Lord Bell, advisor to Thatcher and Reagan, to speak at Freedom Dinner

On Wednesday I invited readers to watch this space.

Well, I am delighted to announce that Lord Bell, former political advisor to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, has agreed to speak at the 2013 Forest Freedom Dinner.

His CV speaks volumes:

Lord Bell is chairman of Bell Pottinger Private. He is one of the best known figures in the UK communications industry.

He began his career in 1959 at advertising agency Colman Prentis and Varley. In 1970 he helped found Saatchi & Saatchi; by 1981, as Chief Executive and later as International Chairman, he had led Saatchi & Saatchi to become the biggest advertising agency network in the world.

Lord Bell was political advisor to Lady Thatcher from 1976 to 1990. He successfully ran election campaigns for the Conservative Party in 1979, 1983 and in 1987. He has served as a political advisor to F W de Klerk, Ronald Reagan, Boris Yeltsin, Jacques Chiraq and Thaksin Shinawatra, among many others.

He currently advises the chairmen and chief executives of many of Britain’s leading companies and organisations, as well as foreign heads of state and international business and political leaders all over the world.

As I reported last week, our other headline speaker is Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs. Not a bad pairing, I think you'll agree.

The Freedom Dinner takes place at Boisdale of Canary Wharf on Tuesday July 2. Tickets cost £90 and can be booked online here.