Stadium. A group of Conservative MPs and TFA objected to the possibility that the broadcast would include a message from Mandela or "other anti-apartheid propaganda". The threat was eventually dropped, "in the hope that the BBC [would] not broadcast any attempt to use the concert for promoting the African National Congress or similar anti-apartheid bodies".[15]
National identity cards
In 2010 the group campaigned against the proposed introduction of national identity cards, which they deemed to be a threat to civil liberties.[16][17] Previously, in the 1980s, some prominent supporters of TFA had supported the introduction of ID cards.[6]
Better Off Out
In April 2006 TFA launched Better Off Out - a campaign for the UK to leave the EU. This has attracted the support of nine Tory MPs, plus a number of MEPs and Peers.[18][19]
Freedom Association Societies
Beginning in 2009, the Association initiated a programme to create localised "Freedom Association Societies" at universities throughout the United Kingdom. The first such group was established at the University of York followed by another founded at the University of Exeter by John Gill, the grandson of Christopher Gill, the Association's President. Other Freedom Association Societies have since been established at Bath Spa University, Brighton University, Cambridge University, Cardiff University, Hull University, Portsmouth University and both the University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University.[20] In the 1980s, TFA ran a Campaign for Student Freedom, against the National Union of Students.[6]
British Tea Party movement
The Freedom Association has expressed an interest in establishing a British equivalent of the American Tea Party movement, though its director, Simon Richards, stated in October 2010 that he was worried that such a project could be hijacked by extremist groups such as the English Defence League.[21]
References
- ^ a b "John Gouriet". The Daily Telegraph. 13 September 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8000573/John-Gouriet.html. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ Gamble, Andrew (1979). "The middle-class revolt". Parliamentary Affairs 33 (1): 233–234.
- ^ a b "About TFA". The Freedom Association. http://www.tfa.net/the_freedom_association/about-the-freedom-associa.html. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ a b Hyde, Marina (2010-06-14). "North Korea set their World Cup target: happiness for the Dear Leader". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jun/14/north-korea-world-cup-2010. "the Freedom Association, the charmless libertarian pressure group whose policies included mounting legal challenges against peace campaigners and allowing 1980s cricketers "freedom to trade" in apartheid South Africa."
- ^ Harlow, Carol; Rawlings, Richard (1992). Pressure through Law. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 317. ISBN 0415015499. http://books.google.com/books?id=OPANAAAAQAAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA317#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ a b c d White, Michael (24 January 1989). "Liberties with freedom: The Freedom Association's notions of cricket". The Guardian.
- ^ Vincent, Andrew (2010). Modern Political Ideologies (3rd ed.). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 66. ISBN 1405154950. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=igrwb3rsOOUC&lpg=PA66&dq=%22freedom%20association%22%20conservative%20party&pg=PA66#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Dorey, Peter (1995). The Conservative Party and the Trade Unions. London: Routledge. p. 135. ISBN 0415064872. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0BVMVgKR4UQC&lpg=PA135&dq=%22freedom%20association%22%20conservatives&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Wheeler, Brian (5 October 2009). "Dispatches from the Freedom Zone". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8291235.stm. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ^ The Freedom Zone
- ^ "Who's who at The Freedom Association". TFA. http://www.tfa.net/the_freedom_association/whoarewe.html. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- ^ Cashmore, Ellis (2005). Making Sense of Sports (4th ed.). Abingdon: Routledge. p. 440. ISBN 0415348536. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ivNfFOINNigC&lpg=PA440&dq=%22freedom%20association%22%20south%20africa&pg=PA440#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ "Cricket action is bowled out". Evening Times: p. 5. 23 January 1989. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3tBAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=laYMAAAAIBAJ&dq=freedom-association&pg=2452%2C4829682. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
- ^ Lowles, Nick (April 2001). "Blood money". Searchlight. http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=93. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ Gunn, Sheila; McEwen, Andrew (11 June 1988). "BBC fuels row on Mandela concert". The Times.
- ^ "Conference police keep stop forms". BBC News. 31 January 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/4666224.stm. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- ^ Richards, Simon (3 February 2010). "Identity cards". The Freedom Association. http://www.tfa.net/simplysimon/identity-cards/. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- ^ "Kettering". UKPollingreport.co.uk. http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/kettering. Retrieved 1-12-2010.
- ^ Carlin, Brendan; Isaby, Jonathan (27 April 2006). "Tory MPs sign up to anti-EU campaign". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1516794/Tory-MPs-sign-up-to-anti-EU-campaign.html. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- ^ Exeposé, Monday October 11th 2010, Issue #569
- ^ Townsend, Mark (10 October 2010). "English Defence League forges links with America's Tea Party". The Observer (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/10/english-defence-league-tea-party. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
External links
Categories:- Advocacy groups
- Conservative political pressure groups of the United Kingdom
- Libertarian organisations based in the United Kingdom
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