The Conservative Research Department (CRD) is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters in Westminster. The CRD has been described as a training ground for leading Conservative politicians. Former CRD advisers to have served in the Cabinet include former Prime Minister David Cameron, former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Letwin and former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. After 1945, Enoch Powell, Iain Macleod, Reginald Maudling and Chris Patten passed through it. History Neville Chamberlain The CRD was established by Neville Chamberlain in 1929, to undertake detailed policy work for the leader of the Party (then Stanley Baldwin) and his principal colleagues. It was the first real think-tank on the right in British politics. For 50 years it occupied its own premises in Old Queen Street overlooking St James's Park, but after the 1979 election, Margaret Thatcher united it physically with the rest of the Party's Central Office. Rab Butler The CRD's work was suspended during the Second World War, but it was re-established on a wider basis with a larger staff by Rab Butler, who would be its chairman from 1945 until 1965 Its post-war role included the provision of briefing material on major legislation before Parliament and on the main issues of political controversy, as well as working with Butler to define post-war Conservatism. The CRD was determined Conservative policy during the post-war consensus until it broke down in the 1970s. The series of Campaign Guides that the CRD began to produce in 1950 recorded in detail the progress of Conservative governments in this period. More recent volumes in the series have continued to provide a full, official account of Conservative policy and its implementation. Margaret Thatcher When Margaret Thatcher became Conservative Party leader in 1975, the CRD organised a full policy review to be co-ordinated by Sir Keith Joseph which preceded her election as prime minister. Unimpressed by what the Department then had to offer, she and Sir Keith Joseph set up their own think-tank, the Centre for Policy Studies in 1975 on her becoming Leader of the Opposition. The CPS was financed by Nigel (later Lord) Vinson, and its first Director was the late Alfred (later Sir) Sherman, who became Mrs Thatcher's speechwriter when she entered Downing Street. Sir Keith's key political assistant at