Overview
Founded in the early 1960s during the party's internal debate over decolonisation, its published aims state that "The Monday Club seeks to evolve a dynamic application of traditional Tory principles". Roger Griffin referred to the Club as practising an anti-socialist and elitist form of conservatism.
The club is notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, repatriation for non-white immigrants, which mirrored the pledge made in the Conservative Party's General Election Manifesto of 1970.
After its 1997 general election defeat, the Conservative Party began decisive moves towards becoming more centrist; the 2002–2003 party chairman, Theresa May, would later state that it had been perceived by voters as the "Nasty Party". The then party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, suspended the Monday Club's longstanding links with the party in October 2001, saying his party would have nothing to do with the organisation unless it stopped making "distasteful" remarks on race and immigration.
Since 1993 new full members of the club must be members of the Conservative Party, though there is no such requirement for associate membership. Monday Club observers, such as Denis Walker, have attended Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) conferences.
Part of the club's agenda stresses support for what it calls "traditional Conservative values", including "resistance to 'political correctness'".
Read more about this topic: Conservative Monday Club