Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch and Boris Johnson are set to appear at the annual conference of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), a right-wing organisation co-founded by Jordan Peterson, at London's Olympia exhibition centre from June 23 to 25. Around 4,000 people from more than 85 countries are expected to attend the three-day summit, which has been dubbed the 'anti-woke Davos'.
What is the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship?
The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is an international network for right-wing activists and thought leaders that aims to 're-lay the foundations of our civilisation'. Based in the UK and founded in 2023, ARC is run by Conservative peer Philippa Stroud, with Canadian conservative pundit Jordan Peterson as a co-founder. The network has multi-millionaire backers, including hedge fund manager Sir Paul Marshall, a co-owner of GB News and the Dubai-based investment fund Legatum. In his speech at last year's event, Marshall claimed that countries were 'being infected by an ideological zeal' leading to net zero plans, sacrificing economic prosperity 'for the sake of making some fractional changes to the level of CO2 in the atmosphere'. The conference has previously received financial backing from American fossil fuel interests, major Trump donors, and billionaire Reform donor Ben Delo.
Who is Attending ARC 2025?
A host of British MPs and peers will attend, alongside politicians from the European right and figures from Donald Trump's administration. Visitors are charged up to £1,500 per ticket for three days of networking and talks. Speakers include Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Other speakers include Chris Wright, Trump's energy secretary, and Bill Anderson, CEO of German pesticides giant Bayer. Sarah Rogers, a senior State Department official promoting right-wing parties abroad, will also speak. Conservative peer and Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, Conservative MP Esther McVey, and Reform MPs Sarah Pochin and Andrew Rosindell are among 40 parliamentarians reportedly on the guest list.
International and Corporate Attendees
US government attendees include Samuel Samson, a State Department official who challenged Britain's communications regulator over online safety laws, Jon Morgan from Vice-President JD Vance's office, and Rodney Mims Cook Jr, overseer of the White House ballroom extension. European attendees include members of Germany's AfD, Romania's Alliance for the Union of Romanians, Belgium's Vlaams Belang, Spain's Vox, and the Netherlands' Party for Freedom. Over a dozen representatives from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the conservative legal advocacy group behind the overturning of Roe v Wade, are expected. Two high-profile figures from Eton College will attend: Tom Arbuthnott, deputy head (partnerships), and Luke Martin, a theology master. Corporate attendees include Johnson & Johnson, Palantir, BP, Philip Morris International, Rio Tinto, Airbus, Sanofi, RedBird Capital, and DP World.
Reactions and Criticism
An ARC spokesperson said the conference brings together leaders from business, culture, politics, and technology to discuss how to 'recover civilisational foundations'. They noted: 'When we launched in 2023, it was tantamount to heresy to challenge net zero – now everyone from Bill Gates and Tony Blair to leaders across the right have made the point that abundant, reliable, cheap energy is the base layer of modern civilisation.' They added that demographic decline is now firmly on the radar as a major risk for the West. However, Georgie Laming from campaign group Hope Not Hate called ARC 'one of the biggest radical right events in the UK and a networking opportunity for the global right and far right', expressing concern about mainstream UK politicians 'rubbing shoulders with US anti-abortion activists, European far right figures and members of the Trump administration who want to bring culture wars to the UK'. Professor Tim Bale of Queen Mary University of London said the gathering is 'a symptom of the collapse of what used to be a heavily policed border between the far and the centre-right', adding that mainstream conservatives seem to have adopted the adage 'If you can't beat them join them'.
