The Freedom Association

The Freedom Association
Founded1975
Founder
TypePressure group
Focus
Location
Key people
  • Andrew Allison (Chief Executive)
  • David Campbell Bannerman (Hon. Chairman)
  • Council members
Websitehttp://www.tfa.net

The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group", which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom (NAFF) and gained public prominence through its anti-trade union campaigns. Its popularity grew after campaigning against perceived abuses to individual freedom including big business, big government, organised labour and Irish political violence. By the end of the 1970s the organisation had around 20,000 members.[1]

In the 1980s, TFA campaigned against sporting sanctions imposed on apartheid-era South Africa – earning a judicial rebuke after taking unsuccessful legal action to overturn the International Cricket Council ban on touring teams, which it saw as an imposition on cricketers' freedom. TFA has also campaigned against the UK's membership of the European Union and against perceived partiality at the BBC, having in the past exerted pressure to secure an "impartiality clause" in the Broadcasting Act 1990.[1] The current Chief Executive of The Freedom Association is Andrew Allison.

  1. ^ a b Barberis, Peter, McHugh, John, Tyldesley, Mike, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005 p.321