Great to see so many new and familiar faces at The Freedom Dinner at Boisdale of Canary Wharf on Tuesday.
In total there were 156 guests across 15 tables. The Institute of Economic Affairs had a table; as did the Adam Smith Institute, Conservatives for Liberty and Women In Tobacco.
The TaxPayers Alliance was represented along with the Institute of Ideas, Manifesto Club and Liberal Vision.
There were journalists from The Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal and Daily Mail.
We had six MPs (I won't name them, although Ian Paisley Jr features in one of the photographs below!) and several parliamentary researchers.
The evening began on the covered terrace which has recently been re-named the Cuban Garden, hence the Havana Rum mojitos.
Smokers are always welcome at Boisdale and the space proved as popular as ever, before and after dinner. As an added bonus we hired a professional cellist, Ivan McCready.
Dinner was served in the main restaurant and then it was time for the after dinner entertainment – speeches and live music.
I said a few words before introducing Rob Lyons who spoke briefly about Action on Consumer Choice.
Next on stage were Juliette Tworsey and Jules Shapiro, our guests from New Orleans where smoking was banned in bars and casinos earlier this year.
Finally it was time for our principal speaker, Bafta award-winning film producer Stephen Evans, who veered off in various directions referencing Shakespeare, Churchill and George Best before finishing with the rallying cry, "Enough is enough!"
Anyway, here's the draft of my introductory 'speech' and introductions. What I actually said may have differed slightly but that's what happens when you drink several mojitos before taking the microphone:
The Freedom Dinner is not just a Forest event but one that highlights the extent of opposition to the almost daily attacks on lifestyle freedoms such as eating, drinking and smoking.
Thanks to the IEA, ASI, Conservatives for Liberty and Women In Tobacco for taking tables. Delighted too to welcome guests from the TaxPayers Alliance, Institute of Ideas and the Manifesto Club.
Thanks to cellist Ivan McCready who played on the terrace before dinner. Ivan has a classical music background but he’s also played with Blur, The Pretenders and Jessie J, among others.
I’d also like to thank a group that rarely gets any thanks … the tobacco companies, in particular JTI, BAT and Imperial.
Last year we marked Forest’s 35th anniversary with a party at Boisdale of Belgravia and it’s fair to say that without the support of the companies Forest would probably not exist or, if it did, it would consist of a handful of smokers ranting incoherently on the Internet.
I personally think it’s very important tobacco companies are seen to support their customers, especially when smokers are being given such a hard time and increasingly marginalised.
I also think consumers of other potentially unhealthy products – alcohol, sugar, convenience food – should get rather more support from those businesses too.
Health is important. But Forest believes freedom of choice and personal responsibility are important too and I don’t hear many corporations making that case often enough. Where are their media spokesmen?
And that brings me to our new project, Action on Consumer Choice. Our tag line is EAT. DRINK. SMOKE. VAPE. IT’S YOUR CHOICE. and I’d like to introduce you to Rob Lyons, our new campaigns manager, who is going to say a few words on the subject.
[Cue short speech by Rob Lyons]
Now, before I introduce our guest speaker tonight, we’re going to have a little change of pace because I want to introduce you to two special guests who have flown all the way from New Orleans to be with us tonight.
A few months ago New Orleans banned smoking and vaping in all enclosed public places. It was a shock to many of us because New Orleans was always seen as different, more bohemian and laid back than many American cities.
In his wonderful BBC2 series, Songs of the South, comedian Reginald D Hunter commented on what made New Orleans different from other American cities:
"Another thing about New Orleans. It is one of the remaining cities left - maybe the only one - that still has its own character and has room for characters. It hasn't been homogenised to death."
Hunter wasn’t taking about the smoking ban but I think it’s fair to say to say the ban is another step towards the homogenisation of another American city.
Thankfully you can’t homogenise every individual. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to welcome, from New Orleans, Juliette Tworsey and her partner Jules Shapiro.
[Cue short Q&A]
Now, to our guest speaker. He may not be a household name but you will undoubtedly have heard of many of the films he’s produced since giving up a lucrative job in the City to make films.
Working with Kenneth Branagh he enjoyed almost immediate success as the producer of Henry V, Peter's Friends and Much Ado About Nothing.
He won a Bafta for The Madness of King George and also produced Twelfth Night, The Wings of a Dove and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind among others.
More recently his CV includes First Night and Seve, a 2014 biopic about Seve Ballasteros. And he's currently working on a film about George Best.
He describes cigars and whisky as his "guilty pleasures" but says he feels a lot less guilty when he’s at Boisdale and in the company of "like-minded people" such as yourselves.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m delighted to welcome our principal guest speaker, Stephen Evans.
And that was it, apart from a couple more hours on the terrace as the light faded. (A few stray guests eventually found their way out of the building in the early hours of the morning.)
Thanks to everyone who came. Sorry if I didn't stop by and say hello. It was impossible to speak to everyone or visit every table, but I should have done better.
If you want to see the full gallery of pictures click here. See also Morning after the night before.