Freedom Association
Origins and history
The Freedom Association was founded as the National Association for Freedom on 31 July 1975 by John Gouriet, William Sidney, (also known as Viscount De L'Isle), and Norris McWhirter, who with his brother Ross McWhirter, had founded the Guinness Book of Records. [1] Ross McWhirter was murdered by the IRA shortly before the planned launched which took place on 2 December 1975, with Norris McWhirter under protection by armed police. [2] Recalling the killing years later, John Gouriet told the BBC: 'It was almost certainly a KGB crime because there were definite links between the IRA and the Soviet Union and I remain convinced today that that is what actually happened.' [3]
The group's other founding members consisted of a number of radical right-wingers from journalism, academia and the Conservative Party. Michael Ivens, the director of the anti-union pressure group Aims of Industry was a founder member, as was Brian Crozier of the Institute for the Study of Conflict and his close associate Robert Moss, [4] who was appointed director of the Association. [5] Other founding members included Alec Bedser, John Braine, Professor D.R. Deman (professor of Land Economy at Cambridge), Sir John Foster, Jill Knight, David Mitchell, Nicholas Ridley Sir Frank Taylor, (managing director of Taylor Woodrow), Kenneth Watkins of Sheffield University and Peregrine Worsthorne. [6]
It absorbed a small pressure group the Middle Class Association. [7] When The Economist reported on the Association's progress in 1976 it stated that it was directed by Robert Moss and chaired by Viscount De L'Isle. Its governing council was said to include Norris McWhirter (whose brother Ross was murdered by the IRA), and seven Conservative MPs including Winston Churchill, Jill Knight and Nicholas Ridley. At that time it had a full-time staff of ten at its London headquarters located "near Shaftesbury Avenue". [8] John Gouriet was reportedly administrative director of the group. [9]
Activities
The Freedom Association sponsored legal actions to promote their right-wing agenda. They also published a fortnightly paper called The Free Nation. In 1976 The Economist reported that it was written 'using unpaid contributors who are often professional journalists -- of which 30,000 copies are printed at a non-union printing press "somewhere in the west of England". Half of the print order is, the NAF claims, sold at 15p a copy, mainly in the home counties and in the Manchester area, the remainder is distributed free.' [10]
Brian Crozier revealed in his memoir that founding members of the Freedom Association met with Margaret Thatcher on 9 March 1976. The meeting took place at Viscount De L'Isle's house in London's Eaton Square, and was attended by Brian Crozier, Norris McWhirter, John Gouriet and Robert Moss. [11] Brian Crozier recalls that:
Mrs Thatcher was listening and writing because I was telling her things nobody had yet mentioned to her, about Soviet subversion in the United Kingdom and worldwide, about the penetration of our trades unions and of the Labour Party, still in power at that time. [12]
According to the Guardian:
Naff's crowning glory was the battle over Grunwick, a photo processing lab in north London where an industrial dispute over union representation blew up into a cause célèbre in 1976. The dispute saw mass picketing, including Arthur Scargill's miners, and court actions by the company, which were financed by Naff. The organisation was widely credited with winning a small business victory against trade union might, and the affair prepared the ground for the Conservatives' anti-union legislation of the 1980s.[13]
The Freedom Zone
The Freedom Zone was a conference arranged by the Freedom Association in Manchester, UK, on 5 and 6 October 2009. In charge of running the event was Jane Broadhurst, the Freedom Association's office manager.[14]
Speakers included Chris Grayling, Lord David Trimble, Daniel Hannan, Roger Helmer, Syed Kamall, John Redwood, Peter Lilley, Tim Montgomerie, "Guido Fawkes" (a pseudonym of the libertarian blogger Paul Staines)[15], Colonel Bob Stewart, Gerald Howarth, Alex Deane, Douglas Murray, John O'Sullivan, Matthew Elliott, Ruth Lea, Robert Halfon, Simon Clark, Brian Monteith, Shane Frith, John Strafford, Graeme Leach, James Manzi, Iain Murray, Matthew Sinclair, John Whittingdale, Mark Wallace, Bruce Anderson, David Aaronovitch, John Rentoul, Jesse Norman, Don Porter and Chris Galley.[16]
Principals
- Chairman (as of October 2009): Roger Helmer MEP[17]
- Caroline Cox (Lady Baroness)
- Michael Ivens
Contact
Website: www.tfa.net
Notes
- ↑ The Freedom Association, About TFA, (accessed 22 April 2009); Adam Bernstein, 'Norris McWhirter Dies; 'Guinness Book' Co-Founder, Washington Post, 21 April 2004
- ↑ Philip Jordan, 'McWhirter 'freedom' memorial', Guardian, 3 December 1975
- ↑ Tory! Tory! Tory! - The Path to Power, broadcast Friday, 10 August from 2340 BST on BBC Four.
- ↑ Philip Jordan, 'McWhirter 'freedom' memorial', Guardian, 3 December 1975
- ↑ 'National Association for Freedom; Into its stride', The Economist, 28 August 1976
- ↑ Philip Jordan, 'McWhirter 'freedom' memorial', Guardian, 3 December 1975
- ↑ 'National Association for Freedom; Into its stride', The Economist, 28 August 1976
- ↑ 'National Association for Freedom; Into its stride', The Economist, 28 August 1976
- ↑ Martin Walker and Peter Chippindale, 'Thatcher guest of NAFF', Guardian, 6 January 1977; p.20
- ↑ 'National Association for Freedom; Into its stride', The Economist, 28 August 1976
- ↑ Brian Crozier, 'A secret shield for the Lady', The Times, 28 June 1993
- ↑ Brian Crozier, 'A secret shield for the Lady', The Times, 28 June 1993
- ↑ Roger Cowe, 'Michael Ivens: Champion of the libertarian right and business freedom' Guardian, 21 November 2001
- ↑ Meet the Freedom Zone team, Freedom Association website, accessed 5 Oct 2009
- ↑ Home page, Guido Fawkes blog, accessed 5 Oct 2009
- ↑ Meet the Freedom Zone team, Freedom Association website, accessed 5 Oct 2009
- ↑ About TFA, TFA website, accessed 5 Oct 2009
