Keynote Speech by The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP
The Secretary of State for International Development, The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, will be delivering a keynote speech to Bright Blue on Monday 12th December 2011 at 7:30pm.
The Secretary of State will be delivering a keynote speech on the Coalition Government's reforms to international development policy.
Date: Monday 12th December, 2011, 19:30-20:30
Venue: Committee Room 5, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Click here to watch videos from the day
Drink Tank with Damian Hinds MP
Drink Tank is a chance to meet, network, chat, have a beer and share ideas with Bright Blue on a monthly basis. Bright Blue is proud to welcome Damian Hinds MP as our guest speaker for December 2011.
Damian was elected as the MP for East Hampshire in 2010. He is on the Education Select Committee and is the Chair of the APPG on Social Mobility. He is a former Chairman of the Bow Group and has held senior management positions in the hotel and brewing industries before entering parliament.
Date: Wednesday 7th December 2011, 19:00
Venue: Spying Room, Morpeth Arms, 58 Millbank, London. SW1P 4RW
Drink Tank with Chris Skidmore MP
Drink Tank is a chance to meet, network, chat, have a beer and share ideas with Bright Blue on a monthly basis. Bright Blue is proud to welcome Chris Skidmore MP as our guest speaker for November 2011.
Chris Skidmore was elected MP for Kingswood in 2010. He is a member of the Health Select Committee. He has worked as the Conservative Party's Education Adviser and is a former Chairman of the Bow Group. He wrote a biography of the Tudor King Edward VI in 2007 and published his second book Death and the Virgin in 2010. He was one of the authors of After the Coalition: a Conservative agenda for Britain.
Date: Thursday 17th November 2011, 19:00
Venue: Spying Room, Morpeth Arms, 58 Millbank, London. SW1P 4RW
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Drink Tank with Andrew Gimson
Drink Tank is a chance to meet, network, chat, have a beer and share ideas with Bright Blue on a monthly basis. Bright Blue is proud to welcome Andrew Gimson of The Daily Telegraph as our guest speaker for October 2011.
Andrew Gimson writes the parliamentary sketch for the The Daily Telegraph. He has recently published the updated paperback edition of "Boris - The Rise of Boris Johnson", a ground-breaking study of the Mayor of London.
Date: Thursday 20th October 2011, 19:00
Venue: Spying Room, Morpeth Arms, Westminster, London. SW1P 4RW
Party Conference 2011: An ageing society: fairness and security for all
The debate will examine how services for older people such as pensions and social care can and should be funded in the future, the response to the Dilnot report and the net effect on social and economic growth from higher numbers of older people. In particular, the event seeks to investigate how older people's views are best represented in government and how we can best sustain and strengthen the services older people rely on, particularly for the most vulnerable.
Speakers:
- Penny Mordaunt MP, Chair of the APPG on Ageing and Older People
- Hannah Fearn, The Guardian
- Mervyn Kohler, Age UK
- Jane Ashcroft, Chief Executive of Anchor
- Alexandra Jezeph, Bright Blue (Chair)
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2011, 17:30-18:30
Venue: Exchange 7 of Manchester Central
Refreshments will be available
Kindly supported by:
Party Conference Drink Tank with Nick Boles MP
Drink Tank is a chance to meet, network, chat, have a beer and share ideas with Bright Blue. At the Conservative Party Conference this year Bright Blue is proud to welcome Nick Boles MP as our guest speaker.
At the Conference Drink Tank, we will launch the third edition of our magazine, The Progressive Conservative, with articles from Will Hutton, Ian Birrell, Sir Malcom Rifkind MP and Peter Tatchell.
Nick Boles was elected MP for Grantham and Stamford in 2010. He is PPS to the Schools Minister Nick Gibb and sits on the Select Committee for Political and Constitutional Affairs. He set up Policy Exchange, the influential centre-right think tank and in September 2010 he published his first book "Which Way's Up? The future for coalition Britain and how to get there". He is also a current member of the Bright Blue Advisory Board.
Date: Monday 3rd October 2011, 21.30 to 23.00
Venue: Chester Suite, Midland Hotel, Manchester
Refreshments will be available
Kindly supported by:
How should we defend liberal values abroad?
The western world waits to see what the outcomes of the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East will be. Will these predominantly Muslim countries follow Eastern Europe in the 1980s and embrace liberal democracy, as the American philosopher and theorist Francis Fukuyama once predicted? Opinion is divided on the role the developed world should play in supporting pro-democratic forces in these countries. US, France and the UK have led the way in calling for liberal interventionism, safeguarding civilians from Gadaffi's forces in Libya. Others - such as Germany and Russia - believe interventionism has failed in the past, and is not helpful for Western interests or global stability in the long-term. Should the western world help spread liberal democracy across the world and, if so, how?
Speakers:
Tobias Ellwood MP, PPS to Liam Fox MP, Secretary of State for Defence
Douglas Murray, Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society
Date: Tuesday 12th July 2011, 7pm-8pm
Venue: Wilson Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London. SW1A 0AA
Drink Tank
A chance to meet, network, chat, share a beer and ideas about progressive policy and the future of politics with likeminded people. We are very pleased to welcome Stuart Andrew MP as our guest speaker. Stuart was elected as the Member of Parliament for Pudsey in 2010 and sits on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. Stuart has worked in the voluntary sector as a fundraiser for the British Heart Foundation and Martin House, Yorkshire's hospice for children and young people with life limiting, terminal illnesses.
Date: Wednesday 22nd June 2011, 18:30
Venue: Sanctuary House Hotel, 33 Tothill Street, SW1H 9LA
Drink Tank
A chance to meet, network, chat, share a beer and ideas about progressive policy and the future of politics with likeminded people.
Date: Thursday 24th March 2011, 19:00
Venue: The Spying Room, Morpeth Arms, 58 Millbank, London. SW1P 4RW
Happiness and markets
The Coalition Government has asked the Office for National Statistics to collect data to track the UK population's general well-being. Can a market-based economy - and the wealth, higher living standards and inequality it brings - lead to greater happiness? Bright Blue brings together two leading thinkers, David Willetts and Lord Layard, to explore whether a market-based economy and market-based reforms to services and institutions can lead to higher general well-being.
Speakers:
Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science
Lord Richard Layard, author of Happiness: lessons from a new science
Date: Monday 28th February 2011, 7pm-8pm
Venue: Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London. SW1A 0AA
