Voices of freedom
Friday, November 27, 2015 at 10:05 Just boarded a train at Cork, destination Dublin.
Spent last night in the affable company of John Mallon, Forest's spokesman in Ireland. A few drinks may have passed my lips so I'm feeling a little delicate.
Before it's too late I want to congratulate Conservatives for Liberty for organising an excellent event at the House of Commons on Wednesday night.
Billed as a "lobby evening" to promote the moral case for choice and responsibility there were six speakers – five Conservative MPs and the IEA's Chris Snowdon. They were each given ten minutes and a short Q&A.
The five MPs were Chris Philp, Lucy Allan and James Cleverley from the 2015 intake, plus John Redwood and David Nuttall.
David is a familiar face at Forest events (shortly after he became an MP in 2010 he put forward a 10-minute rule bill to amend the smoking ban) so I was pleased to hear him attack the Brighton consultation on extending the ban to beaches, parks and squares.
Cleverley was humorous yet robust but Snowdon got the biggest laughs with a speech that mocked recent public health scares – cheese as addictive as heroin and so on.
However the real revelation – because I had never previously heard her speak – was Lucy Allan, Conservative MP for Telford. Unapologetically libertarian, she was fun, fearless and admirably honest about her long-term parliamentary prospects.
Allan has a majority of 700 and her attitude seemed to be, "I may only be here for one parliament so let's make the most of it."
That includes standing up for people's right to make responsible decisions about their own lives, deciding for themselves what's right. "I don't want to live in a country where we have codified personal choice," she declared.
Conservatives for Liberty can be very pleased with the evening. A full house was proof that liberal values are alive and well in the Conservative party. Unlike the CfL event at the party conference in Manchester there were no free drinks to entice people to come.
This was a proper political meeting on an issue that divides society but unites many individuals who don't want their lives governed by an authoritarian bully state.
Encouraging too that three of the new intake were so forthright in their opinions and happy to pin their libertarian credentials to the mast. I hope others will have the courage to come forward and join them.
Reader Comments (2)
Encouraging to hear. Lucy Allan also was quite vocal in opposing plain packaging as a PPC if you followed her Twitter feed.Sorry to sound pedantic but James Cleverly was also only elected as an MP in 2015 having previously served on the London Assembly.
Re James Cleverley - thanks for pointing that out. I've corrected it.