Magna Carta: 800 years of liberty?
Friday, June 12, 2015 at 17:02
Simon Clark

I'm not wholly convinced by all this 'Magna Carta: 800 years of liberty' stuff.

Tell that to the serfs and peasants of the Middle Ages or the workers in the "dark satanic mills" of the 19th century.

Nevertheless I enjoyed Conservatives for Liberty's celebratory dinner at the Savile Club in London on Wednesday when I rubbed shoulders, very briefly, with the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, John Redwood and David Davis.

Rees-Mogg was the sole after dinner speaker and I admire anyone who can give a highly articulate speech without pause and without notes, as he did.

That said, the whole Magna Carta thing left me a bit cold and the connection with the liberties we have today (and in some instances are slowly losing) seems a bit tenuous and occasionally convoluted.

Still, it was a fun evening among friendly faces in a lovely, surprisingly intimate, venue.

Hats off to Conservatives for Liberty for organising an enjoyable, unpretentious event devoid of political posturing and dogma.

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