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The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
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Christopher Lim

Christopher Lim is the Academic & International Director at The Bruges Group. Christopher has covered CANZUK, post-Brexit trade, and inter-institutional relations in the EU. 

Christopher Lim

Nats in Westminster: Runaway Horses?

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The SNP is a party that has undoubtedly enjoyed significant electoral success and has conferred upon itself an advantageous political position. The party of government, yet simultaneously the party of opposition and resistance; arguments against its 15 years in government in Holyrood have so far, failed to cut through. Compared to most of the other...
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Christopher Lim

Martin Howe KC at Conference: Delivering Brexit

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Martin Howe KC, Chairman of Lawyers for Britain and silk, addressed the Bruges Group's October Conference on delivering Brexit. The KC discussed the more technical aspect of ensuring Brexit was truly delivered. Brexit, he said, was not completed, and the 2020 withdrawal was merely the removal of Great Britain from "directly applying EU laws…out of ...
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Christopher Lim

Autumn Statement: Think big or enter the great darkness

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So this is what it's like with the grown-ups are in charge. After some £55 billion in tax rises and spending cuts, the Trussian mission for reformation of the state is most definitely over and the entrenched consensus, for now, has won the day and forced the hand of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt. The common conclusion, is, that it's ...
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Christopher Lim

The Freedom Zone: Freedom Unleashed, 3-4 October

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This coming Conference week, The Bruges Group will be hosting the Freedom Zone, from Monday 3rd to Tuesday 4th October. Join us at the Birmingham & Midland Institute, just an 8 minute walk away from the International Convention Centre, where the Party conference will be hosted.  At the Bruges Group's panel event, Getting Brexit D...
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Christopher Lim

Webinar: Human Rights Versus Parliamentary Sovereignty

Webinar
 What are Human Rights? How to we protect the liberties of the individual and the sovereignty of the nation? The perennial debate over how to square this circle, how to affirm these principles and beliefs we hold dear has brought us to the current juncture, with the Human Rights Act (1998), at one stage, close to being repealed by the then-Lor...
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Christopher Lim

Long she reigned over us: The Crown endures

britain-gc6e6ec1b3_1280 Thank you, ma'am
We commemorate a legacy of dedication and service, of dignity and grace, and a reign that oversaw social change but brought unity above division, and represented the greater whole. Now that the throne has been passed, we must not descend into republicanism.  A nation, a world in mourning. The longest reigning monarch in British ...
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Christopher Lim

The Bill of Rights: No panacea, but a step in the right direction for Parliamentary sovereignty

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On reading the reactions to the new Bill of Rights Bill, introduced to the House by the Lord Chancellor, I am reminded of an episode of the BBC anthology series, Screen Two: "The Law Lord". In it, Anthony Andrews plays Lord Edwardes, the Lord Chancellor, contending with an ambitious Home Secretary seeking to bring the legal establishment to heel an...
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Christopher Lim

Walking the Line: Mario Draghi's resignation and Eurozone fragmentation

euro-g0324ad51b_192_20220723-155010_1 Mario Draghi during his tenure as President of the European Central Bank
"Because you're mine, I walk the line", as the Johnny Cash song goes: Mario Draghi tried to walk the line, but he found himself unable to. The Italian Prime Minister and former ECB President has tendered his resignation to President Mattarella following a week of uncertainty as to the future of his technocratic government. The Draghi governmen...
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Christopher Lim

Health Reformed: How does the modern NHS and its recent review size up with Beveridge’s principles?

Ambulanc_20220620-152712_1 Health Reformed: How does the NHS review size up to Beveridge's principles?
Where did the levy money go? That really is a question for the ages – and the recent NHS management review doesn't make it less so. The management review appeared to swerve fundamental issues of NHS reform and made proposals more in line with the status quo than proposals to bring efficiency and discipline to the health service. This has prompted t...
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Christopher Lim

The ECHR and taking back control

the-echr-5180649_128_20220618-103533_1 The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
Take back control, they said. The UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership was their means of doing so. In response to the 11th hour intervention from the European Court of Human Rights which led to the flight being cancelled, the Home Secretary Priti Patel said "We will not be deterred from doing the right thing and delivering...
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Migrants Human rights Brexit immigration ECHR
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Christopher Lim

The NI Protocol Bill: Breakdown

The HMS Caroline, a de-commissioner light cruiser docked at Alexandra Dock, near Belfast Harbour The Government's Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, introduced to the House by the Foreign Secretary, is a move to ameliorate the existing issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, something the Bruges Group has spoken on in the past (see our Chairman, Ba...
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Christopher Lim

Bruges Group Director Robert Oulds on GB News' Mark Dolan Tonight: Football reform, the World Cup, and Qatar

Mark Dolan GB News Robert Oulds football
Director of the Bruges Group Robert Oulds recently gave an interview to GB News presenter Mark Dolan on Mark Dolan Tonight on the 19 March, 2022. Robert Oulds appeared alongside former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton OBE to discuss the threat corruption poses to football clubs and the World Cup - particularly how to end sportswashing. Recent sanct...
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Christopher Lim

Why Brexit has already been a success – since the UK’s exit on 31st January 2020

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The argument put forward by Brexit critics in the past, and now, is a combination of such: 1) The world moves in large, multilateral blocs – hence being part of the EU, the closest possible multilateral bloc, means the UK can stay an active part of the world economy. In an era where big collective action must be taken, from bulk buying PPE in a pan...
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Christopher Lim

Letter to Berlaymont: Discord in the union and the European Parliament group leaders' letter

Since the European Parliament's lawsuit against Commission President von der Leyen over the Polish Court decision, the stand off between two of the three major institutions of the European Union has reached new heights, with the decisions by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), not to mention the Polish border crisis, setting the agenda. In both it...
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Christopher Lim

Strasbourg Calling! Is the European Parliament growing its teeth - or is it the new Shadow Commission?

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The decision by Poland's Constitutional Tribunal that the national constitution has primacy over EU law - a decision supported by the PiS government - has sent shockwaves around the EU establishment. The Tribunal decided that Articles 1 and 19 - referring to an 'ever closer union', and the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) respectively - ...
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Christopher Lim

In Conversation with Lord Lilley

Peter-Lilley
I had the opportunity to speak to Lord (Peter) Lilley, a former speaker at a Bruges Group conference who served in Cabinet in the Thatcher and Major Governments as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Secretary of State for Social Security – and later in William (now Lord) Hague's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and De...
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Christopher Lim

In Conversation with John Manley OC PC - Former Deputy PM of Canada

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I had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable John Manley, a long serving Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Government, having served in key posts such as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs – among others. John Manley is also known for having authored the Manley Report on Afghanistan in 2007 and having been...
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Christopher Lim

In Conversation with the Hon. Christopher Pyne

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Kendall O'Donnell and I, as contributors representing The Bruges Group, had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable Christopher Pyne, a long-serving former Cabinet Minister in the Australian Government, holding portfolios ranging from Education to Defence. We spoke on matters ranging from the domestic, such as Australia's Covid policy and the nat...
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Christopher Lim

Interview with Ambassador Jim Gilmore

Jim-Gilmore
Kendall O'Donnell and I had the opportunity to speak to Jim Gilmore, former US Ambassador to the OSCE, Governor of Virginia, and Chairman of the Republican National Committee, among other roles. We spoke on matters international, regional, and domestic, on topics stretching from President Biden's foreign policy, European security and the EU's role ...
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US politics US UK politics USA Special Relationship Trade
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Christopher Lim

Waterloo Day Lecture - ‘The Future of the Union’

Nigel-Dodds
 Panelists: Barry Legg (Chair), Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, James Webber Lord Dodds, former Westminster Leader of the DUP: On the recent resignation of Edwin Poots: resignation provides the opportunity to "move forward…in a more constructive way"The imposition of the NI protocol has been the main contributory factor to ...
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Christopher Lim

‘The Future of the Union’, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP

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Panelists: Barry Legg (Chair), Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, James Webber Barry Legg, Chairman of the Bruges Group: Our next speaker is Bernard Jenkin. Bernard is Chairman of the House of Commons Liaison Committee, on which all select committee chairmen sit. Previously, he was Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee,...
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Christopher Lim

The 'Build Back Better' Charter

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The new Atlantic Charter, signed by the Prime Minister and President Biden as a 'reaffirmation' of the Special Relationship, is a somewhat mixed bag. The Atlantic Charter of 1941 envisioned a postwar world order we're all too familiar with, from respecting national sovereignty and democracy overseas to the aim of lowering tariffs. This 'New' Atlant...
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Christopher Lim

Interview with New Zealand MP, Todd Muller: CANZUK and More

Todd-Muller
I had the opportunity to speak to Todd Muller, MP for the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand, the Opposition National Party's Spokesperson (Shadow Minister) for Trade, Export Growth, and Internal Affairs, and the Former Leader of the Opposition. We spoke on matters international and domestic, concerning Britons, New Zealanders, and hi...
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Christopher Lim

The Forgotten People: What This Government Can Learn From Robert Menzies

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Conservatism has changed face, meaning, and context in every stage of its evolution in British public life. In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Government has taken steps to solidify the party as a party of government, a far cry from its divisions over Europe just under a year ago. However, in the midst of a clearly different political env...
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Christopher Lim

Canada’s New Tory Leader Spells Good Things For CANZUK

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The election of Erin O'Toole as the Canadian Tories' new leader demonstrates that value-based politics and value-based trading partnerships are truly possible. Erin O'Toole, previously his party's Shadow Foreign Minister, was one of the most vocal advocates in favour of a CANZUK (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom) alliance and ...
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Christopher Lim

The Democratic Swampfest

Joe-Biden
The Democratic Party's virtual convention should've been an attempt to unify the party. From moderates to progressives, I almost took it for granted that they would do everything to convince those on the left that Joe Biden was truly their candidate. However, apart from a few references to Medicare, evictions, and 'understanding', they have disappo...
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USA Joe Biden Donald Trump Democrats US politics
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Christopher Lim

‘Soldiers of Destiny’ No More? Ireland’s Role in an Ever Centralising EU

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"Sinne Fianna Fáil, Atá faoi gheall ag Eirinn" are the first two stanzas of Amhrán na bhFiann, Ireland's national anthem, and translates to "Soldiers are we, whose lives are pledged to Ireland". This is the essence of how Fianna Fail, the major party in Ireland's governing coalition, led by Taoiseach (PM) Micheal Martin, sees itself: as the purveyo...
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Christopher Lim

Kiwis and CANZUK: A Bridge Too Far No More?

Adern-and-Collins-NZ
For over 40 years, New Zealand has been keen to engage, but Britain ignored their pleas. Finally, New Zealand can not only engage, but also be part of a bigger alliance – the CANZUK alliance. CANZUK is a largely economic alliance between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK based on the principles of free trade and possibly free-er movement. ...
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Trade Brexit CANZUK Trade Deals Conservative Party
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Christopher Lim

The Complicated Politics of CANZUK in Canada

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In the aftermath of the British exit from the EU, the concept of CANZUK, a largely economic alliance between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, all of which have the monarchy, the same common law systems, and parliamentary democracy, among others. However, the question remains, what has stopped these four countries, throughout ...
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Canada Liz Truss Trade Deals Trade CANZUK
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