The Debating Group celebrates its 50th anniversary with a reception at the Palace of Westminster

24th June 2025: The Debating Group, of which Christine Jardine MP is President, will celebrate half a century of debates in the House of Commons at a reception held in the Palace of Westminster this evening.

The Executive Committee of the Group was set up in 1974 with the aim of putting on debates in Westminster where contentious political issues in the media and marketing fields could be discussed. The inaugural debate took place on Monday 16 June 1975. Crossbench peer Rt Hon Lord Chalfont OBE MC, Nicholas Scott MBE MP (Con - Chelsea), John Cousins (National Secretary - TGWU) and Anthony Dumont (Deputy Chair - Consumers' Association) tussled over whether advertising or trade unions had done more for 'the average man' over the previous fifty years. The motion was carried.

Since then 844 other speakers - drawn from the worlds of politics, media, marketing, law, think-tanks, the church, academia and even the US Embassy in London - have participated in 211 debates resulting in 104 motions being carried, 106 defeated - and two tied votes in 2001 and 2004 respectively. Parliamentarians chair the proceedings.

Amongst the chairs and speakers have been two future Prime Ministers and an eventual Chancellor of the Exchequer. Tony Blair spoke at a debate in 1987 where he succeeded in defeating the motion that "Public opinion polls should be banned once a General Election has been called", whilst Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt were both chairs in 2008. Other high-profile speakers down the years have been Sir Alistair Burnett, Rt Hon Lord (Bill) Deedes of Aldington MC DL, Sheila McKechnie, Auberon Waugh, Mary Whitehouse and - naturally enough - Formula 1 World Champion Graham Hill.

Commenting ahead of the event, the Chair of The Debating Group - Stephen Woodford - said: "The Debating Group is a truly unique institution that is ultimately predicated on the goodwill of Parliamentarians - not least our President and Vice-Presidents, the eloquence of the speakers we attract and the dedication of its sponsoring organisations to the cause and, in particular, those who represent them on its Executive Committee. I would like to pay tribute to all those who have made The Debating Group the success it has been these past fifty years, not least those who founded it. I am sure they would be proud of the wide range of debates - some light-hearted, others really quite profound and important - that the Group has held in this time.

"I like to think that the involvement of MPs and peers in such events are useful in alerting them to emergent issues in the media and marketing landscape. Whilst some of the debate motions are very much of their era, others have aged rather better and would not look out of place if they were debated tomorrow. I am hopeful that one of my successors as Chair will be in a position to say something similar come 2075."

It is free to attend Debating Group debates, with numbers only restricted by the capacity of the room in which they take place. The Group's next debate - organised by the Independent Print Industries Association - is scheduled to take place on the early evening of Wednesday 9 July 2025 in Committee Room 12 of the Palace of Westminster, when the motion will be "Campaigns that include print are more effective". For further details and to secure a ticket, please visit The Debating Group page on Eventbrite. Debate reports are published shortly after the event takes place and are available to download from The Debating Group website - www.debatinggroup.co.uk.

-ENDS-

Contact

For further information, please contact -

Rupert Smith (Director of Communications, Newsworks): rupert.smith@newsworks.org.uk / 07786 665266; or

James Delves (Head of PR & External Affairs, CIM): james.delves@cim.co.uk / 07469 158365

Notes for Editors

1. The Debating Group was founded in 1974 by The Communication, Advertising & Marketing Education Foundation, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the Publicity Club of London. Tim Rathbone MP, the then chair of the Advertising Association’s Public Action Group was its first President (1974-1983).

2. In addition to Tim Rathbone MP and Christine Jardine MP, who took on the Presidency of The Debating Group in October 2024, the other Parliamentarians who have held this position have been: Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith DL MP (1983-1989); Sir William Cash CH MP (1989-1992); Iain Mills MP (1992-1997); Austin Mitchell MP (1997-2015); Rt Hon Dame Cheryl Gillan MP (2015-2021); and, Tulip Siddiq MP (2021-2024).

3. Prior to Stephen Woodford, who is also Chief Executive Officer of the Advertising Association, the Chairs of The Debating Group were: Peter Bear, McCann Erickson (1974-1976); Tony Hair, National Advertising (1976-1977); Ken Matthews, The Economist (1977-1989); Ken Miles, Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (1989-1992); Ian Blythe, Market Research Society (1992-1996); Roger Hayward, Institute of Public Relations (1996-1998); Winston Fletcher, Fletcher Delaney (1998-2000); Patricia Mann OBE, JWT (2001-2006); David Hanger, The Economist (2006-2017); Andrew Marsden, Whiteoaks International (2017-2022).

4. The current sponsoring organisations of The Debating Group are: Advertising Association; British Promotional Merchandise Association; Chartered Institute of Marketing; Data & Marketing Association; Independent Print Industries Association; Institute of Promotional Marketing; International Advertising Association; Institute of Practitioners in Advertising; Market Research Society; Newsworks; and, Thinkbox.