Free Enterprise Group
- no WP page, but loads of mentions
- https://www.freeenterprise.org.uk/about/, https://www.freeenterprise.org.uk/policy-papers/
- http://www.tobaccotactics.org/index.php/Free_Enterprise_Group
- DDG search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=conservative+%22free+enterprise+group%22&t=ffab&ia=web
The Free Enterprise Group is a leading association of free-market orientated Conservative Members of Parliament. Convened by James Cleverly MP, FEG seeks to restate the importance of liberal and practical free enterprise values against the backdrop of a significant loss of confidence in free market economics following the banking failures of the late 2000s. Founded by the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP, now Secretary of State for Justice, FEG is supported by over 40 MPs who want to put free enterprise at the heart of the Conservative Party.
The group’s objectives are to: (ref)
- Encourage a competitive and free economic environment
- Raise the global economic standing of the United Kingdom
- Challenge monopolies and oligopolies
- Free individuals to create, innovate and take risks
Affiliations
The FEG is also closely connected to the tobacco industry and Priti Patel, who once worked for public relations outfit Weber-Shandwick, lobbied on behalf of British American Tobacco (BAT) before entering the Commons. http://www.tobaccotactics.org/index.php/Free_Enterprise_Group, http://powerbase.info/index.php/Priti_Patel
People
The website no longer features a list of members (how odd); but the last snapshot on Jun.20.2018 shows the following:
- Harriet Baldwin
- Karen Bradley
- Robert Buckland
- Alun Cairns
- Jo Churchill
- James Cleverly
- Therese Coffey
- Michelle Donelan
- Charlie Elphicke
- Suella Fernandes
- George Freeman
- Marcus Fysh
- Mark Garnier
- John Glen
- Ben Gummer
- Richard Harrington
- Chris Heaton-Harris
- Margot James
- Kwasi Kwarteng
- Andrea Leadsom
- Dr Phillip Lee
- Brandon Lewis
- Craig Mackinlay
- Alan Mak
- Scott Mann
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Priti Patel
- Chris Philp
- Christopher Pincher
- Mark Pritchard
- Dominic Raab
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- David Rutley
- Chris Skidmore
- Julian Smith
- Royston Smith
- Rory Stewart
- Michael Tomlinson
- Tom Tugendhat
- Andrew Tyrie
- Nadhim Zahawi
Ex-People
- Feb.27.2012, https://iea.org.uk/in-the-media/press-release/free-enterprise-group-institute-of-economic-affairs-growth-forum-proposal
- Steve Baker
- Aidan Burley
- George Eustice
- Sam Gyimah
- Matthew Hancock
- Sajid Javid
- Chris Kelly
- Brooks Newmark
- Jesse Norman
- Guy Opperman
- Laura Sandys
- Elizabeth Truss
- Mike Weatherley
Funding
The FEG gets its administrative support from the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), https://iea.org.uk/in-the-media/press-release/free-enterprise-group-institute-of-economic-affairs-growth-forum-proposal
Articles
- Nov.18.2017: Let’s Talk About: The Free Enterprise Group. According to capitalist rag City AM, the FEG is “highly influential” and was “relaunched” in 2015. It is led by James Cleverly, MP for Braintree, and has a membership of 40 MPs. Some of these MPs would claim to be successful in business, but they are rentiers, who make nothing and grow wealthy from shares and dividends. Some of them, like Chris Philp, who likes to lecture people on economic matters, is a failed businessman and a tax dodger. ... The unstated aim of the FEG is to create a sweatshop economy in which regulations are torn up because they, apparently, impact adversely on profits. ... Freedom, as articulated by the FEG is freedom for bosses to exploit workers and make themselves ever-richer on the back of labour. ... Patel, who once worked for public relations outfit, Weber-Shandwick, lobbied on behalf of British American Tobacco (BAT) before entering the Commons, PatelPriti Patel. Guy Debord's Cat. Nadhim Zahawi, Jacob Rees-Mogg,
- Patel has a history of working closely with dictatorships and other unsavoury regimes, https://buddyhell.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/priti-patel-human-rights-and-hard-cash/
- The FEG is also closely connected to the tobacco industry, http://www.tobaccotactics.org/index.php/Free_Enterprise_Group
- Dec.01.2015, https://www.freeenterprise.org.uk/james-cleverly-leads-the-re-launched-free-enterprise-group/
- https://www.conservativehome.com/tag/free-enterprise-group
- http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2012/03/free-enterprise-group-profile.html
- https://buddyhell.wordpress.com/category/government-politics/conservative-party/free-enterprise-group/
- https://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2012/03/free-enterprise-group-profile.html
- http://www.tobaccotactics.org/index.php/Free_Enterprise_Group
- ... Priti Patel and Chris Skidmore are co-authors along with other MPs of After the Coalition and Britannia Unchained and represent the hard-headed, free-market wing of the party, along with Alun Cairns, Nadhim Zahawi and Andrea Leadsom, who are also members of the influential Free Enterprise Group. https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2013/10/new-number-10-policy-board-announced/
- In 2012, Matthew Hancock wrote a report for the group, calling on the govt to cut wind subsidies and push ahead with shale gas. http://powerbase.info/index.php/Matthew_Hancock#Affiliations
- The cost of living: is govt intervention to blame? Speakers: Mark Littlewood, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Gordon MacDougall, Christopher Pincher MP, Dominic Raab MP, Christopher Snowdon and Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP. Organised by Institute of Economic Affairs and Free Enterprise Group, sponsored by the British Wind Partnership, http://powerbase.info/index.php/Institute_of_Economic_Affairs
- Mar.21.2012, What is the Free Enterprise Group? https://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2012/03/free-enterprise-group-profile.html