Western Goals Institute

The Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a conservative pressure group in Britain, re-formed in 1989 from Western Goals (UK), which originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation. Its stated intent was anti-communism, although it was also known for its opposition to non-white immigration into Europe and Britain.

The Institute and its predecessor were affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League. In July 1990, WGI sent a delegation to the 22nd WACL Conference in Brussels and from 1991 WGI was the UK chapter of the senior World League. In 1992 the World League declined to be further associated with the Institute.Fact|date=April 2008 The group was disbanded in 2001.

Aims and early activities

WGI's initial activities included campaigning against charities such as Oxfam, War on Want, and Christian Aid which it saw as left-wing, and denouncing as "extremist" left-wing Labour Party candidates.

The Western Goals Institute was founded (as Western Goals UK) in May 1985 as the British branch of the American organisation the Western Goals Foundation. As a result of their expanding activities, membership and organisation, Western Goals UK was relaunched in 1989, becoming the Western Goals Institute, independent of the U.S. foundation.

The Institute's stated aims were to "combat the insidious menace of liberalism and Communism within all sectors of British society" ("The Times", 13 October 1989), and at the same time to create "a powerful international axis of the right". In line with the ‘Reagan doctrine’ policies of its American patrons, the Western Goals Institute established links with militant, and often violent, anti-Communist groups internationally. These include the Angolan UNITA movement (in October 1988 Western Goals facilitated the visit to London of UNITA’s leader, Jonas Savimbi) and the Salvadoran Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, whose leader, Roberto D’Aubuisson, became, along with US Major General John K. Singlaub, the group’s international patrons. [An Introduction to the Western Goals Institute, 1988. ] Western Goals may also have been used by its U.S. partners as a conduit for funds to the Nicaraguan Contras following the ‘Contragate’ scandal. [Tories linked to Contra-rebel fundraisers, The Scotsman, 10 June 1987]

In March 1987 the Institute filed a complaint with the UK Charities Commission against three major British charities, Oxfam, War on Want, and Christian Aid claiming that they were involved in political campaigning work (which was then contrary to UK charity law) in support of left-wing organizations due to their campaigns against apartheid South Africa. The Charities Commission partially upheld the Western Goals complaint, [Charity Ads were biased politically – ruling, The Universe (newspaper), 12 June 1987] obliging War on Want (which at the time was led by Labour MP George Galloway) to halt political campaigning. , [War on Want rapped for political ads, Sunday Telegraph, 7 June 1987]

Initially, the Western Goals Institute drew some support from Conservative parliamentarians. The London magazine "City Limits" (21 June 1990) stated that "Western Goals is talking the same blunt authoritarian language as many Tory backbenchers and rank and file Tories. It is a group to be reckoned with ... having a formidable list of honorary patrons and Vice-Presidents".

Following the end of the Cold War, however, the group lost its original anti-Communist raison d’etre and became increasingly aligned with right wing political parties such as the Front National of France and the Conservative Party of South Africa.

WGI's international strategy was described in 1991 as follows:

:"Western Goals works to establish networks and links with conservative groups dedicated to the preservation of the cultures and identities of western nations. We are conservatives who believe in traditional conservative values. A multi-cultural society does not work. We wish to protect the way of life we had before immigrants arrived. It was a mistake to permit these people to come here. Politicians must now accept this. Large numbers of immigrants reject European culture and wish to remain alien in religion and culture. We want European culture in European countries. We would seek to have treaties with countries to permit resettlement." [BBC Radio 4 interview, 1991] .

There is some evidence that the new emphasis on race and immigration resulted in a factional conflict within Western Goals itself between those arguing for a ‘cultural’ rather than a ‘pro-Western’ (ie ‘anti-Communist’) agenda. [Major Split on the Right, Campaign Against Racism and Fascism magazine, April/May 1991. ] In practical terms, the change in direction resulted in many of the group’s former Conservative supporters distancing themselves from the organization in the early 1990s.

Relationship with the Conservative Party

The WGI initially worked towards its goals within the British Conservative Party, in particular via the right-wing Conservative Monday Club with whom it shared some members.

In the late 1980s, WGI's predecessor, Western Goals (UK), had established a parliamentary advisory committee of Conservative MPs which included Sir Patrick Wall, Nicholas Winterton, Neil Hamilton and Bill Walker, as well as Martin Smyth of the Ulster Unionist Party. In 1991, Western Goals was accused in a newspaper report of engineering a "take-over" of the Conservative Monday Club, and there were reports that some veteran members believed the Club had become "more extreme" ["Observer", 24 February 1991] . Club Political Secretary Gregory Lauder-Frost rejected these claims in a right-of-reply letter published the following week.

Front National

On 12 October 1989, the Western Goals Institute hosted a controversial fringe meeting at the Conservative Party (UK) Conference in Blackpool, at which Pierre Ceyrac, a Front National Member of the European Parliament, was the Guest Speaker. [ "The Guardian", 13 & 21 October, 1989.] In December 1991, after a visit by French right-wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen at the request of the Institute, its Director Andrew Smith was quoted as saying::"There is scope for a radical right alternative outside the Conservative Party. The Tories have betrayed their principles since Mrs Thatcher fell. With this contact with European leaders we are laying the foundations for a new party." ["Observer", 8 December 1991] .

The possibility of founding a new right-wing party, on the model of Le Pen's Front National, appears to have been abandoned by Smith after the Conservative Party's win in the April 1992 General Election ensured that proportional representation stayed off the political agenda for the foreseeable future. However even at the time, the gradual defection of the parliamentary advisory committee and the decision of the leadership of the Monday Club and associated MPs to stay away from the Le Pen Dinner made the prospect unlikely ["The Guardian", 24 April 1993, "Guns, Goons and Western Goals, David Pallister, David Beresford and Angela Johnson report on the international connections of Clive Derby-Lewis, arrested by Chris Hani murder investigators."] .

Opposition grows

In September 1992, Sir Norman Fowler, in an attempt to distance the Conservative Party from the Institute, said that "No one in Western Goals is known by Central Office to belong to our party". This followed the Institute's invitation to Jean-Marie Le Pen, and 31 year-old Italian parliamentary deputy, Alessandra Mussolini, to address fringe meetings at the 1992 Conservative Party conference (although they both were unable to come to Britain and the meetings were subsequently cancelled). The invitation to Miss Mussolini were said to have "caused outrage", and led to calls for a ban on her entering the country ["Daily Mail", 3 September 1992] . The Institute rejected Fowler's remark, saying that the majority of those associated with the institute held Conservative Party membership.

The "Jewish Chronicle" reported on 25 September 1992 that Marc Gordon, director of the libertarian International Freedom Foundation urged the Conservative Party to expel members of Western Goals, and in the same newspaper on 2 October, Julian Lewis (now a Member of Parliament, then deputy head of Conservative Central Office's Research Department), said he would strongly advise local associations that Western Goals was hostile to Conservative objectives. "The Guardian" subsequently accused the WGI of attempting "to infiltrate fascists into the Conservative Party" ["Guardian", 18 August 1993] , a claim that the WGI disputed as "rubbish".

Notable activities

WGI supported the continuance of apartheid in South Africa, and hosted a visit to the UK, in June 1989, by the hierarchy of the Conservative Party of South Africa, which had some years previously broken away from the National Party of South Africa after the latter instituted limited reforms under P.W. Botha. The delegation included the Conservative Party leader Andries Treurnicht. A press conference was held for the delegation in a committee room of the House of Lords on 5 June ["The Tribune", 2 June, and "The Independent" 2 and 6 June 1989] . Conservative Party of South Africa MP Clive Derby-Lewis, then one of sixty members of the integrated State President's Council, was made an honorary vice-president of the WGI. Derby-Lewis is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 murder of Chris Hani, the leader of the South African Communist Party. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2 July 1993) lists the Western Goals Institute as an "impediment" to the elimination of racial discrimination in South Africa, saying of the Institute that it "claims to be devoted to protecting the Western way of life by offering self-defence training to white South Africans" [ [http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/755ce88dc3293fff80256763002ea6e3?Opendocument UNCHR Report] ] .

On 25 September 1989, Lord Sudeley chaired a Western Goals dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand for El Salvador's President, Alfredo Cristiani, and his inner cabinet. The guest list included figures such as Sir Alfred Sherman (policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher), Lord Nicholas Hervey, Antony Flew, Zigmunt Szkopiak, Denis Walker and Harvey Ward ["The Daily Telegraph" and "Times", Court & Social page, 26 September 1989] .In Europe, Western Goals gave their open support to the French Front National, the populist right-wing political party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen. On 12 October 1989, WGI hosted a controversial fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, addressed by Front National Member of the European Parliament, Pierre Ceyrac. Western Goals also examined the possibility of links with the right-wing German party The Republicans, which in 1989 had six members in the European Parliament. On 12 August 1989, a delegation from the Western Goals Institute attended an anti-communist demonstration at Moln, near Lübeck, where over 20,000 people had gathered. It was organized by "Die Deutschen Konservativen e. V.", which was led by another media personality, Joachim Siegerist, now a parliamentarian in Riga, with whom the WGI had contacts ["The Guardian", 24 April 1993, article: "Guns, Goons and Western Goals", by David Pallister, David Beresford and Angela Johnson.] .

The group hosted social events including an Annual Dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel at Victoria on 24 November 1989 when the guest of honour was Kenneth Griffith. On 20 November 1990, they hosted the General Franco Memorial Dinner, commemorating the anniversary of his death. This was also chaired by Baron Sudeley. A WGI notice in "The Times" stated that the late ruler of Spain was "remembered as a hero against communism".

Western Goals hosted a dinner for Jean-Marie Le Pen and his team at the Charing Cross Hotel in the Strand, London, at the beginning of December 1991 which was widely reported, with an exclusive appearing in "The Mail on Sunday" on 8 December. There was a large demonstration against the dinner outside the hotel and some damage to property took place, notably the hotel's front doors and surroundings, which were smashed. Western Goals director Andrew Smith later said, after leaving the WGI, that "on reflection the Le Pen visit was the zenith and also the beginning of the end" ["The Guardian", 24 April 1993, article: "Guns, Goons and Western Goals", by David Pallister, David Beresford and Angela Johnson.] for him.

Last years

Negative publicity, the departure from the Directorate of A.V.R. Smith (replaced by Stuart Millson) and the end of the Soviet Union, meant that the group's activities diminished. In 1994/95 Lauder-Frost, writing as WGI Vice-President, called for the Union of Great Britain to be strengthened [ "The Scotsman", (Letters) October 19, 1994] and rounded on John Major and Jeremy Hanley's comments about traditional Tories being "the enemies within" the Conservative Party. [ London "Evening Standard" (letters) January 4, 1995.] A successful Annual Dinner was held at the Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria, in March 1995, at which the guest-of-honour was the Ulster Member of Parliament, Peter Robinson.

Lack of adequate finance reduced any subsequent campaigning to their occasional policy papers, the glossy newsletter, press releases, and letters to editors.

The organisation folded in 2001 following the death of General Sir Walter Walker.

References