Matt Goodwin

Matt Goodwin

Share this post

Matt Goodwin
Matt Goodwin
What I told NatCon Brussels
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

What I told NatCon Brussels

My speech from the event the left tried to shut down

Apr 18, 2024
∙ Paid
156

Share this post

Matt Goodwin
Matt Goodwin
What I told NatCon Brussels
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
65
5
Share

Matt Goodwin’s Substack goes to more than 57,000+ subscribers from 167 countries around the world and thousands of paying supporters who support our work. Like our stuff? Then help us expand by becoming a paid supporter and access everything —the full archive, Live with Matt every Friday, exclusive posts, polling, leave comments, join the debate, get discounts, notice about events, and the knowledge you’re supporting independent writers who are pushing back against the grain. Join us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X and Facebook.

Support Matt's Work

I’m writing this on the Eurostar, heading home after what can only be described as a historic few days at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Belgium.

As you may have seen, the conference became a global story when an alliance of local left-wing mayors and left-wing extremists repeatedly tried to shut down it.

So alarmed were they about the fact democratically elected politicians, prime ministers and scholars might want to meet to discuss issues such as the glaring ‘democratic deficit’ in the European Union, the impact of immigration in the West, and the future of Europe that they tried to do everything they could to shut it down.

Two venues suddenly pulled out of hosting the conference at the last minute while the police then arrived at the third to declare the event was going to be shut down.

People were free to leave, they said, but they would not be allowed to return to the building, effectively shutting down the conference and the discussion.

Was I in Belgium or North Korea? I wasn’t quite sure.

I won’t go through all the details here —as my fellow Substacker and Times columnist Melanie Phillips, also at the event, has aptly summarised them here.

Suffice to say the symbolism was not lost on us.

Here, at the very heart of the European Union, in the capital of what is meant to be a Western liberal democracy, was a concerted effort to shut down free speech, free expression and the market place of ideas.

Well, they failed.

After the police arrived, we simply refused to leave. The conference continued. A legal case was won in the late hours of Tuesday evening, ensuring the remainder of the conference could go ahead. And then the indefatigable owner of the venue, a passionate defender of free speech from Tunisia, raided his wine cellar.

Meanwhile, everybody from Rishi Sunak to Belgium’s prime minister hit the air waves to denounce the local left-wing mayors and left-wing extremist activists for trying to stamp out democracy —that is, except Britain’s Labour Party which is apparently fine with suppressing free speech.

Radicals 0 —Democracy 1.

So here, along with a few behind-the-scenes pictures from this historic event, is what I told NatCon Brussels —about the dire state of conservatism in Britain, about the dire state of our country, and about what to do next.

Onwards.

Matt.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Matt Goodwin to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Matt Goodwin
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More