Free spirits at the Liberty Lounge

Forest, the Institute of Economic Affairs and The Free Society are due to co-host three back-to-back events on the fringe of the Conservative Party Conference.

The three events, which together will create The Liberty Lounge, will be held at the Comedy Store, Manchester, U.K., on Sept. 30.

The first event, at 6 p.m., is A Beer and a Fag with Farage.

“Speaking on [BBC] Radio 4’s Today programme before the local elections in May, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he wanted to amend the smoking ban and allow separate designated smoking rooms, the same policy advocated by Forest’s Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign,” Forest explained in a press note. “Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston subsequently warned the Tories against trying to outflank UKIP as the party of ‘booze and fags.’ Join us in the main auditorium as Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), interviews the UKIP leader on lifestyle freedoms such as smoking, eating and drinking and the EU’s proposed Tobacco Products Directive.”

The second event, at 7:30 p.m., is the Liberty Lounge Drinks Reception, where the hosts will be Littlewood and Simon Clark, director of Forest.

“There may be one or two very short speeches on issues such as plain packaging of tobacco and minimum pricing of alcohol,” warned Forest. “But, don’t worry, there’s no minimum pricing in operation here. For the duration of the reception a selection of beer and wine is absolutely FREE!”

The third event, Stand Up For Liberty, is due to start at 8:30 p.m.

‘Two years ago in ManchesterForest hosted our first stand up comedy event,’ Forest said. ‘Afterwards former Sutton councillor Paul Scully tweeted, “Forest event at the Comedy Store is possibly the best ever in my 14 years at conference”. Via email someone else commented, “By a very substantial margin, the best fringe event of the last 10 years”.

‘This year we are returning with another fabulous line-up including the brilliant Australian comedian Steve Hughes whose routines on “secondary smoke” and health and safety are among the best in the business…’

Further information on any of these events can be obtained by emailing: events@forestonline.org.