Fighting talk

I was reminded yesterday that it's eight years since Forest hosted a special one-off event at the Institute of Directors in London.

'Stop The Nonsense: Plain Speaking on Plain Packaging' took place on February 24, 2015, a few weeks before MPs voted to introduce standardised packaging of tobacco.

After a three year campaign we knew were likely to lose the vote but we gathered the troops for one last push and what a night it was. Eight people agreed to speak:

Mark Littlewood (Institute of Economic Affairs), John O'Connell (TaxPayers Alliance), Madsen Pirie (Adam Smith Institute), Claire Fox (Academy of Ideas), Rory Broomfield (Freedom Association), Emily Barley (Conservatives for Liberty), Angela Harbutt (Liberal Vision), and Chris Snowdon (IEA Lifestyle Economics Unit).

They were each given two minutes to argue against plain packaging and this resulted in a fast paced and surprisingly entertaining evening with everyone given a standing ovation.

We subsequently produced a DVD and USB stick that featured every speech, plus a short video, which we sent to MPs.

The vote in parliament still went in favour of plain packaging but we made our point and went down fighting. It was the least we could do.

See also: 'Invitation to Stop The Nonsense'.