The Common Sense Group is an informal group of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MPs in the United Kingdom who advocate a broad range of ideals that they think the Conservative Party and the country ought to be following. The group was inspired by the euro-sceptic

European Research Group The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The journalist Sebastian Payne described it in the ''Financial Times'' as "the most influential e ...

and has published a book, ''Common Sense: Conservative Thinking for a Post-Liberal Age''.

History

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 ...

'' said in November 2020 that the group "launched quietly in the summer with about 40 members ... and now has 59 MPs and 7 members of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

in its ranks". Its president is

Edward Leigh Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (born 20 July 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983. Leigh has represented Gainsborough, Lincolnshire in the House of Commons since 1983 (re ...

MP. The Common Sense Group has been said to be a revival of the

Cornerstone Group The Cornerstone Group is a High Tory or traditional conservative political organisation within the British Conservative Party. The Group espouses traditional values as exemplified by its motto: Faith, Flag, and Family. It comprises Members of P ...

, which appeared to be inactive after the 2019 elections (the source of the Cornerstone "About" page shows a last modified date in 2018). Following an interim report on the connections between

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

and properties now in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, including links with historic slavery, members of the group signed a letter to ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' in November 2020. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by

cultural Marxist The term "Cultural Marxism" refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory which claims that Western Marxism is the basis of continuing academic and intellectual efforts to subvert Western culture. The conspiracy theory misrepresents the ...

dogma, colloquially known as the ''

woke ''Woke'' ( ) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and Racial discrimination, discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social ineq ...

agenda''". Letter to the Editor signed by Lee Anderson •

Gareth Bacon Gareth Andrew Bacon (born 7 April 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orpington since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a member of the London Assembly from 2008 until he stood down ...

• Scott Benton •

Bob Blackman Robert John Blackman (born 26 April 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Joint Executive Secretary of the backbench 1922 C ...

• Ben Bradley •

Brendan Clarke-Smith Brendan Clarke-Smith (born 17 August 1980) is a British Conservative Party politician and former teacher serving as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office between September and October 2022. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of ...

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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 ...

• Nick Fletcher •

Jonathan Gullis Jonathan Edward Gullis (born 9 January 1990) is a Conservative Party politician and former teacher, who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North since 2019. Education and early career Gullis attended Princethorpe ...

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Sally-Ann Hart Sally-Ann Hart (born 6 March 1968) is a British politician who has been the member of parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, she succeeded Amber Rudd, the former home secretary, who did not seek re- ...

• John Hayes • Tom Hunt •

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Andrew Lewer Andrew Iain Lewer (born 18 July 1971 in Burnley, Lancashire) is a British Conservative Party politician. Elected as the Member of Parliament for Northampton South in the 2017 general election, he previously served as Member of the European Pa ...

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Chris Loder Christopher Lionel John Loder (born 5 September 1981) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who has been the MP for West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency), West Dorset since the 2019 United Kingdom general electio ...

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Marco Longhi Marco Andrea Longhi (born 22 April 1967) is a British property entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Dudley North since 2019. Early life Longhi grew up in Rome, the son of an Italian ai ...

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Craig Mackinlay Craig Mackinlay (born 7 October 1966) is a Conservative Party politician and businessman. Since May 2015, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet. Initially a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Mackinlay served a ...

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Karl McCartney Karl Ian McCartney (born 25 October 1968) is a British politician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport from July to September 2022. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Lincoln. He was first elected at ...

•

Pauline Latham Pauline Elizabeth Latham, (born 4 February 1948) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Derbyshire. Early life Latham was born on 4 February 1948 in L ...

• David Morris •

Andrew Rosindell Andrew Richard Rosindell MP (; born 17 March 1966) is a British Conservative politician. He became the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Romford constituency in Greater London in 2001. He has been the international director of the European ...

• James Sunderland •

Martin Vickers Martin John Vickers (born 13 September 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cleethorpes at the 2010 general election. Early life Born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, Vickers was ed ...

•

Giles Watling Giles Francis Watling (born 18 February 1953) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton since ...

•

William Wragg William Peter Wragg (born 11 December 1987) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester since May 2015. He is a vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee. Early life Wragg ...

• Baroness Eaton • Lord Lilley The group's manifesto, ''Common Sense: Conservative Thinking for a Post-Liberal Age'', was published in May 2021. John Hayes MP wrote in the Preface, "With opportunities provided by

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 ...

, the time for a refreshed national conversation on the defining issues of our time – nationhood, community, migration, the rule of law and public order – is now." Authors: Foreword:

Michael Nazir-Ali Michael James Nazir-Ali ( ur, ; born 19 August 1949) is a Pakistani-born British Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop who served as the 106th Bishop of Rochester from 1994 to 2009 and, before that, as Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan ...

• Preface: John Hayes • Essays:

• James Sunderland • David Maddox •

•

Danny Kruger Daniel Rayne Kruger (born 23 October 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Devizes in Wiltshire since 2019. The son of writer and property developer Rayne Kruger and restaurateur and t ...

•

Peter Lilley Peter Bruce Lilley, Baron Lilley, PC (born 23 August 1943) is a British politician and life peer who served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parl ...

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• Tom Hunt •

•

Joy Morrissey Joyce Rebekah "Joy" Morrissey (''née'' Inboden, 30 January 1981) is an American-born British politician who has served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire since 2019. Morrissey achieved ministerial ...

• Nick Fletcher • Lord Horam of Grimsargh • Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts •

Alexander Stafford Alexander Paul Thomas Stafford (born 19 July 1987) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rother Valley since the 2019 general election. He is the first Conservative to be elected for the seat. He has been the ...

•

Robin Millar Robin John Christian Millar, CBE (born 18 December 1951) is an English record producer, musician and businessman, known variously as 'The Original Smooth Operator', 'The man behind Sade', and 'Golden Ears' Boy George. He was born in London to ...

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Fiona Bruce Fiona Elizabeth Bruce (born 25 April 1964) is a British journalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for ''Panorama'' in 1989, and has since become the first female newsreader on the ''BBC News at Ten'', ...

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David Burrowes David John Barrington Burrowes (born 12 June 1969) is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017, is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chair ...

Members

Members of the group include: Members of Parliament: Members of the House of Lords: Others:

References

{{Conservative Party (UK) Conservative Party (UK) factions Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom Groups of British MPs Organizations established in 2020 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom Organisations associated with the Conservative Party (UK) Right-wing politics in the United Kingdom Right-wing populism in the United Kingdom

History

Members

See also

References