"Julian Critchley's assessment has been confirmed time and again since the Bow Group was founded in 1951 with the aim, in the words of one of its founders, of 'acting as a stimulus to the Conservative Party and providing an effective counter to "intellectual" Socialism and the Fabian Society.' Geoffrey Howe, David Howell, John MacGregor, Leon Brittan, Norman Lamont, Michael Howard and Peter Lilley all reached Conservative cabinets by way of chairmanship of the Group, and the importance of this highly influential Conservative think tank - founded long before the term 'think tank' had entered common currency - continues to reverberate around the corridors of power." "James Barr's extensively researched and entertaining account of the Bow Group's first fifty years charts its history from the first meeting at the Bow and Bromley Conservative Club in February 1951 - when Geoffrey Howe, William Rees-Mogg and Norman St. John Stevas were among the first participants - through increasing significance as those early members reached positions of influence in national politics, to its current place in Tory thinking."--BOOK JACKET.