About the Conservative Philosophy Group (CPG) and board members.
The CPG was originally founded in 1974, with the aim of bringing together academics, journalists and members of Parliament in order to discuss the root ideas of conservatism, and thereby to provide the Conservative Party with a vision that would enable it to counter the theories of the socialists and other opponents. We have now revived the Group, believing that the Conservative Party, and the movement on which it depends, have entered a new phase. Social, intellectual and demographic changes have altered the landscape of politics, and there is an urgent need for conservatism to adapt, without losing sight of its roots in common sentiment.
The ideas of national identity, national interest and national sovereignty have been called in question by a European process that seems unstoppable, but which clearly does not have the endorsement of the British people. The Union itself has been jeopardised, not only by the call for Scottish Independence, but also by the manifest reluctance of the major British parties to make the nation and its welfare into their leading idea. In the light of these and other developments it is imperative that the Conservative Party return to its moral and intellectual legacy, in order to shape its message to the times in which we live.
Our meetings are by invitation only, but we endeavour to ensure that the ideas discussed in them enter the public domain, and become a significant part of the on-going debate. We hope, in the future, to organize events that are open to the general public. Meanwhile it is our intention to raise the intellectual level and the seriousness of the conservative movement.
Jesse is a published author of many books and pamphlets and has written widely in the national press. His book Compassionate Conservatism has been called the “intellectual guidebook to Cameronism” by the Sunday Times, while Compassionate Economics was described as “the most intelligent political tract of 2009” in the Daily Telegraph.
Jessica Douglas Home is author of Violet (Harvill Press, 1997) and Once Upon Another Time (Michael Russell, 2000), her personal account of the dissident movements in Romania and the Czech Republic in the years before 1989. She is founder and chairman of the Mihai Eminescu Trust.
Charles joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph in 1979, and as a political columnist in the 1980s covered several years of Mrs Thatcher’s first and second governments. He has been Editor of the Spectator, the Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Telegraph, for which he is still a regular columnist. He wrote the authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher.
Douglas Murray is a writer, journalist and commentator. He was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011, and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. He is also author, most recently of Islamophilia.
George runs a website and security business Bee.Net and founded the Teletoddler website in 2004. He also promotes the country’s first privately funded railway for over 100 years, the Windsor Link Railway.
Read the latest articles by CPG members
By Toby Young, who spoke to the Conservative Philosophy Group meeting on 13 March 2017 Theresa
Meeting of the Conservative Philosophy Group, March 9 2015. The Meeting was addressed by Andrea
In his now-notorious book Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty asks whether the distribution
At the meeting of the Conservative Philosophy Group on October 28th 2014 Andrew Lilico and Tim
The next CPG meeting will discuss the issue of inequality, and what should be the conservative
At our recent meeting members of the Conservative Philosophy Group discussed some of the issues at
The Conservative Philosophy Group runs a number of events. Attendance is by invitation only but if you are interested in coming, please get in touch.
If you would like to find out more about the CPG or one of our events please do not hesitate to contact the CPG secretary, Richard Hyslop, using the form below.
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