Supporting the work of Conservatives Friends of International Development

Jon Snow and the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP gathered to speak at the Policy Exchange, London for the CFID annual Christmas Party on 16th December 2015. 

The event covered discussions on international  development work, introduced by Nick Hurd MP, and the current chair of CFID Amanda Solloway MP. The topics covered broadly: building safer, more stable states, conflict, collective security, safety and individual liberty and human rights. 

The highlights came from Jon Snow, chatting to Andrew Mitchell on his interview with global leaders, his views on conflict and rebuilding of states post conflict, tacking the global agenda on Terrorism and threats.

I enjoyed his commentary on how many times he interviewed Thatcher, a record twenty interviews which according to him, she won twenty times. Her style was always going to be strong and leading. Then he touched on Mandela, Jon mentioned his highs and lows of interviews. On building relationships, Jon quoted, “there is a Jewish MP who runs a hospital in Iran, and 99% of patients are Muslim, we could develop that relationship.” 

On global terrorism, torture and human rights violation, Jon Snow quoted,"Guantanamo shows our weakness,we need to stand up and not let our reputation for human rights and fair trials to be ruined…We shouldn’t let our State and Liberty be shaped by terrorism and the threat of it."

Parveen Hassan with Jeremy Lefroy MP 

On Syria, Jon Snow stated, “there are 81 different fractions fighting in Syria, at the moment. We do need ground troops, and they need to be local.” 

Andrew Mitchell MP was Secretary of State for International Development from May 2010 until September 2012. Andrew co-founded Project Umubano in 2007 and his leadership was central in setting up CFID. He went on to discuss the case to increase the Aid Budget. 

During the Christmas reception, there was a fund raiser organised by CFID for Syria. 

Jeremy Lefroy MP chatted on the social action projects undertaken by CFID in Africa and the benefits of working in the developing world.