Growing a civil economy through a civil society – with Shirley Williams and David Heath

Alongside the Lib Dem Voice fringe about lessons from the general election and the Cancer Research UK discussion, I’m also speaking at a ResPublica fringe meeting at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool.

Titled “Growing a civil economy through a civil society”, it will see me speaking alongside David Heath MP and Baroness Shirley Williams.

I still remember the first time I met Shirley Williams on the campaign trail, back in York in the 1992 general election. She was on her way between two different target seats and had about 30 minutes spare between trains at York station. Rather than welcoming this as a pause on the campaign trail, she kindly offered herself up for a quick local media interview and some glad-handing of other people waiting for trains. Her ability to stalk up to complete strangers and charm them – on the subject of politics no less – was deeply impressive.

The event is at 6.15pm on Tuesday, September 21 in the Holiday Inn Express. Hope you can make it.

UPDATE: I’ve now blogged about the meeting over on Liberal Democrat Voice, where you can watch my talk.