John Gouriet

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Biographical Information

John Gouriet (died in 2010)

"Gouriet, a former Army officer, was a Thatcherite before Thatcherism. He worked to halt the advance of "communo-socialism" in Britain; campaigned against Soviet "oppression"; fought sanctions against South Africa; and latterly was preparing to challenge the legality of Britain's membership of the EU. Though Gouriet campaigned throughout his entire post-military life, he was at his most effective as director of the National Association for Freedom (Naff), which he founded with Norris McWhirter after the IRA's assassination in November 1975 of McWhirter's twin brother, Ross...

"Gouriet was adjutant of the Trucial Oman Scouts until 1963, then served as GSO3 Intelligence to the director of operations in Borneo. After Staff College he passed up promotion from major to become a squadron leader with his old regiment in Germany. He retired from the Army in 1973 when deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general at the MoD. He then joined the merchant bank Rea Brothers as assistant to Sir Walter Salomon... His first – non-political – venture was Young Enterprise. ...Gouriet consulted Ralph Harris (later Lord Harris of High Cross) at the Institute of Economic Affairs about a coordinated opposition to the erosion of personal liberties... Gouriet left Naff suddenly in June 1978, having fallen out with its chairman, Viscount de Lisle. It was renamed the Freedom Association that winter. He became chairman of Stevens-Lefield Foods, which made pouch meals for yachtsmen. From 1991 he was a director and consultant to General Portfolio.

"His campaigning continued unabated, though without an organisation behind him he achieved less. He pressed Mrs Thatcher to support Ian Smith's internal settlement for Rhodesia, and after Russia's invasion of Afghanistan co-founded the Campaign Against Soviet Oppression, lambasting "those manic geriatrics in the Kremlin"... Gouriet joined forces with Norris McWhirter again in 2002, founding Defenders of the Realm. He chaired the group until his death, appealing for funds to mount a judicial review of EU membership for violating Magna Carta, the Declaration of Rights and the 1688 Coronation Oath Act... He married, in 1963, Sarah Barnett, who survives him with their three sons." "