New Frontiers on the horizon for Dominic Cummings and James Frayne?

I will reserve extended comment until the full disclosure, under the Freedom of Information Act, of the material requested from the Electoral Commission over designation as the official campaign in the North East Referendum.Its disclosure is imminent.
Anyone wishing to see how interested the NESNO campaign were in the people of the North East and the issues behind the referendum, you need look no further than www.northeastsaysno.co.uk
With £100,000 of public money they did not even have the courtesy to place the referendum result on their website.

New Frontiers Foundation Announcement

The two principal staff in NFF worked on the anti-euro campaign 1999 – 2003. After the Government’s abandonment of the euro in 2003, we decided (Dec 2003 / Jan 2004) to try to build something over time that could act as an equivalent to America’s The Heritage Foundation or American Enterprise Institute – an institution with a large staff, including serious academics, and a multi-million pound budget. We wanted to bring together people who could construct an alternative national strategy for Britain to “ever closer union” in the EU, and do the detailed trade, defence and other work necessary.

Three months after beginning, Blair’s U-turn on the referendum in April 2004 meant spending four months helping to start an anti-Constitution referendum campaign. From September – November we chose to spend our time helping a small group of people in the North East to fight the Government in the Regional Assembly referendum campaign. In parallel, we have hosted lectures and published various papers aimed at exploring the main issues involved in British foreign policy, particularly viz the EU.

However, we cannot achieve our original goal. Both the money and the interest of those who oppose political integration in the EU are overwhelmingly aimed at the Conservative Party and the referendum campaign. In these circumstances, our original goal beyond reach, we do not think that it is, overall, a net benefit to continue another separate small institution in London with single figure staff and insufficient reach. We are therefore closing the office.

The website will stay open as a clearing house for useful information and occasional publications will continue. We are talking to various people and groups about how, in the light of the imminent election and Constitution decision, the necessary thinking can best, and most cost-effectively, be done and communicated effectively. For example, we think that (a) a journal similar to The National Interest should be established; (b) although we failed to persuade the Conservative Party leadership to establish a shadow “National Security Council” equivalent last year, something similar ought to be created after the election (either by the Party, a think tank, or a media organisation – or all three).

This could bring together non-MP specialists from different spheres and examine the necessary questions concerning the transformation of the EU and British policy, such as: what new trading relationship with Europe and the world should Britain pursue (eg. the WTO and rules of origin, or a unilateral abolition of UK trade restrictions); an examination of comparative institutional performance across the globe (eg. between Free Trade Areas and Customs Unions); what new defence capabilities and global alliance structure should Britain pursue in the context of Europe’s likely remorseless decline over coming decades (eg. a global alliance of democratic nations pursuing free trade, mutual defence, and cooperation on international issues, which could act as a magnet to other states).

Without such a major project, there is no reason to think that the “European debate” in Britain will continue to be anything other than a national embarrassment.

Further information will be posted on our website in due course.

Despite our frequent criticisms about the state of British politics, there are many people, both in and outside conventional political circles, who are trying hard to improve things and we thank those who have helped us.

Dominic Cummings & James Frayne

24 March 2005
Vigilant House
120 Wilton Road
Victoria
London
SW1V 1JZ
020 7808 7772
www.new-frontiers.org