The Guido Fawkes Awards night was on Tuesday night and I was delighted to attend. I have lived in countries without a free and fearless press and I firmly believe that every country needs at least one Guido equivalent. Politicians should be scared of transparency. Transparency and accountability are good for democracy.
I have been friends with Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, Harry Cole, WikiGuido and the gang for years and this promised to be a great night – and it did not disappoint. Boris gave a great speech and Michael Gove and David Cameron sent video messages. My old boss Francis Maude won an award for his work against tax-payer funding of Union representatives. I saw lots of old and good friends there including Matthew and Sarah Elliott and Aidan Burley amongst many others. Christian May was a brilliant Master of Ceremonies and Harry and Paul conducted the awards themselves.
Unusually for an awards ceremony – the food was good, the drinks were plentiful, the speeches were fun and brief and there was just the right number of awards. The night rattled along brilliantly (not like some awards ceremonies!) and ended too soon – saved or rather enhanced by two great after-parties!
I have attached the videos from the evening – I hope you enjoy them!!!