The ‘five families’ attempting to steer Britain’s immigration policy

Five groups of Conservatives – dubbing themselves the “five families” – have come together to try to influence Rishi Sunak over the Rwanda Bill.

The groups, from the Right of the party, met on Tuesday night to decide whether to back the legislation at second reading, before announcing that they would abstain rather than support it.

Below we take a look at the groups and how they all voted:

European Research Group

Leader: Mark Francois
Deputy leader: David Jones
Key figures: Suella Braverman, Dame Priti Patel, Sajid Javid 
Number of members: Around 40

The backbench grouping has been described as one of the most influential within the Tory party and played a major role during the Brexit negotiations.

It was set up in 1993 to oppose further European integration in light of the Maastricht Treaty, and revived in 2016 following the EU referendum.

Historically, the group has enjoyed support from a number of serving and former Cabinet members and has heavily influenced Right-wing Tory policy.

• Bim Afolami

• Lee Anderson (Also NCs and CSG)

• Gareth Bacon (Also NCs and CSG)

• Suella Braverman

• Sir Christopher Chope

• Sir Simon Clarke (Also NCs)

• Robert Courts

• David Davis

• Dehenna Davison

• Jonathan Djanongly

• Jackie Doyle-Price

• James Duddridge

• Iain Duncan Smith

• Natalie Elphicke

• Sir Michael Fabricant

• Liam Fox

• Chris Grayling

• Jonathan Gullis (Also NCs and CSG)

• Adam Holloway

• Sajid Javid

• Sir Bernard Jenkin

• Dame Andrea Jenykns

• Pauline Latham (Also CSG)

• Andrea Leadsom

• Brandon Lewis

• Craig Mackinlay (Also CSG)

• Kit Malthouse

• Stephen McPartland

• Robin Millar (Also NCs)

• Nigel Mills

• James Morris

• Dame Priti Patel

• John Penrose

• Sir John Redwood

• Jacob Rees-Mogg

• Laurence Robertson

• Alec Shelbrooke

• Mark Simmonds

• Greg Smith

• Henry Smith

• Sir Desmond Swayne

• Michael Tomlinson

• Martin Vickers (Also CSG)

• Bill Wiggin

• Mike Wood

Common Sense Group

Leader: Sir John Hayes (also NCs)
Key figures: Brendan Clarke-Smith, Lee Anderson, Jonathan Gullis
Number of members: Around 30

The Common Sense Group was inspired by the European Research Group and launched in November 2020 to give Right-wing MPs a forum to coordinate on policy initiatives.

It is chaired by Sir John Hayes, a former home office minister, and has focused heavily on immigration and fighting against the growth of the “nanny state”.

Most recently the grouping has been coordinating a pushback amongst Tory backbenchers against Mr Sunak’s plans to ban smoking, describing them as illiberal.

• Lee Anderson (Also ERG and NCs)

• Gareth Bacon (Also ERG and NCs)

• Bob Blackman

• Ben Bradley

• Fiona Bruce

• Brendan Clarke-Smith (Also NCs)

• Philip Davies

• Nick Fletcher (Also NCs)

• Jonathan Gullis (Also ERG and NCs)

• Sally-Ann Hart

• Tom Hunt (Also NCs)

• Danny Kruger (Also NCs)

• Pauline Latham (Also ERG)

• Sir Edward Leigh

• Andrew Lewer (Also NCs)

• Chris Loder

• Marco Longhi (Also NCs)

• Craig Mackinlay (Also ERG)

• Karl McCartney

• Robin Millar (Also ERG and NCs)

• David Morris

• Andrew Rosindell

• Alexander Stafford (Also NCs)

• James Sunderland

• Martin Vickers (Also ERG)

• Giles Watling

• William Wragg

New Conservatives

Leaders: Danny Kruger, Miriam Cates, Jonathan Gullis (Also ERG and CSG)
Key figures: Paul Bristow, Marco Longhi, Eddie Hughes
Number of members: 35

The most recent of the four groupings, it was set up in May of this year and predominantly counts members of the 2019 election intake amongst its members.

Most of its MPs hold seats in the Red Wall and it largely campaigns on social issues, calling for a traditional Conservative approach in areas such as family values.

Leaders of the group have described its mission as returning to the policies of the last Tory manifesto, including reducing net migration to pre-2019 levels.

• Lee Anderson (Also ERG and CSG)

• Sarah Atherton

• Gareth Bacon (Also ERG and CSG)

• Duncan Baker

• Paul Bristow

• Sir Simon Clarke (Also ERG)

• Brendan Clarke-Smith (Also CSG)

• James Daly

• Anna Firth

• Nick Fletcher (Also CSG)

• Chris Green

• Sir John Hayes (Also CSG)

• Eddie Hughes

• Tom Hunt (Also CSG)

• Mark Jenkinson

• Andrew Lewer (Also CSG)

• Marco Longhi (Also CSG)

• Robin Millar (Also ERG and CSG)

• Lia Nici

• Alexander Stafford (Also CSG)

One Nation Conservatives

Leader: Damian Green
Key Figures: Tom Tugendhat, Caroline Nokes, Gillian Keegan
Number of members: Up to 110

Representing the biggest single grouping within the Tories, the One Nation group encompasses a large number of MPs from the centrist section of the party.

Mr Sunak worked hard to keep the group on board with his new Rwanda plan, and it initially issued a positive response to the announcement of the legislation.

But after reading through the text, senior members expressed concerns over the sweeping powers it hands to ministers and its compatibility with the ECHR.

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