Federal Union

Federal Union is a Pro-European British group launched in November 1938, to advocate a Federal Union of Europe as a post-war aim. The founders of the organisation were Charles Kimber (1912-2008), Derek Rawnsley and Patrick Ransome. Other noted members of Federal Union included Harold Wilson, Barbara Wootton, C. E. M. Joad, Stephen King-Hall and Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian. In 1940 the group set up a Federal Union Research Institute (FURI), chaired by William Beveridge, to discuss the direction of post-war European integration. FURI attracted contributors from across the political spectrum, including F.A. Hayek, J. B. Priestley, H. N. Brailsford, Lionel Robbins and Arnold Toynbee.