National Fellowship

Last updated
National Fellowship
Chairperson Edward Martell
FounderEdward Martell
Founded1 January 1962 (1962-01-01)
Dissolved1968 (1968)
Newspaper The New Daily
Ideology Libertarian conservative
Political position Right-wing

The National Fellowship was a minor right-wing libertarian conservative political party in the United Kingdom.

Contents

History

The party was launched under Chairman Edward Martell on 1 January 1962, with full page advertisements in national broadsheets. The advert referred to the organisation as part of a movement spearheaded by The New Daily newspaper. They claimed that they would mostly attract supporters from the Conservative Party, but attacked Iain MacLeod as "inclined to a mild sort of socialism". The initial policies listed included opposition to many trade union activities, anti-communism, cuts to government expenditure and welfare and more restrictions on immigration. The associated advisory committee included former Chairman of the Liberal Party Lord Moynihan, Conservative MPs Donald Johnson and Henry Kerby and former Liberal MP Don Bennett. [1] Moynihan's support to the party led to his removal as a vice-president of the Yorkshire Area Liberal Federation. [2]

The advert also gave details of an Establishment Committee. This prompted Peter Cook and Nicholas Luard to write to The Guardian noting that this was unconnected with their recently created club, The Establishment, but that they hoped it would provide them with material for their comedy shows. [3]

The party planned to stand a candidate in the 1962 Leicester North East by-election. The Conservative candidate, Robin Marlar, attended a meeting they organised, but left as soon as he was invited to speak, stating that he had "nothing but contempt" for their plans. Despite this, the Fellowship decided not to put up a candidate. [4] In early 1963, Martell joined the Conservative Party, but maintained the Fellowship. [5]

The Fellowship's first candidacy was at the 1963 Bristol South East by-election. A 1961 by-election in the constituency was won by Labour Party politician Tony Benn, but he was disqualified by reason of his peerage, and the seat was instead awarded to second-placed Conservative Malcolm St Clair. As the law had been changed, permitting Benn to renounce his peerage, St Clair agreed to stand down and the Conservatives did not run a candidate in the by-election. Martell attempted to persuade either of two local businessmen to stand for the Fellowship against Benn, but both refused. Instead, Martell stood himself. [6] The Fellowship was Benn's main challenger from the right. Martell took a distant second place, with 19% of the vote, becoming the first independent candidate in 17 years to hold his deposit. [7]

The party spent most of its funds supporting favoured Conservatives at the 1964 general election, and Martell wrote to all previous donors, asking for personal loans, repayable on 14 days' notice. He soon proved unable to repay these loans, prompting questions in Parliament. [8] In July 1966, he merged the Fellowship with other campaigns he had run, including the "Freedom Group", into the National Party. The new party announced their intention to contest at least the next five by-elections, but ultimately their only candidate was Bennett, who took last place in the 1967 Nuneaton by-election. [9] [10] Martell was declared bankrupt in 1968, [11] after which the party disappeared.

Notes

  1. ↑ "National revival or eclipse?", The Guardian , 1 January 1962
  2. ↑ "Lord Moynihan "dismissed"", The Guardian , 12 March 1962
  3. ↑ "The National Fellowship", The Guardian , 4 January 1962
  4. ↑ "Martell's group withdraws", The Guardian , 2 July 1962
  5. ↑ "News in brief", The Guardian , 21 February 1963
  6. ↑ "3 will oppose Benn", The Guardian , 10 August 1963
  7. ↑ "Benn has 15,479 majority", The Guardian , 21 August 1963
  8. ↑ "MPs seek an inquiry into Martell group", The Guardian , 18 June 1965
  9. ↑ "National Party to fight 5 seats", The Guardian , 30 January 1967
  10. ↑ F. W. S. Craig, Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections
  11. ↑ "Mr Edward Martell - 'no assets'", The Guardian , 4 May 1968

Related Research Articles

1983 United Kingdom general election

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party in 1945, with a majority of 144 seats.

Tony Benn British politician, writer and diarist (1925–2014)

Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014.

February 1974 United Kingdom general election

The February 1974 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 28 February 1974. The Labour Party, led by Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, gained 14 seats, but was seventeen short of an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Edward Heath, lost 28 seats; but achieved a higher share of the vote than Labour. This resulted in a hung parliament, the first since 1929. Heath sought a coalition with the Liberals, but the two parties failed to come to an agreement and then Wilson became Prime Minister for a second time, his first under a minority government. Because Labour was unable to form a majority coalition with another party, Wilson called another early election in September, which was held in October and resulted in a Labour majority. This was also the first general election to be held with the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Communities (EC)—widely known as the "Common Market".

1964 United Kingdom general election

The 1964 United Kingdom general election was held on 15 October 1964, five years after the previous election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party, first led by Winston Churchill, had regained power. It resulted in the Conservatives, led by the incumbent Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, narrowly losing to the Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson; Labour secured a parliamentary majority of four seats and ended its thirteen years in opposition. Wilson became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Rosebery in 1894.

Unionist Party (Scotland) Former centre-right political party in Scotland

The Unionist Party was the main centre-right political party in Scotland between 1912 and 1965.

2010 United Kingdom general election

The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system.

Night of the Long Knives (1962) UK political crisis in 1962

In British politics, the "Night of the Long Knives" was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his Cabinet, one-third of the total. The speed and scale of the reshuffle caused it to be associated by its critics with the 1934 Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany.

Malcolm Archibald James St Clair was a British Conservative Party politician and Army officer.

Parliamentary by-elections in the United Kingdom occur when a Member of Parliament (MP) vacates a House of Commons seat during the course of a parliament.

1984 Chesterfield by-election

The 1984 Chesterfield by-election was held on 1 March 1984 for a seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom to represent Chesterfield in Derbyshire. This followed the resignation of the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Eric Varley.

Donald Wade, Baron Wade

Donald William Wade, Baron Wade, DL was a British solicitor who became a Liberal Party Member of Parliament. Wade's time in Parliament coincided with the time the Liberals were at their lowest ebb but his job as Chief Whip kept the party operating until times were better; however, his own seat was dependent on a local pact with the Conservatives and when it broke down, he was defeated. He was then elevated to the House of Lords where he became an active Peer.

The 1961 Bristol South East by-election was a by-election held on 4 May 1961 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol.

The 1963 Bristol South East by-election was a by-election held on 20 August 1963 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol.

Edward Drewett Martell was a British politician and libertarian activist.

Patrick Berkeley Moynihan, 2nd Baron Moynihan was a British politician and peer.

The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968. It broke away from the Liberal Party, and later co-operated and merged with the Conservative Party.

2019 United Kingdom general election General election held in the United Kingdom

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote – the highest percentage for any party since 1979.

2016 Richmond Park by-election UK parliamentary by-election

The Richmond Park by-election was a UK parliamentary by-election in the constituency of Richmond Park which was held on 1 December 2016. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative Member of Parliament Zac Goldsmith on 25 October 2016 over the Government's proposal for a third runway at the nearby Heathrow Airport. It was won by Sarah Olney of the Liberal Democrats, after a campaign focused on opposition to Brexit.

<i>Re Bristol South-East Parliamentary Election</i>

Re Bristol South-East Parliamentary Election is a 1961 United Kingdom election court case brought about by an election petition by Malcolm St Clair against Tony Benn, the winner of the 1961 Bristol South-East by-election where Benn had won the most votes but was disqualified from taking his seat in the House of Commons as he had inherited a hereditary peerage as 2nd Viscount Stansgate. Benn argued that as he had not applied for a writ of summons, he was not a member of the House of Lords and that the voters had the right to choose who they wanted to represent them.

On 3 September 2019, the British Conservative Party withdrew the whip from 21 of its MPs who had supported an emergency motion to allow the House of Commons to undertake proceedings on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill on 4 September. In the hours after the vote, the Chief Whip Mark Spencer informed the rebel MPs that they were no longer entitled to sit as Conservatives. This led to the loss of the Conservative/DUP majority in the Commons.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.