Parliament Street Christmas Reception with Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox MP

Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox MP with Patrick Sullivan, Chief Executive of Parliament Street

On Thursday 22nd November, Parliament Street held its Christmas Reception featuring an address by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox MP, Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade.

The reception was held in a large private function area in of one Westminster’s most popular pubs, The Old Star; beloved by politicians, journalists and researchers alike!

Dr. Fox gave a rousing speech to the assembled crowd, with an illuminating talk on the “good news” that doesn’t get covered by a media obsessed with process instead of policy. The Cabinet Minister was able to inform the audience on the many areas where the government have made significant, positive policy changes, which made him extremely confident about where the country would be after Brexit.

The optimistic message really struck a cord with our membership. This was most clearly illustrated by the way they engaged with his notion of new dawn for Britain, beyond Brexit in a really thoughtful Question and Answer session, following on from his address.

The questions focused on policy and how to cut through the noise of the London based media echo chamber. At a time when the media was obsessed with the horse race of politics; our members showed  their indifference, by not asking the Secretary of State to perform the role of pundit for Paddy Power Politics.

Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox MP and Steven George-Hilley, founder of Centropy PR

Dr. Fox was spared from enduring, a single inane question or statement on the who’s up and who’s down in politics that day. As enjoyable a parlour game that might be, to some locals of the Westminster Village; those with less restrictive lives find the naval gazing to be rather myopic. Our guests, which included a diverse cross section of industry and civic leaders from across the United Kingdom took a radically more expansive view of government wanting to focus on policy, not politics.

The questions asked were substantive and focused on pocket book issues; based around a eagerness to explore the encouraging intelligence being brought to the meeting.  There was real enthusiasm to learn more about how the Department for International Trade is winning the future for families, communities and businesses across Britain.

As we approach a new dawn for our nation it is heartening to learn, that once more; the future’s bright – the future’s British! Brexit hasn’t scared the pioneers of Tomorrow’s World away from betting on Britain. They know that this country has an excellent hand to play, and so these bellwether investors have doubled down. They know a smart bet, when they see it. Only last year, more venture capital on tech came to London last year than the whole of France, Spain, Ireland and Germany combined.

Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox’s gracious tweet, following on from the reception

The Department of International Trade, under the stewardship of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox MP, is priming the UK economy, for us to be at the vanguard of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Preparations for this will at the core of the our agenda, next year; as here at Parliament Street we will never stop thinking about tomorrow.

The Parliament Street team would also like to acknowledge our deep gratitude to Dr. Fox for his early encouragement of Parliament Street, when we were the new kids in town, and also, for his continuing support. We were all greatly moved by his extremely gracious tweet, made following on from the reception, and also for his kind words about how we have developed as an organisation over the past six years. It truly is an honour and very humbling.

 

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