America’s flagship right-wing conference arrives in Britain with a network of Russian connections

No sooner had the climate-sceptic delegates of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) spilled out of the sweltering Olympia Exhibition Centre after their latest political jamboree, that London began preparing for another gathering of the international right.

From 16 – 18 July, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Great Britain makes its UK debut. Its launch was announced in Budapest at CPAC Hungary by former prime minister Liz Truss, who appeared alongside Argentine president Javier Milei, Alternative für Deutschland co-leader Alice Weidel and former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, while Donald Trump addressed delegates by video.

Truss used the occasion to argue that Britain needs the same political revolution now taking place in the United States under Trump, and that the British public has rejected the country’s current direction.

“They want to have a family, they want a nice car, they want to go on a nice holiday, they want to live in a Christian country,” she told delegates, adding people “don’t want their country taken over.”

For decades, CPAC was an exclusively American institution. Founded in 1974, its original keynote speaker was Ronald Reagan, then governor of California. Today it has evolved into the principal gathering of the international Trump-allied right, exporting its brand through conferences in Hungary, Brazil, Japan, Australia, and now Britain.

The launch has been accompanied by a depressingly familiar narrative. Public affairs magazine MACE describes CPAC Great Britain as “uniting common-sense politics with a fiercely pro-growth, pro-sovereignty agenda,” while promising to “Save Britain, Save the West”.

It might make convincing marketing, but CPAC GB is not simply another conservative conference. It’s part of a growing transnational political network whose participants, funders and speakers can be traced to pro-Kremlin interests, narratives and personalities.

Its arrival also raises another question. Why is Britain suddenly hosting two major right-wing conferences within weeks of one another? Are ARC and CPAC cultivating different constituencies within the same wider political movement, or are they competing for influence, donors and activists on Britain’s increasingly fragmented right?

Either way, CPAC’s network merits scrutiny.

A founder with Russian connections

CPAC Great Britain was established by a man who spent years working for a charitable foundation created by a sanctioned pro-Russian oligarch.

Companies House records show that CPAC London Ltd was registered in March with Liz Truss and lawyer Alexander Walsh as its directors. Walsh resigned as a director of CPAC London Ltd on June 5.

Democracy for Sale reports that for five years Walsh served as secretary of the Firtash Foundation, funded by Ukrainian-born gas magnate Dmytro Firtash, whose fortune was built through gas deals involving Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

The UK sanctioned Firtash in 2024, describing him as “an infamous oligarch” who extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from Ukraine through corruption while concealing substantial assets in Britain. His wife, Lada Firtash, was also sanctioned for holding UK assets on his behalf, including the former Brompton Road Underground station.

Ukraine has likewise sanctioned Firtash, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy having described him as a “pro-Russian oligarch.”

Walsh previously worked for the London litigation firm Enyo Law, which has represented numerous Russian state-controlled banks and companies, and later established the Vorontsov Foundation to promote cultural relations between Britain and Russia.

But Walsh is not the only figure connected to CPAC GB whose Russian record raises questions.
A platform for familiar voices

Nigel Farage, who had reportedly considered avoiding the event, has since been announced as one of its keynote speakers.

Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, described Farage’s appearance as evidence that “this is where he belongs.”

“Farage said he wouldn’t turn up to CPAC GB, Liz Truss’ embarrassing attempt at a comeback, but he just couldn’t stay away because this is where he belongs – with the grifters of recently failed governments,” said Dearden.

Farage’s record on Russia is well established. For years he argued that NATO and EU enlargement helped provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, famously warning that “when you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don’t be surprised when he reacts.”

Asked in 2014 which world leader he most admired, Farage replied: “As an operator… Putin.” During the Syrian civil war, he also praised Vladimir Putin’s strategy as “brilliant”.

Another CPAC GB speaker is George Simion, leader of Romania’s far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). Simion has become one of Europe’s most prominent nationalist politicians, championing Donald Trump while taking aim at Brussels, threatening to break EU laws he disagrees with.

His political career has also been dogged by allegations of links to Russian interests. Romania’s Foreign Intelligence Service reportedly investigated claims that he met Russian military intelligence officers, while a Moldovan court upheld findings that associated him with “Moscow agents.” Simion denies any relationship with Russian intelligence.

He has also pledged to end Romanian military and financial support for Ukraine if elected, a position analysts argue would benefit the Kremlin’s strategic objectives.

Then there is Jack Posobiec, the American far-right commentator due to speak in London. Posobiec has a history of boosting Russian-backed conspiracy theories about the war in Ukraine, including claims that Boris Johnson sabotaged a peace agreement in 2022.

So, do the two groups collaborate?

There is no evidence that the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) are formally linked. They are distinct organisations with different leadership and histories. But they clearly inhabit the same political space.

Both conferences draw from a similar pool of politicians, commentators, campaigners and culture-war entrepreneurs. Nigel Farage, for example, used his appearance at ARC 2026 to champion many of the same themes that dominate the CPAC circuit: the defence of Western civilisation, the centrality of the family, the revival of small business, national sovereignty and energy independence.

But the connections extend beyond headline speakers. Together Declaration, for example, originally established to oppose COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccination policies, has since become closely associated with campaigns against digital identity schemes and other perceived threats to civil liberties.

Its backers include climate science sceptic Ben Pile, co-founder and principal writer of the Climate Resistance blog, which describes itself as “challenging the climate orthodoxy,” Reform UK’s 2024 London mayoral candidate Howard Cox, and former UKIP leader Lois Perry.
In a recent Instagram post, the organisation announced:

“We’ll be spreading the message at both the ARC Conference and CPAC GB conferences this summer on Digital ID, free speech, and key issues that matter to all of us.”

Activist organisations clearly see no contradiction in treating ARC and CPAC as complementary platforms for reaching the same audience.

ARC presents itself as an intellectual movement seeking to renew Western civilisation. CPAC is a more overtly partisan political operation focused on campaigning and electoral mobilisation.

Different conferences. Different branding. But both draw from many of the same politicians and activists, including figures with close ties to Russia or records of promoting pro-Kremlin narratives. That deserves far closer scrutiny than it has so far received.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is author of Right-Wing Watch