The Freedom Dinner: who was there, who wasn't, and why
The third Freedom Dinner went pretty well, I think.
(See full gallery of pictures, courtesy Dan Donovan.)
Slightly disappointing that a number of MPs had to pull out. Eight were due to come but six couldn't because the Government chose last night to push ahead with its emergency surveillance bill.
Consequently Tory and Labour MPs were on a three-line whip to attend and, if necessary, vote. That left us with just two MPs and very welcome they were too.
Also missing was journalist Rod Liddle and his wife Alicia. Last week, in response to a query about dietary requirements, Rod wrote, 'Sadly both of us eat only wood, and preferably from deciduous trees'.
Yesterday, just as we sat down to eat, I received another email: 'Simon - I'm so sorry; our babysitter has called in "sick" and we can't track down a replacement, so we'll have to miss the dinner. I'm most terribly sorry and would have loved to be there.'
One final absentee was Daily Mail journalist Peter McKay (aka Ephraim Hardcastle). His excuse was priceless – he had a flying lesson!
Anyway, those who did make it included some leading lights in the Westminster village, including:
Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs
Christian May, Institute of Directors
Jonathan Isaby, TaxPayers' Alliance
Mark Wallace, ConservativeHome
Ruth Porter, Policy Exchange
Emma Carr, Big Brother Watch
The Adam Smith Institute was represented by communications manager Kate Andrews, and I lost count of the many political researchers who work in parliament.
Guido Fawkes (aka Paul Staines) was there. So too Ian Dunt, editor of Politics.co.uk.
The online magazine Spiked had their own table (as did the IEA).
Other guests included Prof John Staddon, author of Unlucky Strike: Private Health and the Science, Law and Politics of Smoking, Count Nikolai Tolstoy and his wife Countess Georgina Tolstoy.
If they represented the older generation, there was no shortage of younger people – from the Liberty League contingent to the likes of Oliver Cooper, national chairman of Conservative Future.
I was delighted to welcome Patrick Basham, director of the Washington-based Democracy Institute who is in London for a few days.
And similarly pleased to see Annunziata Rees-Mogg.
In other words, it was a remarkably eclectic group – united however in opposition to the nanny state and excessive government.
Which brings me to our speakers, Alex Deane and Brendan O'Neill.
Alex was David Cameron's first chief of staff. He was the founding director of Big Brother Watch and is currently head of public affairs at Weber Shandwick and an elected common councilman in the City of London.
Brendan blogs for the Telegraph. He's a columnist for The Big Issue and The Australian and occasionally writes for The Spectator. He's also editor of Spiked, the online magazine, and was once described (in the Guardian, no less) as a "Marxist proletarian firebrand".
I was too busy to make notes but fortunately Nick Hallett of Breitbart London did it for me. See: Cameron's former chief of staff: I voted Ukip (Breitbart London).