Hard-right figures from around the world gathered in London for the inaugural British spin-off of America's influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which helped propel Donald Trump to power. The three-day event, called CPAC GB, was spearheaded by former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, who served for only six weeks in 2022, as she seeks to rebuild her legacy and influence on the British right.
Keynote Speakers and Controversial Figures
Keynote speakers included US rightwing influencer Jack Posobiec, who previously promoted the fabricated 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory that falsely smeared prominent Democrats as paedophiles. 'The British people must rise up and take back their country,' Posobiec said to applause from a few hundred attendees who paid between £100 and £10,000 for access to the event.
Sponsors include the John Birch Society, a hard-right US advocacy group; AI company Alpha Compute; and companies involved in Bitcoin, a major theme on Friday. Other speakers over the three days include Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's Reform UK party; Pauline Hanson, leader of Australia's anti-immigration One Nation party; and George Simion, a pro-Trump ultranationalist who was narrowly defeated in Romanian presidential elections last year.
Controversial Remarks and Conspiracy Theories
Simion used his speech to reference far-right slogans such as 'remigration' and the 'great replacement' conspiracy theory. 'This is not diversity. This is replacement. The answer is remigration. Legal, orderly but firm,' he said. Suella Braverman, Reform MP and former UK government minister, paid tribute to Truss and called for 'leaders on the right' to come together. In a speech about white working-class boys, Braverman claimed: 'Inequality has been embedded in our society precisely because of attempts to create equality. Attempts to be anti-racist have institutionalised anti-white racism. A whole swathe of the population is now excluded from opportunities by those preaching inclusion.'
Political Context and Absences
The event comes as hard-right politicians have exploited cases like the death of Henry Nowak, a white student stabbed by a man who falsely claimed racial abuse. Research shows ethnic minorities still face higher discrimination risks from British police. The conference is the first UK iteration after other CPAC spin-offs in Europe, marking Truss's latest attempt to reboot her political career. Notably absent is Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch, who has distanced herself from Truss's economic legacy and called for a period of silence from her.
Truss's Vision and Controversies
Asked if the event unites the British right, Truss said: 'I describe it more as galvanising the right, because there are quite a lot of people who are allegedly on the right who wouldn't support the principles of liberty and sovereignty.' She declined to say whether far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, would be welcome at future events, or whether she would join Reform. Truss stood by her claims that her government was brought down by the 'deep state,' specifically the Bank of England. 'The Bank of England were largely responsible for what happened in 2022. The Bank of England is the deep state,' she said. Her government's mini-budget, proposing £45bn in unfunded tax cuts, is widely blamed for economic instability and has been disowned by her party.
Other speakers included Matthew Goodwin, a Reform activist defeated in a by-election earlier this year. He claimed the 'Islamo-Green party' used Muslim 'clan networks' to 'rig' the Gorton and Denton by-election. Police found no evidence of criminality; the Green party won with over 40% of the vote compared to Goodwin's 28.7%.
