‘In no small part, we live in the world created by the Centre for Policy Studies.’
On Wednesday 6 March 2024, the Prime Minister addressed a gala dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of the Centre for Policy Studies, the UK’s leading centre-right think tank, which was founded by Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher in 1974.
In his speech, Rishi Sunak praised Thatcher’s vision for an economy based on sound money and low taxes, which drove growth and encouraged work. This was ‘not just an economic but a moral vision for freedom, aspiration, and opportunity’, he added.
The PM – whose 2016 CPS paper on free ports made the case for a policy that has now delivered nearly £3bn of investment and created 6,000 jobs – championed the CPS’s role in developing not only the Thatcherite vision for Britain, but in driving forward change across the past five decades.
‘There are no better campaigners than the CPS. For 50 years, you’ve shown that ideas can – and do – change the world.’
The dinner, held at the Guildhall with the support of the City of London, was attended by roughly 500 Conservative MPs and peers, business leaders, journalists, government advisers, and CPS supporters and staff, both past and present.
In his opening remarks, CPS Director Robert Colvile highlighted successes from the CPS’s history, singling out the drive and passion for which it advocated for the teaching of synthetic phonics, the implementation of which has led to children in England ranking as the best in the West at reading. The CPS, Colvile said, ‘makes the right arguments. It marshals the evidence. It builds alliances. And it fights for those arguments, no matter how hard it is to get a hearing.’
CPS Chairman Michael Spencer and City of London Policy Chair Chris Hayward also spoke, both praising the CPS’s role in making Britain a more dynamic, entrepreneurial country and the vital importance of growth to our future.
The dinner also launched ‘Shaping the Debate’, a pamphlet which highlights 50 reports from across the CPS’s 50 years which have helped shape the country today, and the Thatcher Fellowships. The Fellowships aim to find people in the private sector who want to help improve the country and connect them to the world of Westminster, building out a network of free-market voices that spreads far beyond the CPS in the coming years.
