Swinton circle

The London Swinton Circle (otherwise known as the Swinton Circle) is a long running British right-wing pressure group. The group states that its purpose is to uphold traditional conservative and Unionist principles.

The group formed part of a number of Conservative Party linked fringe groups which came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Monday Club, Tory Action and WISE (Welsh, Irish, Scottish, English), but is now positioned outside of the Conservative Party.

A few city-based discussion groups with the suffix "Swinton Circle" were formed for those Conservative Party activists who had attended Conservative Party training at Swinton College. The London Swinton Circle was founded in 1965, early members included Rhodes Boyson and T. E. Utley. Another prominent early member was Roger Moate MP. The London Swinton Circle was the only one of the groups to continue beyond the 1970s.

The London Swinton Circle came to be run during the eighties by Mrs Beryl 'Bee' Carthew who was described by the satirical Private Eye magazine as a "well-known right-wing looney". Carthew had previously formed and ran the "Powellight Association" which published a magazine, Powellight, in support of Enoch Powell during the late 1960s and early 1970s. An executive member of the Monday Club with George Kennedy Young, she was expelled from the Club in 1974 as part of a purge made by Jonathan Guinness. She briefly joined the National Front in 1975, before later rejoining the Conservative Party. Carthew was politically associated with Harvey Proctor, Private Eye noted she was the "closest female ever to Harvey Proctor M.P. (excepting his mother)". She briefly ran the London Office for the nascent UK Independence Party (UKIP).

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