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The Bow Group is the oldest conservative think tank in the United Kingdom which is run by a group of volunteers. Taking its name from the Bow area of London where it first met, it was founded in 1951. The group conducts research, publishes reports, engages in political debate, and produces the members magazine Crossbow. The Bow Group is currently chaired by Ben Harris-Quinney and in 2012, former Prime Minister Sir John Major became President of the Group.

History

On 29 November 1950, a steering meeting was held to set up a group for Conservatives under the age of 35. The resulting group had its first meeting in 7 February 1951 and was named after the place where the original steering meeting had been held: the Bow and Bromley Conservative Association. Their first pamphlet, Coloured People In Britain, was published in 1952.

The group was established as an extra-parliamentary forum for young people. It was to be a broad church, stretching across the Conservative Party, but found itself opposed to the Conservative Monday Club, leading to a misperception that the group was 'left-wing'.

In July 2012 the Bow Group, reflecting on 60 years of its history in British politics, appointed former British Prime Minister The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH as its President and Lords Howe, Howard, Lamont and Heseltine as its Senior Patrons to serve on the advisory board of the organisation.

Their appointment was announced officially at the Bow Group's 60th Anniversary Summer Reception, held on the House of Commons Terrace on 17 July 2012, by the group's current Chairman Ben Harris-Quinney and Sir John Major who gave the keynote speech. Also present were former Bow Group Chairmen Michael Howard, Geoffrey Howe and Norman Lamont, as well as MPs, MEPs and members of the Bow Group.

Recent contributions

Early in 2006 the Group hit the headlines once again, this time due to a paper entitled 'Keep It Simple', which details the extent of maladministration in the UK tax system and gives some ideas for reform.

2010 saw the Bow Group publish an influential pamphlet on the future of UK rail transit, "The Right Track" authored by Tony Lodge and Lord Heseltine. The paper set out a proposed route for the UK's High Speed Rail Network (HS2) as an alternative to the then Labour Government's route. The paper was later to be the source of controversy in 2011 when though the Conservative led Coalition Government did not implement the proposals set out in the paper, in October 2011 the Shadow Transport Minister adopted the "Bow Group Route" as Labour Party Policy.

In 2011 current research secretary Richard Mabey produced a paper with Bernard Jenkin MP on the Alternative Vote system "Death of the Conviction Voter - Fairness and Tactics under AV" which was often cited during the 2011 AV referendum debate and was seen as being an influential contribution to the thinking of the "NOtoAV" campaign.

Also in 2011 Bow Group Chairman Ben Harris-Quinney co-authored a paper with Dr Charles Tannock MEP on "The Eurozone & Germany - understanding the German Mind". The paper argued for greater engagement and dialogue between the UK and the German populous, and the necessity for policy makers in the UK to better understand the economic and foreign policy motivations of Germany as the nation at the centre of the eurozone. The paper was seen to advocate EU realism as an antidote to the increasingly controversial debate on EU membership within the UK Conservative Party.

In March 2012, the Bow Group released a report opposing the Government's plans to trial badger culling in England, stating that the findings of Labour's major badger culling trials several years prior were that culling does not work. The paper was authored by Graham Godwin-Pearson with a foreword by Dr Brian May and contributions by leading tuberculosis scientists, including Lord Krebs.

In April 2012, at a Bow Group debate with Dr David Starkey, Shami Chakrabarti and Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Starkey described Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond as a "Caledonian Hitler".

On 2 May 2012, the Bow Group published a short article supporting directly elected mayors in large English cities.

In July 2012 the Bow Group released a major report by Dr Liam Fox and Dr James Boys critical of the Coalition government's lack of progress to reform the UK National Security Council.

The Bow Group published "A Fourth Way - Ideas for a New Conservative Manifesto" to the 2012 Conservative Party Conference. The manifesto was produced to parallel the Bow Group's 1973 "Alternative Manifesto" produced by then Chairman Peter Lilley which laid the foundations for Margaret Thatcher's 1979 manifesto. It argued for an end and a defeat of third way politics, the delineation of a fourth way and return to conviction politics of substantive ideas. Contributors included Peter Lilley MP, Liam Fox MP, Daniel Hannan MEP, Priti Patel MP, Roger Scruton, Tim Congdon, Bernard Jenkin MP and David Willets MP.

Membership

Membership of the Bow Group is open to all, although applicants require a proposer and a seconder. Members are entitled to attend events, including debates in Parliament, an annual summer reception and a Christmas drinks party. Publications, however, are available to all and the website, Facebook and Twitter pages are publicly accessible.

Many members are active in the Conservative Party, including retired and active Lords, MPs, MEPs, councillors and Party officers.

Prominent members of the group have included: Christopher Bland, Michael Howard, Sir John Major, Michael Heseltine, Geoffrey Howe, Norman Lamont, Peter Lilley, William Rees-Mogg, Alastair Ross Goobey and Norman St John-Stevas.

Chairmen of the Bow Group

Footnotes

1. ^ Seawright (2010), p. 109
2. http://www.bowgroup.org/people
3. "The Bow Group at 60". Bow Group. 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
4. "Keep it simple". Bow Publishing. 2006. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
5. "Labour is now supporting original Conservative route for HS2". ConservativeHome. Nov 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
6. "HS2 would link with Heathrow in proposed alternative". BBC News. 21 Oct 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
7. "Death of the Conviction Voter: Fairness and Tactics under AV". Bow Group. Apr 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
8. "Bow Group argues the AV will bring an end to conviction voting". ConservativeHome. Apr 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
9. "Charles Tannock MEP - The need for new thinking in the Conservative Party". ConservativeHome. Sep 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
10. "Whoever controls Germany controls Europe: why Britain must better understand the German mind". The Commentator. 19 Sep 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
11. "Bow Group urges the Government to Scrap Badger Cull plans". Bow Publishing. 25 Mar 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
12. "Badger Cull divides Tories". The Guardian. 26 Mar 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
13. "Now even Tories are calling for the badger cull to be scrapped". Western Morning News. 3 Apr 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
14. ""Telling our Island Story"? - Should a positive perspective of British history be a key part of our education syllabus?". Bow Group. 18 Apr 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
15. "Starkey compares Salmond to Hitler". Press Association. 20 Apr 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
16. "Anger after Historian compares Salmond to 'a Caledonian Hitler'". Daily Express. 20 Apr 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
17. Godwin-Pearson, Graham (2 May 2012). "Bow Group - Why England's cities should say 'Yes' to elected mayors". bowgroup.org. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
18. http://www.bowgroup.org/policy/intelligence-design-uk-national-security-changing-world
19. http://www.bowgroup.org/magazine/crossbow-magazine-conference-2012
20. http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Alternative_Manifesto.html?id=OqZiAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
21. http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/1979/1979-conservative-manifesto.shtml
22. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214353/David-Cameron-threat-torpedo-EU-budget-failure-promise-referendum-angers-Right.html
23. http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/isabel-hardman/2012/10/conservative-conference-david-cameron-moves-tories-to-the-common-not-the-centre-ground/

See also

• List of UK think tanks

References

• Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, Foreword by George Pole, Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, April 1972, (P/B), p. 28.

• Coxall, Bill, and Lynton Robins, Contemporary British Politics, Macmillan Publishers, London, first published 1989, revised reprint 1992, p. 239, (P/B), ISBN 0-333-34046-9

• Barr, James, The Bow Group: A History, Politico's Publishing, London, 2001, ISBN 1-84275-001-1
• Seawright, David (2010). The British Conservative Party and One Nation Politics. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8264-8974-6.

External links

• Bow Group official website
• Bow Group official Facebook page
• Bow Group official Twitter account
• Bow Group on Who Knows Who on Channel4.com

• Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom
• Think tanks established in 1951
• Organisations associated with the Conservative Party (UK)
• 1951 establishments in the United Kingdom
• Organisations based in London