One week on from Conservative Party Conference and it’s safe to say that our wave is gaining momentum. Not only did Conservative Friends of the Ocean have the hottest ticket on Sunday for a ‘sold-out’ Gin and Rum Reception with Honorary Captain, Leader of the House of Commons, The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP as our special guest speaker, we were also delighted to host some of our other Patrons as well as Foreign Ambassadors, Councillors and ocean lovers alike.

As a new organisation, we knew that a slick operation was required. How do we take Conservatives along on the journey with us? And how do we ensure that we lay out our values and visions at such a stellar event as the annual Party Conference, which has more and more dazzling events with each year?

We were fortunate to hold a ‘soft launch’ for Conservative Friends of the Ocean at the historic Square Tower in Old Portsmouth in September, attended by coastal MPs, Councillors, Council Leaders, grassroots members, Scientists, Academics, Surfers and Sailors. We perfected the format at that event which put us in good stead for #CPC22 in Birmingham.

It was at our first launch event in Old Portsmouth that we started our partnership with a small local distillery in Portsmouth (the home city of both us co-founders), who created a superb ‘Spiced Rum’ cocktail for our events. This was important to us on two counts: We know that Conservative Party Conference goers love a bouji-drink at a fringe event, and significantly, we wanted to be able to support a small local coastal business. And we must pay our thanks to The Portsmouth Distillery. Compliments on both their Gin and Spiced Rum were free-flowing.

And of course such star-power as our friend and Patron, Penny Mordaunt MP was a real win for us. Penny, as always brought an interesting and informative angle on how we can help our coastal communities and our coastal waters, the merits of doing so and the huge amount of opportunities waiting to still be seized. And, importantly how they all go hand-in-hand. As a coastal MP and Royal Navy Reservist, Penny truly understands the issues that coastal communities and the ocean face.

*Honouary Captian, Leader of the House of Commons, The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP was our special guest speaker.*

The majority of our team were on hand (and who I must say are exceptional people - Our Director has curated a fantastic team of many talents), plus some of our very good colleagues and friends who stepped up to the challenge of being chief doormen (Thomas Mcnally and Charlie Douglas - as our event were not only sold out but we also had a waiting list many times over). And a further thank you to our brilliant supporters who helped us set-up the event on the day. And of course, we must thank the hard-working staff at the International Convention Centre. They were superb.

Our event allowed us to introduce our key focus areas and themes to those present. Each theme, was developed by our Director Marc Nykolyszyn and our Strategy and Policy Lead, Oliver Kerr. The five themes are inspired by our Five Great Oceans. Marc and Ollie took our founding ideas and turned them into fully realised policy areas fit for advising and supporting our government. To that end, both Daniel and I have a huge amount of gratitude and thanks owed to both Marc and Ollie.

*Conservative Friends of the Ocean Director, Marc Nykolyszyn introduces our policies and our mission to #CPC22*

Our fantastic Campaigns and Ocean Literacy Lead, Harry Gillow QC led the charge around both Ocean Literacy and our ‘in-house’ campaigns to conference attendees. Seeing the sparks of our ideas being expanded and blown up into policy, tsunami’d out into all spheres of the great and good of the Conservative Party (as well as government ministers) was incredible to witness. And that’s exactly what happened.

We could feel there was a buzz around Conservative Friends of the Ocean as we arrived in Birmingham. We have been fortunate that people who have been following the expansion of our new start-up (since we appeared on Twitter), following a unanimously-passed Council Motion, tabled by myself and Daniel at Local Government level. The positive feedback and goodwill that Conservative Friends of the Ocean has received have been both overwhelming and humbling.

Our launch event on the opening day of #CPC22 was just the start. #MakingWaves at #CPC22 was our tagline. The tidal wave of goodwill felt unstoppable. And, as surfers, riding at the front of this ‘party wave’ saw our team having brilliant and productive conversations with MPs, Ministers, Lords and Political movers and shakers. And to our delight, this culminated in the vast majority of them wanting to be involved or to become Patrons and ambassadors for Conservative Friends of the Ocean.

*Co-Founders, Cllr Daniel Wemyss and Robert New with Alicia Kearns MP (Centre), one of our new Patrons.*

We were also delighted to be invited to participate in the Conservative Policy Forum events that look to shape the next Conservative and Unionist Party manifesto by the Chair of the Conservative Policy Forum, Penny-Anne O’Donnell. Another one of our founding aspirations was to help channel ideas, troubleshooting/solutions and policy creation from coastal grassroots members into the Policy Forum.

*Policy and Strategy Lead, Oliver Kerr and Director, Marc Nykolyszyn helping to shape the party’s next manifesto.*

It really feels like we’re now on the political map following our launch reception. We’ve had the honour of being followed by some of the marine industries' most respected organisations and welcomed by some of the biggest political hitters in the current and previous Conservative governments. And importantly, for us, marine industry professionals too.

We’re already thinking about #CPC23 and how we turn the waves of positivity and enthusiasm of #CPC22 into an even bigger event for even more party members to attend. And we want to turbo-charge the winds of change that power our biggest and most impressive waves for a real ‘sea change', to do good by our coastal and marine environments and the people who work and live there.

Robert New

Co-Founder, Conservative Friends of the Ocean |

#MakingWaves one week on from #CPC22

Protecting our oceans will not just facilitate economic growth, but accelerate it.

Watch our #CPC launch video

Conservative Friends of the Ocean