Oh dear. This week the Bow Group sent out invitations to members and supporters announcing that Zac Goldsmith would give the speech at the Conservative think tank’s summer party.
‘Our keynote speech will be from Zac Goldsmith, the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park who is currently seeking the Conservative Party nomination to succeed Boris Johnson MP as Mayor of London. After Zac’s keynote speech, he will hold an extended Q&A to answer any questions from the audience.’
However, some naysayers began to query why the Tory MP was speaking at the event, after the Tory think tank made the news during the election campaign for backing a number of Ukip MPs including Mark Reckless, who ended up losing his seat to the Conservatives. At the time, a number of Bow Group patrons including Michael Heseltine, Michael Howard, Norman Lamont and Nirj Deva MEP, released a strongly-worded statement distancing themselves from the Ukip endorsement.
Now the London mayoral hopeful has cancelled his speech at the do. In an email sent round to those who had purchased tickets, Nic Conner says Goldsmith ‘didn’t wish for his speech to be considered a keynote’.
With the Bow Group now offering ticket refunds to those who no longer wish to attend, the U-turn is the first embarrassing campaign blunder for Goldsmith, who is widely seen as the frontrunner to be the Tory candidate for mayor. No doubt this will offer a much-needed boost to his rivals’ lagging campaigns.
Update: Zac Goldsmith has offered his own account of why he pulled out from speaking at the event. He claims that organisers ‘misled’ guests:
Bow Group drinks was to give Londoners an informal chance to voice their views & hear mine. The organisers sold it as sthg very different1/2
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) August 5, 2015
Sorry to those who were misled by the organisers. There will be many more opportunities to quiz me during the campaign 2/2
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) August 5, 2015
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