Exhibit 31.1

                            CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
                  SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002


     I, Michael H. Lee, certify that:

1.       I have  reviewed  the  Quarterly  Report  of  Tower  Group,  Inc.  (the
         "Company")  on Form 10-Q for the period  ending  June 30, 2006 as filed
         with the  Securities  and Exchange  Commission  on the date hereof (the
         "Report");

2.       Based on my knowledge, the Report does not contain any untrue statement
         of a material fact or omit to state a material  fact  necessary to make
         the  statements  made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such
         statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered
         by the Report;

3.       Based on my knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other financial
         information  included in the  Report,  fairly  present in all  material
         respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash flows
         of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in the Report;

4.       The  Company's  other  certifying  officer  and I are  responsible  for
         establishing  and  maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as
         defined in Exchange  Act Rules 13a - 15(e) and 15d - 15(e) and internal
         control over financial  reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a
         - 15(f) and 15d - 15(f)) for the Company and have:

         a)       designed such disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused
                  such  disclosure  controls and procedures to be designed under
                  our supervision,  to ensure that material information relating
                  to the Company,  including its consolidated  subsidiaries,  is
                  made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
                  during the period in which the Report is being prepared;

         b)       designed such internal  control over financial  reporting,  or
                  caused such internal  control over  financial  reporting to be
                  designed under our supervision to provide reasonable assurance
                  regarding  the  reliability  of  financial  reporting  and the
                  preparation of financial  statements for external  purposes in
                  accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

         c)       evaluated  the  effectiveness  of  the  Company's   disclosure
                  controls  and  procedures  and  presented  in the  Report  our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
                  and  procedures,  as of the end of the  period  covered by the
                  Report based on such evaluation; and

         d)       disclosed in the Report any changes in the Company's  internal
                  control over  financial  reporting  that  occurred  during the
                  Company's second quarter of 2006 that has materially affected,
                  or is reasonably  likely to materially  affect,  the Company's
                  internal control over financial reporting; and

5.       The Company's other certifying  officer and I have disclosed,  based on
         our  most  recent   evaluation  of  internal   control  over  financial
         reporting,  to the Company's auditors and to the audit committee of the
         Board of Directors:

         a)       all significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses in the
                  design  or  operation  of  internal   control  over  financial
                  reporting which are reasonably  likely to adversely affect the
                  Company's  ability to record,  process,  summarize  and report
                  financial information; and

         b)       any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves management
                  or  other  employees  who  have  a  significant  role  in  the
                  Company's internal control over financial reporting.


/s/ Michael H. Lee
-----------------------
Michael H. Lee
Chief Executive Officer
August 7, 2006