The IEA Ralph Harris Centenary Lecture features an opening address by Brian Kingham, Founder and Chairman of Reliance Security Group, who shares his personal experiences with Ralph Harris and the Institute of Economic Affairs during Britain's turbulent 1970s. As a 25-year-old entrepreneur employing 500 people, Kingham discovered the IEA's innovative market-based solutions while navigating a hostile business environment characterised by trade union power, excessive regulation, and punitive taxation reaching 83%.
Kingham vividly describes the economic challenges of the era: businesses operating by candlelight during the three-day week, compulsory trade union membership, and a pervasive pessimism among Conservative politicians who saw Britain's decline as inevitable. Against this backdrop, he recounts finding Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon "not 3 minutes from here," leading a small group of thinkers who offered an alternative vision for Britain's future through free-market principles.
The talk culminates with Kingham's reflection on the IEA's pivotal role in shaping Margaret Thatcher's economic thinking. He describes how Harris and his "dangerous radicals" helped convince Thatcher of their approach, leading to what he calls "a complete intellectual triumph" that influenced economic policy worldwide. The lecture, marking the centenary of Ralph Harris's birth, celebrates his legacy as a public servant whose ideas helped lift millions out of poverty and continue to influence economic thinking today.
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