Standing up for freedom with Conservatives for Liberty
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 10:07 
Pleased to report that Forest is joining forces with Conservatives for Liberty at the Tory conference in Birmingham.
On Sunday September 28 we're co-hosting a special event, The Liberty Lounge: Stand Up For Freedom, at the Hyatt Hotel.
In 2011 and 2013 Forest hosted a dedicated hour of stand up comedy (Stand Up for Liberty) at The Comedy Store in Manchester.
In the absence of a similar venue this year's event will combine a drinks reception with half an hour of stand up comedy.
Well, that's the plan.
Conservatives for Liberty was set up last year. Following the launch party honorary president Dan Hannan MEP tweeted:
"I reckon @con4lib is now the most exciting movement in UK politics."
According to journalist and peer Matt Ridley:
"A new generation of young people is reviving true liberalism today. Conservatives for Liberty are pioneers of this movement and I learned more from an evening in a pub with them than from any amount of time in Parliament."
Steve Baker MP wrote:
"All too many people believe in liberty up to the point that their faith is tested. As a result, we have been losing the arguments for most of the past century. CfL could be an important part of the restoration that our country needs."
Emily Barley, secretary of CfL, says: "We're thrilled to be working with Forest, that bastion of personal choice, on this not-so-serious event - a fun opportunity to Stand Up For Freedom and show your love for liberty."
Our other conference event takes place on Monday September 29. It's called 'Last Chance Saloon'. Make of that what you will.
If you're attending the Conservative conference make a note in your diary now. More details in due course.
See also: CfL joins forces with Forest at #CPC14
Reader Comments (1)
This is a rather exciting development, I think. The fact that this new group is prepared to join up with Forest in a joint venture is encouraging news indeed. Far too many so-called “libertarian” movements or “freedom” movements (yes, Liberty, I’m looking at you), or indeed individuals who describe themselves as “libertarian” or “concerned about personal freedoms” nevertheless make an exception when it comes to smoking tobacco.
This, in and of itself, makes a mockery of their sincere-sounding words or “mission statements” because in so many ways the anti-smoking movement and the smoking ban represent the very essence of infringement upon adults’ rights and freedoms. The anti-smoking movement been massively influential in enabling successive governments to strip away individual freedoms, little by little and painful slice by painful slice, simply by formulating the “how to” manual for making unreasonable and unnecessary withdrawals of personal freedoms seem “acceptable” to the general public. They’ve provided a wonderfully effective template which is now – often with brazen obviousness – being used by countless other single-issue pressure groups who are now applying it with great success to their own favourite hobby-horses. Never mind the slippery slope, anti-tobacco designed, manufactured and pushed onto the market something more akin to a slippery precipice!
So it’s hopeful to find a group purporting to be concerned about liberty to be at least taking a tentative step in the right direction by indicating through their association with Forest that they are concerned with the principle of liberty per se, rather than just the liberties of a few politically-correct “favoured” people for whom they happen to have a particular concern. It’d be nice to see them making more of a connection between the rise of anti-smoking and the almost-exactly corresponding erosion of all number of other liberties, but I guess they’re still quite a new group, so there’s still time for them to see where the whole rot started, and how …