Talking of Nigel Farage (see previous post), I am reminded that it is almost 15 years since we launched our campaign to allow smoking rooms in pubs and clubs, and look who was there.
Save Our Pubs & Clubs: Amend the Smoking Ban was launched in response to research that found that, in the year following the introduction of smoking bans in Ireland (2004), Scotland (2006), and England and Wales (2007), a significant number of pubs had closed.
The pub estates in all four nations had been in decline for decades but the stats for the twelve months after the bans were implemented demonstrated an acceleration in closures far above the historic trend. That in turn suggested a clear correlation between the two.
The launch of the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign took place on Tuesday June 23, 2009. As I wrote here:
We were joined at the Buckingham Arms in Westminster by the Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative) and David Clelland MP (Labour). Lib Dem MP John Hemming sent a message supporting the campaign.
The campaign is supported by Forest, the classical liberal think tank Progressive Vision, the Adam Smith Institute, which champions the free market, and the Manifesto Club which campaigns for “freedom in everyday life”.
Apart from Antony, Greg Knight and David Clelland, speakers included Progressive Vision's Mark Littlewood and Josie Appleton of the Manifesto Club.
The other speakers were landlords Paul Lofthouse (Queen's Head, Coggleshall), Simon Esnard (Butcher's Arms, Luton) and Sean Spillane (Luton Social Club).
Ukip leader Nigel Farage made a surprise appearance and said his party would support the campaign in any way it could.
It wasn't the first time Nigel had made a 'surprise appearance' at a Forest event. The previous year the Ukip leader attended a drinks party for 200+ people at Boisdale of Belgravia that marked the first anniversary of the smoking ban in England.
We didn't know he was coming and he wasn't due to speak but when he did turn up it was impossible to deny him the microphone.
To be fair, he was the best speaker on the night but there was one person he didn't impress – legendary journalist (and smoker) Lynn Barber who wrote:
Presumably the party was meant to inspire us poor huddled masses to rise up against our oppressors, man the barricades and charge the gun emplacements or at least to write to our MPs. But frankly, we are a raggle-taggle, defeated army, never very disciplined at the best of times, and if it means getting into bed with Ukip, I think I'll pass.
Barber's comments illustrated, I think, how Nigel's patronage can work both ways. It can inspire supporters but it can also alienate potential allies.
Undeterred, we invited him to join us at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester in 2013.
Having heard that he was going to speak at a Freedom Association event at the Town Hall in the afternoon, we suggested he might like to be interviewed by Mark Littlewood (who was now director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs) at the Comedy Store where we were also hosting an hour-long comedy gig called Stand Up for Liberty.
He accepted our invitation to take part in A Pint and a Fag with Farage and the combination of the two events – with a drinks reception sandwiched in between – was a success, although it suffered a bit because it coincided with another fringe meeting that featured the darling of the Conservative conference, Boris Johnson.
Nevertheless, the juxtaposition of the two led the BBC to publish this account of the 'rival' events – Tory conference: Boris Johnson v Nigel Farage.
The last time we joined forces with Nigel was at the Ukip conference in Doncaster the following year, although 'joined forces' might be stretching things a bit.
The Forest-run Hands Off Our Packs campaign had booked a stand in the exhibition area with the aim of promoting our long-running campaign against plain packaging.
With the recent defection of Conservative MP Douglas Carswell, Doncaster 2014 was arguably a peak moment for Ukip, so it was understandable that Nigel was incredibly busy. He agreed nevertheless to come to our stand for a photo op.
The problem was, we couldn't pin him down to an exact time so we had to make sure that someone was on the stand all the time over two days.
With limited staff that was quite difficult but when he did finally appear, after lunch on the second day, he did what Nigel Farage does best. Surrounded by cameras, microphones, and journalists, he extemporised.
Unfortunately, as I explained here, any hope of him appearing on the evening news with our banners behind him disappeared when, an hour or two later, a second Tory MP, Mark Reckless, announced his defection to Ukip.
I know Nigel has been invited to one or two Forest/Boisdale dinners since then but although his name has been on the guest list I don't remember seeing him, so I assume he wasn't there.
(Put it this way, if he had been there I think we would have known.)
Either way, I won't lie to you. I like him but, as Richard Tice has just discovered, if Nigel is involved in anything it's usually his way or the highway.
Meanwhile I'm a bit confused by the latest volte-face.
A few days ago, if the media is to be believed, he said his post election plan was to take over the Tory party. Now the aim is to lead Reform UK for the next five years.
His problem, if elected, is how to maintain his profile when reduced to one of 650+ MPs faced with a mountain of problems that constituents want solved. (I know he's been an MEP but that's a bit different.)
Alex Salmond, another larger than life figure (in Scotland at least), struggled to make much impact as an MP in Westminster.
Caroline Lucas, the former Green Party leader and an MP from 2010 to 2024, has also slipped down the pecking order as a national figure (or that's my impression).
If elected as an MP, could the same fate await Nigel Farage? I don't know, but it will be interesting to find out.
Above: Nigel Farage at the launch of the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign in June 2009; below: endorsing our campaign against plain packaging at the Ukip conference in Doncaster in September 2014
