Description
The One Nation Conservatives is a UK parliamentary caucus of Conservative Party Members of Parliament who identify as one-nation conservatives.
History
In March 2019, the caucus was formed by a group of between 40 and 50 Conservative MPs. Nicky Morgan and Amber Rudd were announced as co-chairs of the caucus, and Damian Green and Nicholas Soames as board members. The One Nation group was reportedly set up in order to unite MPs around a candidate in the upcoming leadership election who would oppose withdrawing from the European Union without a deal.
On 4 June 2019, the caucus hosted the first leadership election hustings, held across two nights. Both events featured 4 different candidates; the first was chaired by Katy Balls (deputy political editor of The Spectator) and the second by Matt Forde.
Following Boris Johnson's election as party leader and appointment as Prime Minister, both co-chairs were given positions in his government. Morgan became the new Culture Secretary and Rudd carried on in her role as Work and Pensions Secretary. As a result, they both resigned the chairmanship and were succeeded by Damian Green.
On 3 September 2019, 21 Conservative MPs had the party whip withdrawn after voting in support of an emergency motion to enable the passage of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019, also known as the "Benn Act". The One Nation caucus released a statement soon after, demanding that the whip be restored.
In October, a delegation of caucus members met the Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street to discuss the party's position on a no-deal Brexit at the next general election. Following the meeting, Green announced that Johnson had 'looked him in the eye' and assured them that the next Conservative manifesto would not include a no-deal pledge. It was reported that a number of Cabinet ministers and backbench MPs would be willing to resign in the event that such a manifesto commitment were made.
