Conservative Way Forward
Formation1991; 33 years ago (1991)
Key people
Cecil Parkinson
Eric Forth
Sir Christopher Chope
Margaret Thatcher
Chrissie Boyle
AffiliationsConservative Party
Thatcherism
Euroscepticism
Websitewww.conservativewayforward.com
Part of the politics series on
Thatcherism
Margaret Thatcher
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Conservative Way Forward (CWF) is a British pressure and campaigning group, which is Thatcherite in its outlook and agenda. Margaret Thatcher was its founding President.[1]

Conservative Way Forward was founded in 1991 to "defend and build upon the achievements of the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher's leadership, and to adapt the principles of her era in government to modern concerns and challenges".

The group organises speaker meetings, seminars and receptions, supported and attended by Government Ministers past and future.[2]

In all leadership elections since 1997, the candidate supported by Conservative Way Forward has ultimately won.[3][failed verification]

Conservative Way Forward is to be relaunched in 2022[4] by MP Steve Baker who will be its new chairman.[5]

Margaret Thatcher Library

On 14 April 2013, the group announced that it was setting up a Margaret Thatcher Library as a permanent memorial to the former Prime Minister. The project will be based on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, and has the support of several current and former Conservative cabinet members. It is expected to run training courses for young Conservatives and exchange student programmes to the US and elsewhere, as well as house artifacts from her premiership.[6]

Officers

In December 2015 Paul Abbott resigned as chief executive, and Donal Blaney resigned as chairman, following the suicide of Elliott Johnson soon after being made redundant as an employee of Conservative Way Forward. This followed the resignations of Minister of State for International Development Grant Shapps, and the expulsion from the Conservative Party of Mark Clarke, following allegations of bullying of Elliott Johnson.[7][8]

Executive director:

Founding President:

Honorary Vice Presidents:

Parliamentary Council

Chairman:

Deputy Chairman:

Council Members

Board of Management

Chairman

History

Former Honorary Chairmen:

References

  1. ^ "Tory quits in 'hidden cuts' row". News. BBC. 25 March 2005.
  2. ^ Hope, Christopher (2 April 2013). "Former Coalition defence minister takes over Margaret Thatcher legacy group to fight defence cuts". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. ^ Donal Blaney Retrieved 5 Feb 2016
  4. ^ Baker, Steve (11 December 2021). "Boris Johnson's overreaction to omicron variant is squandering the goodwill and trust of voters". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  5. ^ "I will be relaunching Conservative Way Forward to redefine the territory on which the Conservative Party operates. Steve Baker MP, CWF Chairman". Twitter. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  6. ^ Hennessy, Patrick (14 April 2013). "Margaret Thatcher: plans to build museum as permanent memorial". The Sunday Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group.
  7. ^ a b c d Grierson, Jamie (19 December 2015). "Two figures at Tory thinktank linked to alleged bullying step down". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  8. ^ Jones, Callum (20 December 2015). "Tory campaign group leaders resign over bullying scandal". The Times. London: News UK. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Former Coalition defence minister takes over Margaret Thatcher legacy group to fight defence cuts". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Eric Forth". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 19 May 2006.
  11. ^ "Christopher Chope". Members of Parliament. The Conservative Party.

External links

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