This conference was one of contrasts; oddly for a party who lost the election heavily it was surprisingly upbeat and a big contrast to Labour’s rather down beat one last week, not least for its sense of optimism and pragmatic cheerfulness.
The burden of Government is lifted, and the party are looking and thinking afresh, or perhaps there is delusion about being in opposition for the next 5 years. In contrast to last year, the MPs and shadow ministers were readily available and relaxed in conversation, so we managed to talk to Andrew Mitchell (Shadow Foreign Secretary) about trade and China in particular, Alicia Kearns MP, (Shadow minister FCDO) who spoke passionately about Ukraine, George Freeman (previous minister for Science and Innovation) and Greg Smith (Shadow Trade) Andrew Bowie (Shadow Energy) and the EU Ambassador, The Turkish Ambassador (who’s concerned about the Lebanese conflict) and Nicholas Hopton (Ex UK Ambassador to Iran, who is setting up the Middle East Association of Trade Councils).
We attended the BBC World Service breakfast, with many MPs, and a call for funding support as they are under pressure, however, they do reach 350 million a week and are the most trusted global media and largest by a long way. The BBC Arabia service has also had a three-fold increase this year as people listen in re Gaza and Israeli conflicts.
In terms of Ukraine, the conference had fewer panels than last year, but the BBC World service focused on Eastern Europe and Ukraine and we met Sarah Rainsford the editor and Olga Ivishna the Russian language correspondent. I believe UBBC has a route in for any relevant conversations members wish to share and I expect we may be able to include them in a future webinar.
The Centre for EU reform held a powerful and detailed panel with the Ukrainian Ambassador General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who made a calm and measured request for more resources, to stop the Russian Shadow fleet delivering oil step up sanctions, and outlined what peace meant to him personally. Currently Ukraine is outnumbered on troops and 3;1 on artillery (was 12;1) and the UK/EU needs to ramp up its production of ammunition.
The panel included Alicia Kearns (Shadow FCDO) who made an impassioned case for support to Ukraine and to recognise that we are already in a war with Russia and the west needs to mobilise to counter the threat and change Putin’s calculations on aggression, George Freeman, who outlined what he has done to remove Russian scientists from collaborating with Europe, Bernard Jenkins MP, who outlined the threat to democracy and world order.
Isabelle Poppelbaum Acting Eu ambassador,outlined what the Eu has contributed to date $118bn with a further $75bn on the way in both military, humanitarian, and training support (75k Soldiers trained) all agreed the war has brought Europe closer together, to create more unified response, a common defence policy and collaboration with UK.
The war has seen innovation in warfare with drones, tanks and the threat to European and world peace and the global order from despots, so we are all being tested and need to respond in more urgent way to ensure Ukraine prevails. Russia is spending 6.3% of GDP on weapons and focused its economy on war production for 2025, so the west must be prepared and to bring the USA along with us. If Trump wins, we will need to educate him as to the implications of US withdrawal and the damage to the global order as Russia, China, Iran and N Korea will become a more powerful force.
Everyone also needs to keep Ukraine on the media and political agenda, especially when other conflicts take over the headlines, and we all need to raise our voice on its behalf where and when we can. Alicia Kearns said, ‘Ukraine has to prevail, or we are all under threat and its shameful the west has not provided enough resources to win.’
The Eu ambassador to the UK also held a reception as did Conservatives for International trade (Colin Blackwell and Kevin Hollinrake MP spoke), and Ukraine fielded a few delegates. The friends of Ukraine also held a reception with John Whittingdale MP.
Other key topics included ‘how to grow the economy’, ‘Trade and UKs place in the world’, Education, Defence and of course the competition to be leader – which appears to be close and unpredictable (the final two need to win over 119 MPs), although we did attend Kemi Badenoch’s frenzied media events, and Baroness Nicholson also asked her a question. Its notable that two of the candidates are former soldiers (Cleverly and Tugendhat) which may be helpful to Ukraine.
Many panels focused on Israel and the current conflict and other issues like Brexit and the EU were not highly featured (unlike last year).
The conferences are often populated by think tanks of all descriptions, and from my perspective members, if interested, could follow the best in terms of influence, speakers, insights, and quality: Coalition for Global prosperity,
CPS, The Spectator (Media), Bright Blue, centre for EU reform, IPPR, Onwards, Conservative home (Media), Tony Blair Institute (very good on policy and digital futures).