The ever-popular annual Conservative Friends of Cyprus New Year’s reception was again held in Parliament with a packed-house of leading Parliamentarians, London Mayoral Candidate Susan Hall AM and leading members of the British Cypriot community.
Last Wednesday’s event was attended by Conservative MPs, diplomats and other friends of Cyprus, with MPs making the effort to attend between back-to-back votes in the House of Commons.
Parliamentarians attending included the Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party, Sara Britcliffe MP, CFCyprus President the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, Sir Roger Gale MP, Matthew Offord MP, Paul Scully MP, Martin Vickers MP, together with numerous senior party officials and councillors.
Greetings were provided by CFCyprus Chairman Jason Charalambous, and the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus to the UK, HE Andreas S Kakouris. The traditional ceremony of the cutting of the Vasilopita was led by the Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese the Very Revd Fr Nephon Tsimalis.
In his opening address Mr Charalambous commented that the Cypriot community in the UK is “very fortunate” to have so many dedicated supporters in parliament, in particularly singling out Mr Offord who will be stepping down as an MP at the next election and has been a stalwart Parliamentary supporter these past 14 years.
Theresa Villiers conveyed her and her colleagues’ commitment to continue to defend and promote justice for Cyprus in Parliament and beyond, and the Party’s Deputy Chair Sara Britcliffe, together with London mayoral candidate Susan Hall paid tribute to the Cypriot community in their addresses.