The 1922 Committee

Ten things you didn’t know about The 1922 Committee

Posted by Becca Parkinson - Monday, 25 Sep 2023

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Ahead of the publication of his brand new book, The 1922 Committee: Power behind the scenes, we asked author Philip Norton to share ten things you didn’t know about The 1922 Committee, an important but elusive force in British politics:

  1. The 1922 Committee was not formed in 1922.
  2. It was not formed as a result of the Carlton Club meeting of Conservative MPs in October 1922 that brought down the Liberal-Conservative coalition government.
  3. It was not established as a political ginger group.
  4. Its leading members did not form ‘the men in grey suits’ who told a Conservative Party leader that their time was up.
  5. It came into existence as a form of self-help group for newly-elected Conservative MPs who wanted to make sense of what was happening in Parliament.
  6. Its name derives from the year in which the MPs who formed it were first elected.
  7. Despite the 1922 Committee being in existence for 100 years, this is only the second book to be written about it.
  8. The membership of the 1922 Committee is confined to Private Members in receipt of the Conservative whip in the House of Commons – it does not include the party leader, nor – when the party is in office – ministers.
  9. The 1922 Committee became significant during wartime – it remained the authentic voice of the Conservative Party – and acquired a major power in 1965 when Conservative MPs became the electorate for choosing the Conservative leader.
  10. Since 2010, when Graham Brady became Chairman of the 1922 Committee, more Prime Ministers have left office as a result of a visit by the Chairman of the 1922 Committee than have gone as a result of the actions of electors.
The 1922 Committee book cover

The 1922 Committee: Power behind the scenes

by Philip Norton

£20.00

Hardback, 288pp

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