Better Off Out (BOO) is the name of a non-party campaign that called for the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
(UK)'s withdrawal from the
European Union (EU). It is run by
The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group, which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded in ...
, a
pressure group
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...
that describes itself as non-partisan,
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...
and
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
, and has links to the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
,
The Brexit Party
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...
and
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(UKIP). The campaign was formed in 2006
and is based in
Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
, England.
Supporters
The patrons of the campaign include
Lord Tebbit
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit (born 29 March 1931) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1983), Secretary of State for Trade ...
,
[ the former Chairman of the Conservative Party as well as author ]Frederick Forsyth
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', '' The Fourth Protocol'', '' The Dogs of War'', ''The Devil's Alter ...
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
[ Gill 2006] and Professor Tim Congdon
Timothy George Congdon CBE (born 28 April 1951) is a British economist.
Early life
He was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and St. John's and Nuffield colleges at the University of Oxford.
Career
Over the years, he has accumulated ...
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, an economist and former UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest pa ...
PPC
PPC may refer to:
Computing
* Personal programmable calculator, programmable calculators for personal use
* Pay-per-click, an internet advertising model
* PearPC, a PowerPC platform emulator
* Peercoin, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency
* Periphera ...
.
Lord Weatherill
Bruce Bernard Weatherill, Baron Weatherill, (25 November 1920 – 6 May 2007) was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1983 and 1992.
Family
He was the son of Bernard Bruce Weatherill (1 ...
, the former Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
, was also a patron of the campaign prior to his death.[
]
Members of Parliament
Prior to the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, Better Off Out was supported by a number of Conservative Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
including Peter Bone,[ ]Christopher Chope
Sir Christopher Robert Chope (born 19 May 1947) is a British barrister and politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch in Dorset since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected in 1983 for ...
,[ David T C Davies,][ Philip Davies,][ Gordon Henderson,][ Philip Hollobone,][ ]David Nuttall
David Taylor Nuttall (born 25 March 1962) is a former British Conservative Party politician. He is a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury North, having won his seat in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election. He lost his seat to ...
,[ ]Heather Wheeler
Heather Kay Wheeler (née Wilkinson; born 14 May 1959) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was first elected at the 2010 general election as the member of Parliament (MP) for South Derbyshire, taking the seat from the Labour Party ...
,[ ]Andrew Percy
Andrew Theakstone Percy (born 18 September 1977) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brigg and Goole since 2010. He is an active member of many groups in Parliament, including All Part ...
, Laurence Robertson
Laurence Anthony Robertson (born 29 March 1958) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tewkesbury since 1997 and served as Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for seven years, from 201 ...
and Richard Shepherd.[ There are a number of Conservative former members of parliament who supported Better Off Out.][These include Lady Ann Winterton, Sir Nicholas Winterton, John Biffen, Eric Forth, Sir Richard Body, Dr Bob Spink, and ]Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving unt ...
.
The former Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP for Great Grimsby, Austin Mitchell
Austin Vernon Mitchell (19 September 1934 – 18 August 2021) was a British academic, journalist and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby (UK ...
was also a supporter.[ There were a number of ]Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
MPs and Members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, including their leader Peter Robinson Peter Robinson may refer to:
Entertainment
* Peter Robinson (sideshow artist) (1873–1947), American actor and sideshow performer, known for his appearance in film ''Freaks'' (1932)
* J. Peter Robinson (born 1945), British musician and film score ...
and former leader Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...
. Others include Gregory Campbell, Nigel Dodds
Nigel Alexander Dodds, Baron Dodds of Duncairn, (born 20 August 1958), is a British unionist politician who has been the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the House of Lords since 2021, and was the deputy leader of the DUP ...
, Jeffrey Donaldson
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader ...
,[ Dr. William McCrea, Ian Paisley, Jr., ]Jim Shannon
Richard James Shannon (born 25 March 1955) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. He has sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 2010 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Strangford. He had previo ...
, David Simpson and Sammy Wilson as well as prominent members of the smaller Traditional Unionist Voice
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties, the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place ...
, including William Ross and former MEP Jim Allister
James Hugh Allister (born 2 April 1953) is a British Unionist politician and barrister in Northern Ireland. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party in 2007, leading the party since its formation.
Allister has served as ...
.
Former UKIP MP Douglas Carswell
John Douglas Wilson Carswell (born 3 May 1971) is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2017, co-founded Vote Leave and currently serves as president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
...
, and former MP Mark Reckless
Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to ...
, are signatories.
Members of the European Parliament
The Conservative MEPs at the time of the referendum David Campbell-Bannerman
David Campbell Bannerman (born 28 May 1960 in Bombay, India) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from 2009 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of The Freedom Ass ...
, Roger Helmer
Roger Helmer (born 25 January 1944) is a British politician and businessman. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands (European Parliament constituency), East Midlands regions of England, region from 1999 to 2017. B ...
(who has since left the Conservative party and joined UKIP) and Daniel Hannan
Daniel John Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere (born 1 September 1971) is a British writer, journalist and former politician serving as an adviser to the Board of Trade since 2020. He is the founding president of the Initiative for Free Trade ...
had also signed.[
]
Academics and artists
Other non political supporters include the academics Ruth Lea,[ ]Patrick Minford
Anthony Patrick Leslie Minford (born 17 May 1943) is a British macroeconomist who is professor of applied economics at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, a position he has held since 1997. He was Edward Gonner Professor of Applied E ...
[ and Alan Walters.
]
Management Committee
* Committee chairman: John Kershaw
* Hon. Secretary: Tony Hilder
* Hon. Treasurer: Michael McGough FCA Sir Mark Worthington OBE (ex official), Christopher Gill
Christopher John Fred Gill RD (born 28 October 1936) is a British politician, and a former member of the National Executive Committee of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He is the president of The Freedom Association (TFA). A former Conserva ...
, Euan Stewart, Mark Wallace
* Chief Executive: Simon Richards
* Director: Rory Broomfield
* Head of Campaigns: Andrew Allison
* ‘Better Off Out’ Campaigns Manager: Rupert Matthews
Rupert Oliver Matthews (born 5 December 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner since 2021. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Mi ...
Conservative Party blacklisting
In March 2007 the Conservative Central Office
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and manag ...
warned its party membership that BOO was contrary to Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
policy.[
]
See also
* Euroscepticism
*Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
*Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum
Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum is a debated subject and remains unproven, though multiple sources argue evidence exists demonstrating that the Russian government attempted to influence British public opinion in favor of leavin ...
References
Further reading
*Gill, Christopher. 2006
Letter from the Chairman
(PDF), July/August 2006, Freedom TODAY, published by the Freedom Association. Retrieved 2008-07-08
{{Refend
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20180324181958/http://www.betteroffout.net/
2006 establishments in the United Kingdom
2006 in British politics
Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Cheltenham
Organizations established in 2006
2006 establishments in England
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
Brexit–related advocacy groups in the United Kingdom