The Conservative Research Department ('CRD') was an integral part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. It operates alongside the other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters at 25 Victoria Street, London SW1. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ...

CRD was established by Neville Chamberlain in 1929 to undertake detailed policy work for the leader of the Party (then Stanley Baldwin) and his principal colleagues. It was the first real think-tank of the right in British politics. For 50 years it occupied its own premises in Old Queen Street overlooking St James's Park, but after the 1979 election Margaret Thatcher united it physically with the rest of the Party's Central Office. Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940), known as Neville Chamberlain, was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. ... Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC (3 August 1867 – 14 December 1947) was a British statesman and thrice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born October 13, 1925), former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in office from 1979 to 1990. ...

Until 1940 CRD was in practice virtually the private political property of Neville Chamberlain, furnishing him with policy papers and contributions to his speeches. A tightly knit group of six (who for a time included Frank Pakenham, the future Lord Longford) developed a detailed policy programme for him with a heavy accent on progressive social measures, including family allowances and better pensions for all. Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940), known as Neville Chamberlain, was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. ... Francis Aungier Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, KG, PC (December 5, 1905 - August 3, 2001) was a politician, author, and social reformer. ...

CRD's work was suspended during the war, but the Department was re-established on a wider basis, with a much larger staff, by Rab Butler, its Chairman for 20 years (1945-65). Its extended post-war role included the provision of extensive briefing material on major legislation before Parliament and all the main issues of political controversy as they arose, as well as working with Butler to create the post-war Conservatism embodied in the famous series of charters of the late-1940s. Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG, CH, PC, DL (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician. ...

CRD was therefore the instrument through which the course of Conservative policy was determined during what is known as the 'post-war consensus' until it broke down in the 1970s. The series of Campaign Guides which CRD began to produce in 1950 recorded in detail the progress of Conservative Governments in this period--and more recent volumes in the series have continued to provide a full, official account of Conservative policy and its implementation.

When Margaret Thatcher became party leader in 1975, CRD organised the full policy review co-ordinated by Sir Keith Joseph which preceded her election as Prime Minister. In office she valued CRD primarily for the thorough and effective way in which it communicated to the Party at large the reasons why radical political change was needed and explained how Britain was being transformed as a result of them. CRD was a vital link between a reforming administration and the Party on whose support it depended. It was entrusted with the production of her general election manifestos and worked closely with her during election campaigns. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born October 13, 1925), former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in office from 1979 to 1990. ... Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph (January 17, 1918 - December 10, 1994) was a lawyer, a British politician, and Conservative cabinet member under three different administrations. ...

The tradition of close working with the Party leader and other senior figures continued. During the 2005 election CRD was as usual once again the leader's policy secretariat, assisting Michael Howard's close advisers with the formulation of the Conservative position on all key subjects and the development of the strategy for the campaign. They also wrote and published the latest volume of the historic Campaign Guide, providing detailed policy and political attack material, under the editorship of CRD veteran Alistair B. Cooke. The Rt Hon. ...

Under David Cameron CRD was reorganised, and in June 2006 Desk Officers (subject specialists) were retitled as Special Advisers to the Shadow Cabinet and relocated to the House of Commons, whilst the enlarged political section and the policy secretariat remained at Campaign HQ. This experiment was reversed the following year when in September 2007 the possibility of an early General Election prompted the Party leadership to move Special Advisers back in-house to the new Campaign Headquarters at 30 Millbank. David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, positions he has occupied since December 2005. ...

The importance of CRD as a training ground for leading Conservative politicians has been widely acknowledged. After 1945 Enoch Powell, Iain Macleod, Reginald Maudling and Chris Patten all passed through it. The Chairman of the Department (currently CRD alumnus) has a seat in the Shadow Cabinet. Other former CRD advisers in the Shadow Cabinet include Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne and the Leader of the Party, David Cameron himself. Simon Heffers biography of Enoch Powell, published in 1999 John Enoch Powell, MBE (June 16, 1912 – February 8, 1998) was a British politician, linguist, writer, academic, soldier and poet. ... The Right Honourable Iain Macleod, PC (1913 – 1970) was a UK Conservative politician. ... Rt. ... Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC (born 12 May 1944 in Bath, Somerset) is a prominent British Conservative politician and a Patron of the Tory Reform Group. ... The Shadow Cabinet (also called the Shadow Front Bench) is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition (or the leader of other smaller opposition parties) form an alternative cabinet to the governments, whose... Oliver Letwin (born May 19, 1956, Hampstead) is the British Member of Parliament for West Dorset, Chairman of the Policy Review, and Chairman of the Conservative Research Department. ... Andrew Lansley Andrew David Lansley CBE MP (born 11 December 1956) is a politician in the United Kingdom. ... George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971 in London) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and has been Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001. ... David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, positions he has occupied since December 2005. ...