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articleanalysisInside CPAC London: Charlatans, conspiracy theories and loud snoringBy Riley Stuart in LondonTopic:World
PoliticsPosted Thu 23 Jul 2026 at 5:14amThu 23 Jul 2026 at 5:14amThu 23 Jul 2026 at 5:14am, updated Thu 23 Jul 2026 at
2:15pmThu 23 Jul 2026 at 2:15pmThu 23 Jul 2026 at 2:15pmOne Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Reform UK's Nigel
Farage chat on the sidelines of CPAC. (X:
@OneNationAus)abc.net.au/news/inside-cpac-london-conspiracy-theories-and-empty-seats/106942500Link copiedShareShare
articleIn 10 years at the ABC, I've had some strange experiences. I can now add last week's CPAC conference in
London to the list, and it's going somewhere near the top.After two and a half days, I left with serious questions
about where right-wing politics was heading, not just in Britain but abroad, too.On the auditorium stage, current and
former MPs decried the state of the United Kingdom. Between their speeches were sermons from conspiracy theorists and
charlatans. Here's a taste: One panel on Saturday was titled The Truth About Covid. It was presented by a major
anti-vax group.Also at the conference, Australian senators Pauline Hanson and Bridget McKenzie each had their own
speaking slots, but small audiences. Indeed, sparse attendances were a feature of the whole thing.It got me thinking;
who is this event actually for?Pauline Hanson spoke to about 120 people at CPAC on Saturday. (ABC News: Riley Stuart)The
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was first held in the United States in the 1970s, and populist, MAGA
diehards have towered over its latest iterations. While multiple foreign countries, including Australia, have hosted
their own CPACs, this is the first time the UK has staged one.There were early warning signs last Thursday when only a
few dozen people were in the InterContinental Hotel's Arora Ballroom to hear Liz Truss open proceedings. The
former British PM — CPAC's UK chair — strode out onto the stage to music and flashing lights to demand the
civil service be dismantled (she sometimes calls this "the blob") and complain her country had churned through
too many leaders in the past decade.The UK has had seven PMs since 2016, but had Truss forgotten she was the most
short-lived of them all? Her tenure in office lasted just 49 chaotic days in 2022. A live-streamed lettuce with googly
eyes stuck to it famously outlasted her.Truss had become so unpopular by the last general election that she was booted
out of her previously safe Conservative seat and sent into the political wilderness. Presumably, it's how she ended
up at CPAC. As one journalist quipped to me: "Couldn't run the country and can't run a
conference."CPAC chair Matt Schlapp and former UK prime minister Liz Truss take to the stage in London. (Instagram:
@cpac_gb)The event was held in North Greenwich. London is among the cultural capitals of the world, but this partly
gentrified industrial area is so soulless, it would give Sydney Olympic Park or Melbourne's Docklands a run for
their money.The desolate environment was compounded by the lack of attendees. There were just so few people who turned
up to CPAC this year, it all felt a bit deflating. One criticism I heard constantly was that the format had far too much
American razzle dazzle to be palatable for a British audience.When Truss asked the crowd on day one what they thought of
Andy Burnham (the UK's new PM), it elicited a few limp "boos". Someone who was there later posted online
about the lack of enthusiasm in the auditorium, saying they had seen more life in a supermarket clearance bin.Things got
worse. During a session on Friday, my colleague Latika Bourke noted a man behind her in the crowd had "fallen
asleep and was snoring loudly".Away from the main stage, an adjacent room where a handful of exhibitors had set up
stalls seemed to be deserted every time I stuck my head in. The corridors and bars around the cavernous five-star
complex were largely empty too.Where was everyone? Perhaps the VIP area, which you had to pay 10,000 pounds ($19,100) to
access. I'll never know.Sea of empty seats for most speakersMany of those at CPAC London seemed to have made their
way there from the political fringes. They're the type of people you hear lament: "I didn't leave the
Conservatives, the Conservatives left me."There was more youth in the crowd than you might think. I spotted Lorcan
Barker, a 19-year-old far-right activist who goes by the online alias Angloid, taking selfies. He advocates for mass
deportations and spoke at a remigration summit in Portugal earlier this year. Last month, he posted a video on Instagram
claiming the Daily Mail had falsely accused him of being a white supremacist.After CPAC concluded, he took to social
media to say the whole thing had been "terrible". "I got countless dirty looks," he wrote on X.Full
disclosure: I could not attend the Thursday sessions of CPAC but watched a few online. My boss, Mazoe Ford, went to some
in-person, though.By the time I arrived at the venue on Friday, things had picked up a little. In the afternoon, a
decent crowd was building for the most high-profile speaker at the conference, Reform UK leader Nigel
Farage.Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart was spotted in the crowd last week. (ABC News: Daniel Pannet)Ahead
of his address, I watched Gina Rinehart sashay to a seat near the front. The Australian billionaire was hard to miss,
donning bejewelled sandals and a pink cowboy hat (tell me you have just been holidaying in Sicily without telling me).A
little later, Hanson made her way into the venue with her chief-of-staff, James Ashby. She looked annoyed as she strode
through the doors. Then I noticed my colleague Elias Clure trailing her with a microphone. Ah, that explains it, I
thought.Farage is riding high in UK opinion polls. Whether you agree with his politics or not, he is a brilliant orator.
In a searing 30-minute address, he seldom looked at notes and got a standing ovation, albeit from a very friendly
crowd."I genuinely believe we are in a battle for the soul of our nation," he said, before going on to talk
about immigration, the economy and how the party he founded, Reform UK, could win the next general election (not due to
be held until 2029)."I believe an historic upset is on the cards," he said.On the way out of the auditorium, I
overheard one man gushing to another: "How can you not love him?"Reform UK leader Nigel Farage drew the
biggest crowd of the conference. (X: @Nigel_Farage)The fact the audience was packed out for Farage was an aberration.
When Hanson spoke on Saturday morning, the room was less than a quarter full. By the time McKenzie took to the stage
later that day, there were even fewer bums on seats.The Nationals deputy leader went a little off-piste in her speech,
telling those who were still in attendance that dishing out foreign aid was actually OK, so long as it was to prevent
the Chinese having influence in the Pacific. She admitted those listening to her would probably be sceptical. No-one
clapped.The discussions at CPAC were a mixed bag. A panel named The Problem With Central Banks featured two people from
cryptocurrency groups. Consecutive sessions on Thursday were initially given titles complaining about "the
blob", so one was changed to What About White Working-Class Boys?American activist Jack Posobiec delivered a speech
on the opening afternoon. You might remember him as being among the main pushers of the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy
theory (if you don't, I'll let you Google that one).A few people at CPAC told me they felt the fringe nature
of some sessions took away from what could have been, in several cases, constructive conversations.For example, Ellie
Reynolds, a survivor of child sexual abuse at the hands of Britain's so-called grooming gangs, was among those
speaking on Saturday.Topical political issues like the UK's cost-of-living crisis, levels of migration and the
education system were key themes across the two and a half days.Loading YouTube contentAfter Hanson's speech, it
was my job to wait outside the VIP room and ask her questions in case she emerged. After about an hour, I abandoned my
post because I had to file a story (and, to use a favoured phrase of the One Nation leader's, I'd had a
gutful). As it turned out, Hanson gave Australian journalists the slip and found a way to exit the conference
undetected.If I had been able to track her down, I would have asked her about her decision to participate in an
interview with anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson — something that has been widely criticised — while in the
UK. Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a convicted criminal and did not speak at the conference.I returned to
the auditorium in time to catch some of The Truth About Covid session. It was what those in mainstream medicine would
describe as absolute quackery.The panel included Danish doctor Vibeke Manniche, who is not permitted to practise
independently. She received a suspended prison sentence in 2024 for issuing invalid COVID test exemptions. She was
joined, among others, by Maria Hubmer-Mogg, a charismatic Austrian physician and anti-COVID activist who was fired from
a clinic in 2021 over her views.Matt Schlapp takes the stage at the CPAC conference in the US earlier this year.
(Reuters: Daniel Cole)Globally, CPAC is chaired by US lobbyist Matt Schlapp, who loomed large over the event in London.
Schlapp, 58, has faced allegations of sexual assault multiple times, but denies all and has never been charged with a
crime. He settled a lawsuit with one male accuser in 2024 for $US480,000 ($684,000).In the US, CPAC is huge. It has been
staged in Australia multiple times. In fact, it has now been held in Poland, Brazil, Japan, the list goes on. There are
plans to expand to Italy next year.A blurb on CPAC's website said the London gathering would "unite
common-sense politics". The conference is supposed to serve as a launch pad for conservative grassroots political
advocacy and energise right-wingers. I'm not certain that happened last week.Several conservative media outlets
were critical of the event. "It was shallow, senseless and utterly detrimental to the conservative cause it claimed
to champion," was The Spectator's review. "The name itself is lifted directly from its American
counterpart, and the cheap imports only became more apparent from there," a story on the UK website Conservative
Home read.For the moderate right, this CPAC was too radical. For hardliners, it was not extreme enough.On Saturday,
Schlapp said the inaugural UK event had laid a good foundation for future summits. I took that to mean: We know no-one
came this time, but we will hold it again next year.I hope they do. I can't wait to go back, although I'm not
sure how many others will join me.Share optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)See more ABC coverage in your
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