This was established by Margaret Thatcher in the Summer of 1986 to 'review policies and strategy and to initiate work for the election manifesto and our third term of office' in conjunction with the Policy Unit based at 10 Downing Street. The core membership of the Group included:-

Additional Ministers attended the Group by invitation when their particular policy area was under discussion.

As part of its work, the Group set up 11 policy groups, each under the chairmanship of a Cabinet Minister with secretariat support provided by the Conservative Research Department. Robin Harris, Director of CRD, and Stephen Sherbourne, Political Adviser at No. 10, were responsible for overall organisation and servicing of the groups. It was intended that each policy group would report by December 1986:-