Compass (think tank)

Compass is a British centre-left pressure group, aligned with the Labour Party which describes itself as: "'An umbrella grouping of the progressive left whose sum is greater than its parts". Like the formally Labour-affiliated think tank the Fabian Society it is a membership-based organisation and thus seeks to be a pressure group and a force for political organisation and mobilisation.

Compass was launched in 2003 by Tom Bentley of Demos, Michael Jacobs of the Fabian Society, Neal Lawson of LLM Communications and Matthew Taylor of the Institute for Public Policy Research with the publication of a statement called A Vision for the Democratic Left. Supported by a number of academics and Labour politicians unhappy with the political direction of prime minister Tony Blair, this was the first attempt by Compass to help guide the Labour government. Since then, it has published pamphlets and a series of booklets as part of its Programme for Renewal, aiming to chart an alternative path for left governments and for centre-left activists in the UK.

In June 2023, it was revealed that the chair of Compass, Neal Lawson, faced possible expulsion from the Labour Party due to allegedly tweeting in support of Green Party candidates in 2021.^{[needs update]}

Since its inception, Compass has risen in influence and media prominence. The Chair, Neal Lawson, has written for The Guardian newspaper, and when he called for Tony Blair to resign in May 2006, it was widely reported elsewhere.

Compass organises an annual conference. The event on 17 June 2006 included many figures identified with Labour and the trade union movement, such as Ed Balls, Neal Lawson, Derek Simpson, Hilary Benn, Fiona Millar, John Harris, Hazel Blears, Kevin Maguire, and Ed Miliband. There were calls for, amongst other things, the abolition of the monarchy and the destruction of nuclear weapons, put forward by the membership. In 2006 it merged with the Catalyst think tank.

The 2007 Robin Cook Memorial Conference "Shaping Our Global World" included speakers such as Ken Livingstone, Dave Prentis, Frances O'Grady, Jon Cruddas and Helena Kennedy as well as panels and seminars organised by groups such as Unison, Friends of the Earth, War on Want, Liberty, the Fabian Society and the Citizen Organising Foundation.

In 2010, Compass established the High Pay Commission on top pay and inequality, which in turn became the High Pay Centre think tank in 2011.

The Compass website is a source of information about Labour politics, with regularly posted opinion pieces written by a wide range of authors with an invitation for responses from readers.