The Freedom Association
Encyclopedia
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.
, 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. Andrew Gamble
reported shortly after that the renaming was undertaken in order to avoid understandable confusion with the National Front
.
, writing in The Guardian
, has called the organisation a "charmless libertarian pressure group". In their study of the use of litigation by pressure groups, Carol Harlow and Richard Rawlings call TFA "an avowedly conservative group".
, limited government
, free market economy, national parliamentary democracy and strong national defences. 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".
. In May 1978, this led to former Conservative minister William van Straubenzee
accusing TFA of "extremist infiltration" of his party. TFA has been described as the "conservative wing of the Conservative Party". 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
.
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.
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
. Following the election of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher
in 1979 TFA became more low-profile. 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".
. 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". 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". The organisation later received funding from the South African government. 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".
- a campaign for the UK to leave the EU. This has attracted the support of nine Tory MP
s, plus a number of MEP
s and Peers.
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
. In the 1980s, TFA ran a Campaign for Student Freedom, against the National Union of Students
.
, 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
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
and libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, which has links to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom and gained public prominence through its anti-trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
campaigns. In the 1980s, TFA campaigned against sporting sanctions imposed on apartheid-era South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
– earning a judicial rebuke after taking unsuccessful legal action to overturn the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
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
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. The Association's current President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
is Christopher Gill.
Origin
The Freedom Association was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom (NAFF) by the Viscount De L'IsleWilliam Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle
William Philip Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle and 6th Baron De L'Isle and Dudley VC KG GCMG GCVO KStJ PC , was the 15th Governor-General of Australia and the final non-Australian to hold the office...
, Norris McWhirter
Norris McWhirter
Norris Dewar McWhirter, CBE was a writer, political activist, co-founder of the Freedom Association, and a television presenter. He and his twin brother, Ross, were known internationally for the Guinness Book of Records, a book they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975...
, Ross McWhirter
Ross McWhirter
Alan Ross Mayfield McWhirter , known as Ross McWhirter, was, with his twin brother, Norris McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records and a contributor to Record Breakers...
(murdered by the IRA in the same year) and John Gouriet
John Gouriet
Major John Prendergast Gouriet was a British Army officer, company director and political activist. He was best known as a founder of the National Association for Freedom , and for pioneering the use of legal action to oppose actions of trade unions and campaigning groups which he believed...
. NAFF was renamed The Freedom Association in the winter of 1978. Andrew Gamble
Andrew Gamble
Andrew Gamble FBA, AcSS, FRSA is a British author and academic. Since January 2007 he has been Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge...
reported shortly after that the renaming was undertaken in order to avoid understandable confusion with the National Front
National Front
The name National Front is used by a number of political parties and coalitions.* Albania — National Front * Belarus — Partyja BPF* Belgium — National Front * Botswana — Botswana National Front...
.
Political stance
The Freedom Association describes itself as "a non-partisan, centre-right, libertarian, pressure group". Marina HydeMarina Hyde
Marina Hyde is an English columnist who writes articles on topics such as current affairs, politics, celebrity and sport for The Guardian newspaper...
, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, has called the organisation a "charmless libertarian pressure group". In their study of the use of litigation by pressure groups, Carol Harlow and Richard Rawlings call TFA "an avowedly conservative group".
Principles
The organisation describes itself as having seven core principles, namely individual freedom, personal and family responsibility, the rule of lawRule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
, limited government
Limited government
Limited government is a government which anything more than minimal governmental intervention in personal liberties and the economy is generally disallowed by law, usually in a written constitution. It is written in the United States Constitution in Article 1, Section 8...
, free market economy, national parliamentary democracy and strong national defences. Writing in 1989, Michael White
Michael White
- Academics :*Michael JD White , British zoologist*Michael White , inventor of narrative therapy*L. Michael White, American theologian*Michael White , English Communications Theorist- Journalism and literature :...
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".
Party links
The group has no formal party political affiliations but historically many members of TFA have also been associated with the Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. In May 1978, this led to former Conservative minister William van Straubenzee
William van Straubenzee
Sir William Radcliffe van Straubenzee was a British Conservative Party politician.Van Straubenzee was educated at Westminster School and served in the Royal Artillery 1942-47, including two years in the Far East. He became a solicitor in 1952 and a partner in a law firm...
accusing TFA of "extremist infiltration" of his party. TFA has been described as the "conservative wing of the Conservative Party". Since 2007, TFA has been running fringe events at the Conservative Party conference
Party conference
The terms party conference , political convention , and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membership...
with speakers such as Daniel Hannan
Daniel Hannan
Daniel John Hannan is a British journalist, author and politician who is currently a Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England for the Conservative Party and the European Conservatives and Reformists political group...
and John Redwood
John Redwood
John Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...
and groups including the Taxpayers' Alliance
TaxPayers' Alliance
The TaxPayers' Alliance is a British pressure group and taxpayers union formed in 2004 to campaign for a low tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008, and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010....
.
Leadership
The Freedom Association's council includes Tim CongdonTim Congdon
Tim G. Congdon CBE ) is an economist, educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and St. John's and Nuffield colleges at the University of Oxford, with a long record of commenting on public policy issues, including writing sympathetically about the monetarist approach to macroeconomic policy...
CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(Honorary Chairman), Christopher Gill RD
Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve
The Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve was a medal awarded in the Royal Naval Reserve of the United Kingdom to officers with at least fifteen years of active duty...
(Honorary President) and Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is a leading member of the dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s, writer, neurophysiologist, and political activist....
(Honorary Vice-President). Other council members include Conservative MPs Christopher Chope
Christopher Chope
Christopher Robert Chope OBE is a British barrister and Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Christchurch.-Early life:...
, Philip Davies
Philip Davies
Philip Andrew Davies is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Shipley in West Yorkshire.-Early life:...
, Robert Halfon
Robert Halfon
Robert Henry Halfon is a British Conservative politician. He is the current Member of Parliament for Harlow, and was first elected at the 2010 general election.-Early life:...
, Philip Hollobone
Philip Hollobone
Philip Thomas Hollobone is a British Conservative Party politician who is both a Member of Parliament for the Kettering constituency and a member of Kettering Borough Council for the Piper's Hill ward .-Early life:Hollobone was educated at Dulwich College, London, and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford...
, Gerald Howarth
Gerald Howarth
James Gerald Douglas Howarth known as Gerald Howarth is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Aldershot since 1997, having been the MP for Cannock and Burntwood from 1983 to 1992....
, John Whittingdale
John Whittingdale
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale OBE, , is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1992.-Education:...
, and Andrew Rosindell
Andrew Rosindell
Andrew Richard Rosindell is an English Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the Romford constituency in Greater London...
, Conservative MEPs Daniel Hannan
Daniel Hannan
Daniel John Hannan is a British journalist, author and politician who is currently a Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England for the Conservative Party and the European Conservatives and Reformists political group...
and Roger Helmer
Roger Helmer
Roger Helmer is a British politician and a Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands region. He has described himself as a eurosceptic and is a supporter of the Better Off Out campaign. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 1999 as a Conservative Party...
, Conservative MSP Brian Monteith
Brian Monteith
Brian Monteith is a Scottish public relations consultant, politician and commentator, who was a Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament between 1999 and 2007.-Education:...
, and former leader of UKIP Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...
. TFA employs three members of staff, including director Simon Richards.
Trade unions
In the seventies, the founders regarded the power of the UK trade unionTrade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
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
Grunwick dispute
The Grunwick dispute was an industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London which led to a two-year strike between 1976–1978...
. Following the election of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in 1979 TFA became more low-profile. In January 1989, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Michael White
Michael White
- Academics :*Michael JD White , British zoologist*Michael White , inventor of narrative therapy*L. Michael White, American theologian*Michael White , English Communications Theorist- Journalism and literature :...
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".
Apartheid-era South Africa
In the 1980s, TFA campaigned in support of the right of England cricketers to tour in apartheid-era South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. 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". TFA had obtained a criminal summons
Summons
Legally, a summons is a legal document issued by a court or by an administrative agency of government for various purposes.-Judicial summons:...
against the ICC, alleging blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
but this was subsequently quashed in the High Court, where the judge Lord Taylor
Peter Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth
Peter Murray Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth PC was the Lord Chief Justice of England from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.-Family:...
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". The organisation later received funding from the South African government. 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
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a popular-music concert staged on June 11, 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. It was also referred to as Freedomfest, Free Nelson Mandela Concert and Mandela Day...
from Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
. 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".
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. Previously, in the 1980s, some prominent supporters of TFA had supported the introduction of ID cards.Better Off Out
In April 2006 TFA launched Better Off OutBetter Off Out
Better Off Out is the name of a non-party campaign run by The Freedom Association to call for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union...
- a campaign for the UK to leave the EU. This has attracted the support of nine Tory MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
s, plus a number of MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
s and Peers.
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 YorkUniversity of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
followed by another founded at the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
by John Gill, the grandson of Christopher Gill, the Association's President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
. Other Freedom Association Societies have since been established at Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University is a university based in, and around, Bath, England. The institution was previously known as Bath College of Higher Education, and later Bath Spa University College...
, Brighton University, Cambridge University, Cardiff University
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
, Hull University, Portsmouth University and both the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
and Southampton Solent University
Southampton Solent University
Southampton Solent University is a university of 17,000 students based in Southampton, United Kingdom. Its main campus is located on East Park Terrace near the city centre....
. In the 1980s, TFA ran a Campaign for Student Freedom, against the National Union of Students
National Union of Students
-British Isles:*National Union of Students**National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland**National Union of Students Scotland**National Union of Students Wales-Scandinavia:*Danish National Union of Students*National Union of Students in Finland...
.
British Tea Party movement
The Freedom Association has expressed an interest in establishing a British equivalent of the American Tea Party movementTea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
, 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
English Defence League
The English Defence League is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the UK. The EDL uses street marches to protest against Islamic extremism...
.
External links
- The Freedom Association
- Better Off Out
- Article by TFA Campaign Manager on EU integration from the ConservativeHomeConservativeHomeConservative Home is a British political website started by Tim Montgomerie prior to the 2005 United Kingdom general election campaign, that aims to represent UK grassroots Conservative opinion.-Editors:...
website