The New Politics Network was an independent political and campaigning

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, concerned with democratic renewal and popular participation in politics. It was founded as the successor to Democratic Left in 1999, and merged with

Charter 88 Charter 88 was a British pressure group that advocated constitutional and electoral reform and owes its origins to the lack of a written constitution. It began as a special edition of the ''New Statesman'' magazine in 1988 and it took its name ...

to form

Unlock Democracy Unlock Democracy is a British pressure group, based in London. The organisation campaigns for a more participatory democracy in Britain, founded upon a written constitution. Unlock Democracy works to promote democratic reform across the politica ...

in 2007.

Origin

The NPN was established in December 1999 following the winding up of Democratic Left, the legal successor organisation to the former Communist Party of Great Britain. Its first director was

Nina Temple Nina Claire Temple (born 21 April 1956) is a British politician who was the last SecretaryTemple dropped 'General' from her job description, see Francis Beckett ''Enemy Within: The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party'', London: John Murray, 1995, ...

. Democratic Left had briefly become the New Times Network, publishing a magazine, ''New Times'', until the summer of 1999, before it became the NPN.

Activities

The NPN had around 200-250 members. The NPN worked with a wide range of groups and individuals to provide a forum to look at emerging ideas in society. Its stated goal was to provide an independent and innovative debate on the future of politics. With the

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust {{Use British English, date=January 2018 The four Rowntree Trusts are funded from the legacies of the Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree. The trusts are based in the Rowntrees' home ...

it funded the

tactical voting Strategic voting, also called tactical voting, sophisticated voting or insincere voting, occurs in voting systems when a voter votes for another candidate or party than their ''sincere preference'' to prevent an undesirable outcome. For example, ...

website Tacticalvoter.net during the 2001 general election, although it was not involved with the 2005 campaign of the same name. While it was predicted by

Nick Cohen Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for '' The Observer'' and a blogger for '' The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and be ...

in the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'' in 2000 that NPN would merge with Make Votes Count and Charter 88,

among others attempted to steer the organisation back towards its democratic socialist roots at the 2003 AGM. If this had been successful, the organisation may well have ended up as part of the

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

pressure group. The NPN owned an office block in Islington, north London, a property company called Rodell, and an office in the Midlands.

Merger

In November 2007 the NPN, by then directed by Peter Facey, merged with Charter 88 to form a new campaigning group, Unlock Democracy. The contribution of NPN to this merger was substantially financial, due to the dire situation in which Charter 88 had found itself. The NPN strapline "connecting people and politics" was however, retained.

References

* ''Background Information on the Proposed Merger between Charter 88 and the New Politics Network'' (jointly printed pamphlet, 2007)

External links

Unlock DemocracyNew Politics Net
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Guardian profile
{{Authority control Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom Communist Party of Great Britain

Origin

Activities

Merger

See also

References

External links