Eric Pickles addresses the Parliament Street Reception
I want to start by thanking everyone who made the 2013 Conservative Party Conference such a great event, and in particular to everyone who helped make Parliament Street’s second conference a resounding success. As with last year we hosted two events – an evening reception for our members and a panel discussion with the theme “Life After the Lib Dems”.
The evening reception was packed despite upgrading to a significantly larger venue compared to last year, with long queues through the Midland Hotel before the doors even opened. The highlight was an appearance by the Communities and Local Government Minister, Eric Pickles. Eric spoke to the audience about the work being done to cut expenditure within the Department while continuing the process of devolving powers from central government.
Our panel discussion was also filled thanks to the prospect of a controversial issue being discussed by an all-star panel consisting of former Cabinet Minister John Redwood MP, columnist Melanie Phillips, Cabinet Office Special Advisor Shaun Bailey and Professor Kieran O’Hara and was chaired by Nabil Najjar. The promise of afternoon tea and scones may have helped as well.
A packed room for our panel discussion
The debate was lively at times, as would be expected. There was a lot to talk about, as be seen from our articles on the topic leading up to conference from Shaun Dias, Mahyar Tousi and Matthew Corner. The panelists discussed the challenges the Conservative Party faces in continuing to appeal to the centre ground while remaining committed to its values. The topic of the threat of UKIP, the topic of our conference debate last year, was also mentioned – a recurring theme at many fringe events throughout the conference.
The whole Parliament Street team would like to give a huge thank you to Eric Pickles, our panelists and all the party members who attended. Without you our conference would not have been the success it was.
See you all next year!
By Matthew Gass
Online Editor
Special thanks to Steven George-Hilley and Hammersmith and Fulham Councillor Steve Hamilton for pictures.
