Fresh Start was a grouping within the British Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 opposed to the Maastricht Treaty

Maastricht Treaty

The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...

. It was founded by Michael Spicer and its members included Bill Cash, James Cran

James Cran

James Douglas Cran is a British former Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Beverley and Holderness in northern England until he stepped down at the 2005 general election, being succeeded as Conservative candidate and MP by Graham Stuart...

, Christopher Gill and Roger Knapman

Roger Knapman

Roger Maurice Knapman is a British politician and the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party ....

. In the mid-1990s over fifty Conservative MPs were members.

They organised votes against John Major

John Major

Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

's government and in all they voted against the government 985 times and abstained 1,515 times in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the Maastricht Treaty being ratified.