Swinton circle

The Swinton Circle (aka the London Swinton Circle) is a right-wing conservative British pressure-group with links to the Conservative Party. It proclaims itself Unionist and Eurosceptic. [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]

The chief significance of the Swinton Circle today is that, following the repudiation of the Monday Club by the Conservative Party Leadership [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Monday_Club Conservative Monday Club - Suspension of links by the Conservative party (2001)] ] , the Circle is now the only right-wing pressure group to enjoy the favour of the Party, which permits MPs and other senior figures to address its meeting. (Conservative MPs are forbidden to be members of the Monday Club or to address its meetings) However, it has been repeatedly claimed in the national press that the views of the Circle are at least as extreme as those of the Monday Club. [ [http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=20&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffindarticles.com%2Fp%2Farticles%2Fmi_qn4158%2Fis_20011021%2Fai_n14436578&ei=lEblR4HzD4v2wwGi-JTKAg&usg=AFQjCNHPzwH3kT1owTg5_SHYtYL3FAvIXw&sig2=-1IYMW_ESVOp99qPQ8J_jQ The Independent] , [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/routledge/2001/08/31/democracy--it-s-a-mockery-89520-11272064/ Mirror] , [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/apr/28/uk.conservatives The Guardian] , [http://www.progressonline.org.uk/Magazine/article.asp?a=377 Progress Magazine] , [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030608/ai_n12739695 Independent on Sunday] ]

Given that the Circle claims a membership in excess of 500 and increasing while the membership of the Monday Club is stated to be "back below 600" [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Monday_Club Conservative Monday Club - Suspension of links by the Conservative party (2001)] ] it can be argued that the Circle has now supplanted the Monday Club as the leading pressure group of the Conservative right.

History

The London Swinton Circle was founded in 1961 by Conservatives who had attended Party training schools at Swinton Castle in Yorkshire, and who wished to maintain contact through regular meetings in London. Since 1996 the group has widened its membership. [ [http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~springbk/lsc3.htm The History of the London Swinton Circle, Springbok club website] ]

Prominent early members included Roger Moate MP and Bee Carthew of the Monday Club [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=%22swinton+circle%22&source=web&ots=2i3NM6EEU5&sig=kfbVewWX_Nq3zvUiz19CIKXxmWY&hl=en, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations] ]

At the 1982 Conservative Conference the Swinton Circle held a fringe meeting entitled "Repatriation - a Constructive Alternative" addressed by Enoch Powell. In 1983 it hosted a meeting addressed by Ivor Benson, South African author of "The Jews: the World Wide Conspiracy" [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=%22swinton+circle%22&source=web&ots=2i3NM6EEU5&sig=kfbVewWX_Nq3zvUiz19CIKXxmWY&hl=en, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations] ]

In 1999 the then Chairman, Allan Robertson, launched a monthly newsletter "Tough Talking From The Right", described as "an independent monthly newsletter published in broad support of the London Swinton Circle". [ [http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~springbk/ttftr.htm Official website - Tough Talking From The Right] ]

Recent speakers have included:
* Godfrey Bloom MEP (United Kingdom Independence Party, Yorkshire) [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Sammy Wilson MP (DUP, East Antrim) [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Simon Heffer, Journalist [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Lord Stoddart of Swindon (a Labour Life Peer) [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Peter Robinson MP (DUP, East Belfast) [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Philip Davies MP (Conservative, Shipley) [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Derek Turner, Editor of Right Now [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Professor Alan Sked, the former chairman of UKIP [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Jillian Becker, the author and expert on counter-terrorism [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]
* Jeffrey Donaldson [MP (DUP, Lagan Valley) [ [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk/ LSC Official Website] ]

The current Chairman of the London Swinton Circle is Alan Harvey, a Conservative Party activist.

Accusations of Far-Right Extremism

The Swinton Circle has been claimed to be linked with Far-Right Extremism.

On 28 April 2002 The Observer claimed: [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/apr/28/uk.conservatives Tory leader's trail of links to global extreme Right] ]

"A number of right-wing groups flutter on the fringes of the Tory party, giving their support to Duncan Smith. One is the Swinton Circle, a bland name hiding a set of hard-right ideologies on immigration and the EU. The Circle has links with the Springbok Club, an expatriate Southern African movement.

"It backed Duncan Smith for leader, because he was 'pro-capital punishment, voted against the age of homosexual consent being reduced from 21 and opposed legalisation of cannabis'.

"An active member of the Circle and one of its former leaders was Bill Binding, who was deputy head of the British Ku Klux Klan. Last October, he expressed his admiration for Duncan Smith and has now rejoined the Tories.

"In 1997, Binding stood as a BNP parliamentary candidate in Dagenham, east London. He now says he quit the KKK four years ago after concluding that all races were genetically alike."

References

External links

* [http://www.swintoncircle.co.uk Swinton Circle]