Bruges Group - The 1980s and 1990s

The 1980s and 1990s

The group was set up by Lord Harris of High Cross and an Oxford University student Patrick Robertson following Margaret Thatcher's Eurosceptic speech delivered in Bruges in September 1988. It quickly became a focus for Eurosceptic opinion and opposition to the then President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors. The Bruges Group is considered to be the common ancestor of the many British Eurosceptic parties and groups that emerged in the 1990s.

The group was a rallying point for rebellious backbench Conservative MPs during House of Commons debates over the Maastricht Treaty. An Oxford branch was set up (under Roland Smith) with links to Oxford University's growing Eurosceptic movement led by student activist and future Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan. The group then went through a difficult period. Alan Sked, an academic associated with the group, fell out with leading members of the Group during 1991-1992, and went on to form the Anti-Federalist League, which later evolved into the UK Independence Party. Robertson left the group a short time later, later becoming an adviser to Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party.