The Empire Free Trade Crusade was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was founded by Lord Beaverbrook in July 1929 to press for the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

to become a free trade bloc. The group was founded to oppose both the Labour minority government, elected in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

leader Stanley Baldwin's

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

policies, which they viewed as an insufficient answer to their demands for "fiscal union of the Empire" (with stiff barriers against goods from rival trade blocs),Anne Chisholm and Michael Davie (1992). ''Beaverbrook: A Life''. London, Hutchinson. a more extreme version of Imperial Preference. Beaverbrook began enrolling members at the end of 1929, after concluding that Baldwin would not be won over to his aim. In 1930, he briefly joined Lord Rothermere's United Empire Party, and the two parties worked together thereafter. A party youth group for under-25s, the Young Crusaders, was launched on 16 April 1930 in London. In October 1930, Ernest Taylor stood for the party in the Paddington South by-election, winning a previously safe Conservative seat. A second candidate in the 1931 Westminster St George's by-election was beaten by the Conservatives. This began a decline for the group, accelerated when Taylor joined the Conservative Party after it won the 1931 UK general election. Beaverbrook maintained the group until the late 1930s, but it did not contest any further elections.

References

*Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations'' Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1929 1929 establishments in the United Kingdom Free trade History of the British Empire Pan-nationalism {{UK-party-stub