This committee was "formed [in 1923] of Conservative Private Members who were elected for the first time in 1922, for the purpose of mutual co-operation and assistance in dealing political and parliamentary questions and in order to enable new Members to take a more active interest and part in parliamentary life..." (CPA, 1922/1). The name is often mistakenly thought to refer to the meeting at the Carlton Club in 1922 which ended Lloyd George's Coalition Government.

Since 1926, every Conservative back-bench MP is a member of the committee, although it did not take up a position within the formal Party structure until as late as 1965. It provides a sounding board of Conservative opinion in the House of Commons, and allows MPs to put forward ideas, views and concerns through a process of dialogue, rather than through confrontation with the leadership. As such, it has been involved in all the major issues of the twentieth century.

In 2015, the five policy committees of the 1922 Committee played a significant part in drafting the Party's general election manifesto, along with the No. 10 Policy Unit and the MPs on the Downing Street Policy Board. The Policy Unit's working groups match the structure of the 1922's policy committees, which are: Economy, Foreign Affairs, Environment and Local Government, Home Affairs and the Constitution, and Public Services.

Following the June 2017 General Election, when the Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority, representation of the 1922 Committee's policy committees on the Downing Street Policy Board, and approval by them of any proposals made by the Downing Street Policy Unit, were amongst the concessions demanded in return for continued support for Theresa May by the parliamentary party.