The Campaign Against Political Correctness was a lobby group in 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 ...

created to oppose what its founders described as

political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

Aims

The campaign was founded by John and Laura Midgley in 2004. The campaign had the political support of MP

Philip Davies Philip Andrew Davies (born 5 January 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley in West Yorkshire since the 2005 general election. A member of the Conservative Party, he is the most rebellious se ...

and his father, controversial and short-tenured Mayor of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, Peter Davies who ended up being disciplined by the council for breaching its code of conduct by failing to declare his membership of the group. As of October 2020, Laura Midgley holds a Parliamentary pass sponsored by Philip Davies in a secretarial or research capacity, which suggests she is in his employ.

Criticism

Paul Owen and Matthew Holehouse in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and Andrew Hough in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' criticised the campaign when it was revealed that Philip Davies had sent 19 letters to

Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...

, chairman of the

Equality and Human Rights Commission The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of eq ...

in which he asked some "extraordinary" questions relating to race and sex discrimination. Reportedly, one letter asked: "Is it offensive to

black up ''Black Up'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Shabazz Palaces. It was released on June 28, 2011 in the United States on Sub Pop. The album was produced by Knife Knights at Gunbeat Serenade Studio in Outplace Palacelands." Rece ...

or not, particularly if you are impersonating a black person?" Davies enquires: "why it is so offensive to black up your face, as I have never understood this". He also asked whether it was racist for a policeman to refer to a BMW as "black man's wheels" and whether the

Metropolitan Black Police Association The Metropolitan Black Police Association is a staff association in the United Kingdom which represents officers and staff in the Metropolitan Police who are black or Asian. The Met BPA was not subsumed into the National Black Police Association ...

breaches discrimination law by restricting its membership to black people, an argument recently used by the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain its white-only membership policy.

Current status

Since 2014, the website has only been available in archive versions and the last news story on its news page is dated to June 2011.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Campaign Against Political Correctness
Official Website
Database of Archives of Non-Governmental Organisations - Campaign Against Political Correctness
2004 establishments in the United Kingdom Political advocacy groups in England

Aims

Criticism

Current status

See also

References

External links