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 ...

, 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 ...

Prospective parliamentary candidate, PPC. Lord Weatherill, the former Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons, was also a patron of the campaign prior to his death.

Members of Parliament

Prior to the 2016 referendum, 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Better Off Out was supported by a number of Conservative Parliament of the United Kingdom, Members of Parliament including Peter Bone, Christopher Chope, David Davies (Welsh politician), David T C Davies, Philip Davies, Gordon Henderson (politician), Gordon Henderson, Philip Hollobone, David Nuttall, Heather Wheeler, Andrew Percy, Laurence Robertson and Richard Shepherd. There are a number of Conservative former members of parliament who supported Better Off Out.These include Ann Winterton, Lady Ann Winterton, Nicholas Winterton, Sir Nicholas Winterton, John Biffen, Eric Forth, Sir Richard Body, Bob Spink, Dr Bob Spink, and Jonathan Aitken. The former Labour Party (UK), Labour MP for Great Grimsby (UK Parliament constituency), Great Grimsby, Austin Mitchell was also a supporter. There were a number of Democratic Unionist Party MPs and Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland), Members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, including their leader Peter Robinson (Northern Ireland politician), Peter Robinson and former leader Ian Paisley. Others include Gregory Campbell (politician), Gregory Campbell, Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson, Dr. William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown, William McCrea, Ian Paisley, Jr., Jim Shannon, David Simpson (Northern Ireland politician), David Simpson and Sammy Wilson (politician), Sammy Wilson as well as prominent members of the smaller Traditional Unionist Voice, including William Ross (Unionist politician), William Ross and former MEP Jim Allister. Former UKIP MP Douglas Carswell, and former MP Mark Reckless, are signatories.

Members of the European Parliament

The Conservative MEPs at the time of the referendum David Campbell-Bannerman, Roger Helmer (who has since left the Conservative party and joined UKIP) and Daniel Hannan had also signed.

Academics and artists

Other non political supporters include the academics Ruth Lea, Patrick Minford 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, Euan Stewart, Mark Wallace * Chief Executive: Simon Richards * Director: Rory Broomfield * Head of Campaigns: Andrew Allison * ‘Better Off Out’ Campaigns Manager: Rupert Matthews

Conservative Party blacklisting

In March 2007 the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, Conservative Central Office warned its party membership that BOO was contrary to

policy.

References

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