page_title: Conservative Monday Club
section_title: The Thatcher years
hierarchical_section_title: Conservative Monday Club / History / The Thatcher years
caption_attribution_description: English: Members gather for the Club's 20th anniversary riverboat party organised by the Young Members' Group, July 15, 1981.
context_page_description: The Conservative Monday Club is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party in Northern Ireland.
  Founded in 1961, in the belief that the Macmillan ministry had taken the party too far to the left, the club became embroiled in the decolonisation and immigration debate, inevitably highlighting the controversial issue of race, which has dominated its image ever since. The club was known for its fierce opposition to non-White immigration to Britain and its support for apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia. By 1971, the club had 35 MPs, six of them ministers, and 35 peers, with membership totalling about 10,000.
  In 1982, the constitution was re-written, with more emphasis on support for the Conservative Party, but it remained autonomous from the party. In-fighting over the club's traditional Tory agenda led to many resignations in 1991. In 2001, the Conservative Party formally severed relations with the club, which has ceased to exercise significant influence, with full membership below 600.
context_section_description: The club's revised constitution (21 May 1984) stated that "the objects of the Club are to support the Conservative & Unionist Party in policies designed:
  to maintain loyalty to the Crown and to uphold the sovereignty of Parliament, the security of the realm, and defence of the nation against external aggression and internal subversion;
  to safeguard the liberty of the subject and integrity of the family in accordance with the customs, traditions, and character of the British people;
  to maintain the British constitution in obedience and respect for the laws of the land, freedom of worship and our national heritage;
  to promote an economy consistent with national aspirations and Tory ideals;
  to encourage members of the club to play an active part, at all levels, in the affairs of the Conservative and Unionist Party."
  During the period that Margaret Thatcher led the Conservative Party, the Monday Club were prolific publishers of booklets, pamphlets, policy papers, an occasional newspaper, Right Ahead, and a magazine Monday World edited for some years by Sir Adrian FitzGerald, Bart., Sam Swerling, and later, Eleanor Dodd. In the October 1982 edition, MP Harvey Proctor called for the scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality, Sir Patrick Wall commented on the Falklands War, James Molyneaux had an article "What Future for Ulster", and Dr. Harvey Ward had an article on "Zimbabwe Today". The September 1984 edition of Monday News carried the headline "Kinnock Talks to Terrorists", quoting former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock's declaration to the African National Congress's Oliver Tambo that the ANC in South Africa could expect financial and material assistance from a future Labour government. Other attacks were made upon then-Greater London Council leader Ken Livingstone inviting Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to visit London in 1982.
caption: Members gather for the club's 20th anniversary riverboat party organised by the Young Members' Group, 15 July 1981.
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