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An anti-Conservative Party advertisement for the CDA that appeared in '' Right Now! '' caused a stir in Parliament. Andrew Hunter MP said that the tone of its text prompted him to withdraw his patronage from the magazine. The magazine's editor claimed Hunter was under substantial Conservative Party pressure to distance himself anyway. (Hunter subsequently left the party). In 2002, '', 18 May 2002). On 27 June 2002 , '' The Daily Telegraph '' carried a letter from the CDA, signed by Smith, attacking the Conservative Party and its Chairman Francis Maude for "the sleaze, double-dealing, arrogance, incompetence, Europhilia, indifference and drift with which the party is still associated. "Voters", he said, "deserve a real alternative to Blairism and his 'straight kinda guy' chicanery. Mr. Maude and his C-Changing Tories are incapable of providing it." Smith has been a member of the Conservative Monday Club since the early 1970s, and served in its Executive Council throughout the second half of the 1980s until about 1992. Serving on the CDA's steering committee are Sam Swerling , a former Monday Club chairman (1980-1982), founder of the Philosophy Group, member of the Campaign For An Independent Britain , and former Conservative Party Parliamentary Candidate and councillor on Westminster City Council , and Stuart Millson , a former editor of Kent Writers , founder of the short-lived Revolutionary Conservative Caucus in (1992), and Gregory Lauder-Frost . Millson and Lauder-Frost are both past Tories and members of the Monday Club and its Executive, as well as the Western Goals Institute , and both are now also members of the council of the Traditional Britain Group . The CDA fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in October 2002 was addressed by Roger Knapman , leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party ; Ashley Mote , prominent UKIP member and author of "Overcrowded Britain - Our Immigration Crisis Exposed" (2004); John Gouriet , a founder with Norris McWhirter of the Freedom Association alongside Derek Turner , editor of '' Right Now! '' magazine; and Adrian Davies , chairman of the fledgling Freedom Party and a prominent Lincoln's Inn barrister amongst whose clients has been the controversial British historian David Irving . On 6 October 2004 , the Conservative Democratic Alliance held a rally in tribute to Enoch Powell as a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth , at which Ashley Mote , MEP , spoke. The CDA planned to field its own candidates against Conservative MPs with small majorities at the 2005 General Election , concentrating on Oliver Letwin , the then Shadow Treasury Spokesman , and MP for West Dorset , whom they describe as "simply not a Conservative at all". The stated aim was to cull those whom they see as non-Conservatives so that a new, more genuine, Conservative Party can emerge. In the end, lack of adequate finances needed to fight an election meant that no candidates actually stood for the CDA at the 2005 General Election , and Letwin held his seat. However, CDA Chairman Michael Keith Smith stood as the United Kingdom Independence Party candidate for Portsmouth North . Both unsuccessful Tory candidate Penny Mordaunt and political commentator Richard North blamed Smith's intervention for the Tories' failure to win back the seat. The CDA's June 2005 Summer Dinner in '' Court and Social pages, 8 November 2003 and 9 February 2006). The CDA committee meets quarterly and the group is one of the fastest growing groupings of the conservative right, claiming up to 1,000 members. General funds seem not to be a problem, and they are known to assist in part-funding the bi-annual Traditional Britain Group ''Newsletter''. The CDA often criticises Free-market Economics and Americanisation in the United Kingdom, both of which it perceives to be after-effects of Thatcherism . This may be seen as distinguishing it from the modern Conservative Party leadership, which CDA members often criticise as Neoconservative , ( Michael Gove is often singled out for criticism on this front). The CDA is also fervently opposed to the European Union . Chairman Michael Keith Smith recently won a major landmark test case for libel over the internet against a former schoolteacher. He was awarded £10,000 plus £7500 costs. Refer: '' The Times '', 21 March 2006], http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2096902,00.html ''IT Week'', and '' The Guardian '', both 22 March 2006, http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1737001,00.html?gusrc=rss The CDA produce a regular bulletin, and have a website with discussion forums. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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