Christopher Ronald Tame (20 December 1949 – 20 March 2006) was an English

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

political activist. He is best known as the founder and Director of the

Libertarian Alliance The Libertarian Alliance (LA) refers to two libertarian think tanks in the UK. Originally one organisation, it split in 1982. One Libertarian Alliance was renamed "Mises UK" in 2017; the remaining Libertarian Alliance holds regular meetings in ...

, a

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

and

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

.Chris Tame
Marc Glendening, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 5 April 2006

Early years

Tame was born on 20 December 1949 in

Enfield, Middlesex Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 333,587 in 2021. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highw ...

. His father, Ronald Ernest Tame, was a printer who had spent the war in the Eighth Army as an escort to Montgomery and had been mentioned in dispatches.Chris Tame
, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 7 April 2006 He later became a process engraver and shop steward, and he and Tame's mother Elsie Florence, a nurse, had met and married just after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Tame was an only child,An obituary of Dr Chris Tame
Dr Sean Gabb,

, 22 March 2006 who grew up in post-war Britain. He was brought up in

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, where his family had moved. He attended a local

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

primary school, and then grammar school. In 1971, he graduated from

Hull University The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

with a degree in American Studies.Chris R. Tame, Founder of the Libertarian Alliance
, Sean Gabb, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 23 March 2006

The Libertarian Alliance

Tame joined the Conservative students' organisation at Hull, and became active in the organisation. Disillusioned by the interventionist and

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

mindset, he left and never went back. He had felt that the Conservative Party was dominated by a "corporate elite" wedded to a "corrupt state capitalism." He announced his departure from the rostrum at an annual

Federation of Conservative Students The Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) was the student organisation of the British Conservative Party from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party. It produced seve ...

conference in the early 1970s. In 1967, Tame founded the Libertarian Alliance as an informal discussion group, drawing ideas from

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

, among others. The organisation was formalised in 1979, with a structure of Tame as its President, and the Alliance was based in the Alternative Bookshop which Tame had opened in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

in London a year earlier. The Bookshop was advertised in National Association for Freedom's journal, 'The Free Nation.' After university, Tame settled in London, where he worked mainly for the

Institute of Economic Affairs The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a British right-wing free market think tank, which is registered as a charity. Associated with the New Right, the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute", and says that it seeks to ...

and the National Association for Freedom. In 1978, Tame set up the Alternative Bookshop and was its manager. The shop became a "mecca" of classical liberals,

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

, and free-marketers, and was once target of a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...

and of Socialist workers. The bookshop closed its doors in 1985 due to an unaffordable rent increase.

Political beliefs

Tame did not believe in seeking political power nor propagandising the masses, but saw the importance of influencing the intellectual debate. Under the umbrella of the Libertarian Alliance, he published prolifically. One such work published in 1989 bore the title "Taxation is Theft". In addition to writing, he enjoyed engaging in debate with visitors to his shop. Tame was equally opposed to censorship. During the Thatcher years, he exposed the contradictions of Conservatives who claimed to support free market economics yet demanded that "obscene" publications be censored. At the Conservative Party conference in 1990, Tame disrupted a rally organised by Christian morality campaigner

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permis ...

by engineering an intervention by scantily clad models claiming to be "Conservatives against sex censorship."

The Conservative Party

In the early 1980s, Tame was recruited by

Sir Keith Joseph Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, (17 January 1918 – 10 December 1994), known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a minister under f ...

at the

Department of Trade and Industry Department of Trade and Industry may refer to: Current * Department of Trade and Industry (Isle of Man) * Department of Trade and Industry (Philippines) * Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (South Africa) Former * Department of Trade ...

to prepare a reading list to wean civil servants off the interventionist mindset in favour of genuine

s and privatisation. Being a

monetarist Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of policy-makers in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It gained prominence in the 1970s, but was mostly abandoned as a direct guidance to monetary ...

, Tame was influential in convincing

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to ...

and Joseph that inflation was due to problems of controlling the

money supply In macroeconomics, money supply (or money stock) refers to the total volume of money held by the public at a particular point in time. There are several ways to define "money", but standard measures usually include currency in circulation (i ...

, debunking the conventional Tory wisdom that it was due to greedy trade unions, speculators, oil sheikhs or other "phantoms."

Journalism

In the mid-1980s, Tame was a producer on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Diverse Reports'', a series which looked at topical issues with libertarian and socialist perspectives. In 1983, while researching for an article on how easy it was to acquire guns,

grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

s and other military items with a credit card by mail order from the United States, Tame duly did so and carried his acquired collection of light armaments in his knapsack to work further in the library at the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. He was arrested, charged and subsequently acquitted.

FOREST and Smokers' Rights

He was a non-smoker and keep-fit enthusiast, but he philosophically regarded that smokers' bodies were their own and that a person's liberty must extend to the freedom to make foolish decisions in this regard. He defended the rights of tobacco smokers as Director of

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

FOREST A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

from 1988 to 1995. During his time with FOREST he was an extensive user of Westminster libraries requesting many obscure books which were supplied by the British Library Document Supply Centre to the Great Smith Street branch. He saw off three Directors of ASH and forced ASH to refocus the debate away from the paternalistic desire to preserve the health of the smoker or would-be smoker to the harm of

passive smoking Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called passive smoke, secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by individuals other than the active Tobacco smoking, smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke diffuses into the ...

to non-smokers. In 1992, he won

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

damages after successfully suing

LBC Radio LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcas ...

, which accused him of "introducing young children to cigarettes and assisting in killing 110,000 people a year." In 1995, FOREST removed Tame as director, as its

tobacco industry The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...

sponsors believed Tame's approach had become too confrontational and abstract.

Later years

In the later part of his life, Tame moved to

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, where he had been working on a seven-volume ''Bibliography of Freedom''. Tame was an avid collector of economic and philosophical books, and had amassed a collection of some 40,000 works, including a number of rare classical liberal documents, some of which were donated to the

Foundation for Economic Education The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative, Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian economics, economic think tank. Founded in 1946 in New York City, FEE is now headquartere ...

in New York. A large part of the rest of his collection was donated to Faculty of Economics, that is part of Prague school of Economics and Business in Czechia. He also was an avid user of the public library system notably Westminster Library and the Great Smith Street library. Tame died on 20 March 2006 from an aggressive

bone cancer A bone tumor is an neoplastic, abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as benign, noncancerous (benign) or malignant, cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body su ...

, diagnosed a year before. He was twice divorced and childless.

Legacy

Since Tame's death, the Libertarian Alliance, under Sean Gabb and then President Tim Evans, awarded a number of 'Chris R. Tame Memorial Prizes.' In 2008, this was awarded to American left-anarchist Keith Preston for his essay 'Free Enterprise: The Antidote to Corporate Plutocracy.' In 2010, the 'Chris R. Tame Memorial Lecture' was delivered by Stephen Davies of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

References

External links

The Libertarian Alliance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tame, Chris Ronald 1949 births 2006 deaths Alumni of the University of Hull British activists British political writers British libertarians Deaths from bone cancer English activists English libertarians English political writers Objectivists People from Enfield, London People from Godalming People educated at Godalming Grammar School