As is the case every year, the real action at Conservative Party Conference 2023 was not in the main hall, but on the fringes. And few places were more action-packed than the ThinkTent, where a star-studded range of guests gave their views on the issues of the day. Few were more frank than Lord Frost, who spoke one-on-one to our chief executive John O’Connell and took no prisoners when he warned “we are losing the argument about markets and a small state.”

In comments that made national headlines and cheered the packed room, Lord Frost called on the government “to commit to a tax cut before the next election and spending cuts that go with it.” 

Lord Frost gave his thoughts on social attitudes in Britain, how to make the case for free markets and small government, Whitehall reform, the quangocracy, government spending and much more. Watch it in full here.

As well as ensuring our ThinkTent events were running smoothly, our team also found time to rapidly respond to speeches by the prime minister and the chancellor.

Commenting on the prime minister’s speech, our chief executive, John O'Connell, was left disappointed by the lack of reflection on how to ease the burden on households from sky-high spending and a historic tax burden. As John put it: “For all the talk of welcome tax cuts, there doesn’t seem to be enough recognition that the government is simply spending too much taxpayers’ money.”

But in better news, the prime minister showed a healthy pragmatism by scrapping the second leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester. Our digital campaign manager, Joe Ventre, had this to say: “The prime minister is right to refocus taxpayers' money on improving transport links on road and rail all over the country, as we recommended in 2019.”

And after the chancellor announced a freeze in the number of civil servants, John said of this win for taxpayers and the TPA: “Freezing Whitehall expansion is a step in the right direction.”

ThinkTent always boasts an array of colourful panelists and engaging topics; a great example of which being the inclusion of comedy writer Graham Linehan on the topic of free speech under threat. Once best known for legendary British comedy series’ such as Father Ted and Black Books, Lineham has in recent years found himself on the firing line for his outspoken views.

Having initially been denied a pass to attend the conference, the combined efforts of the TPA and IEA saw Linehan allowed to recount his experiences of cancel culture to a huge ThinkTent audience. His comments dominated headlines. This story in the Independent recounts Linehan’s story of being dropped by his agent for his criticism of a t-shirt worn by actor David Tennant.
 

Watch the full free speech panel event here

Following two groundbreaking opening panel discussions, the TPA and IEA hosted our annual ThinkTent reception. Amongst the attendees was secretary of state for business and trade Kemi Badenoch, who took the stage full of praise for TPA campaigns. In addition to mentioning our highlighting of waste and our efforts to stop a four-day week in the public sector, Badenoch made special mention of our landmark Stonewall subsidy paper, which uncovered over £1.2 million of taxpayer-funded support for the controversial charity Stonewall.

Our campaign against a four-day week in the public sector continued to heat up over conference, with secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities Michael Gove coming out swinging against the clock off in local councils. While this news will be music to the ears of most council taxpayers, not all were so pleased.

In reaction to this announcement and dialling in from LBC’s mini studio in the conference centre, Elliot Keck took on presenter Sangita Myska in a fiery debate. When faced with the claim that it was unfair to differentiate between the private and public sectors when discussing new working practices, Elliot made that important distinction that he didn’t “think we should be experimenting with something as important as a local council.” Well said!

In our blog for this week, the team put down their thoughts on the highlights of our packed schedule events at this year’s ThinkTent. Our media campaign manager, Conor Holohan, gave his views on the migration debate he took part in, while policy analyst Tom Ryan reflected on the free speech panel, among others.

Commenting on our local government panel, Elliot emphasised the importance of discussing councils at events like these, even if it is “more fashionable to talk about net zero, immigration, the NHS, and so on.” As Elliot says: “for most people, most of the time, local government is the main way they engage with the state.” But our researcher Callum McGoldrick probably summed up ThinkTent best, writing “sometimes the most uncomfortable conversations are the ones most worth having.”