“The lunch was fabulous. The food was absolutely delicious - and so were the wines. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had the pleasure of meeting so many interesting and like-minded people.”

That was the verdict of one of the 80 guests who attended the annual Forest Lunch and Awards at Boisdale of Belgravia on Wednesday. They included journalists and broadcasters, parliamentarians, think tank and parliamentary staffers, and friends of Forest.

The event, now in its sixth year, followed a familiar format that seems to work. Guests are invited to join us from noon for drinks on the terrace. That’s followed by lunch in the main restaurant from 1.00pm, with speeches and awards from 2.15.

This year we chose not to have a guest speaker. Instead I brought guests up to date with the Tobacco and Vapes Bill (which received Royal Assent in April, thereby becoming the Tobacco and Vapes Act), and the potential threat posed by Andy Burnham when he becomes prime minister.

More important, perhaps, I made the point (to an audience that included some senior figures within Reform UK and the Conservative Party) that the generational tobacco sales ban remains a live issue and Forest will NOT stop campaigning against it because we believe it can still be repealed or amended by a future government. As I reminded guests:

“Kemi Badenoch rightly called it the “least conservative policy” introduced by the previous Conservative government, and Nigel Farage has vowed to repeal what he has described as this “idiotic ban”. Several Lib Dems voted against the ban, and even on the left there is opposition to the policy, with one article in the New Statesman arguing that we are creating two tiers of citizenry, with some adults permitted to purchase tobacco, and others prohibited from doing so.
“In short, this battle is far from over and we will fight on because we believe that a bad law that undermines individual freedom and personal responsibility can and must be repealed. It will have significant consequences for retailers, putting the burden of enforcement on shopkeepers at a time when retail crime is already at record levels and getting worse.
“It won’t stop young people smoking, if they want to. Instead, as the age of sale increases each year, it will drive more and more consumers to the black market and the only people who will benefit are criminal gangs and other illicit traders.
“We will continue therefore to lobby opposition parties and prospective parliamentary candidates to repeal or amend the generational ban following the next general election. A very similar law was overturned in New Zealand by a centre right coalition government following a general election over there, so there is no reason why that can’t happen here too. Common sense can still prevail and I hope you will support our campaign to Respect Choice and Send Prohibition Packing.”

And then it was time for the awards. ‘Top Tweet’ went to the New Culture Forum’s Emma Trimble for a post that went viral (1.7M views) on X earlier this year:

I don’t smoke. Never have. I have no skin in the game. But this really is draconian. It should not be within the power of the government to interfere with the personal choices of citizens like this.

We then celebrated the work of two campaigners, Charles Amos (who took his grassroots campaign against the generational ban on to the streets of Westminster, Oxford, East Grinstead and elsewhere) and Josie Appleton, director of the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life (formerly the Manifesto Club).

Next up for an award was Tom Slater, editor of the online magazine Spiked, followed by broadcaster, political commentator and podcaster Duncan Barkes who, by his own admission, got a little over-excited.

The IEA’s Chris Snowdon (editor of the Nanny State Index) was then invited on stage to announce the identity of Britain’s Nanny-in-Chief 2026. In a crowded field, the award went to health secretary Wes Streeting whose commitment to the nanny state has been evident for years. As shadow health secretary in 2023 Streeting was the first politician in Britain to consider a generational ban on the sale of tobacco year. Today his targets include smoking, vaping and even social media.

Finally, I paid tribute to lifelong smoker and artist David Hockney, who died last month, and invited guests to stand and toast his memory with two words he frequently used himself: “Love life”.

A substantial number of guests then returned to the terrace until it was time to move downstairs to the small Negroni bar to watch the England-DR Congo match on a large drop-down screen. (But that’s another story.)

PS. Thanks to Gary Williams for a wonderful gallery of photos. To view them all click here.

Forest Annual Lunch and Awards 2026

Anyone but England