Ella Eyre joins our celebration of the city’s most influential people
Singer Eyre will headline star-studded party at Canary Wharf Crossrail station to launch The Progress 1000
ELLA EYRE will headline the Evening Standard’s annual celebration of influential Londoners next month.
The Brit Award winner will perform at the launch of The Progress 1000, a unique gathering of Londoners who are leaders in the fields of politics, the arts, science, fashion, sport and business, on September 16.
To mark the one-month countdown, we can reveal today that this year’s star-studded party is going underground. It will be held at Canary Wharf ’s Crossrail station, one of 10 new stations being built as part of the £15 billion east-west rail link due to open in 2018.
Singer Eyre, 21, who was raised in Ealing, will be joined by the London Contemporary Voices choir.
The ninth annual edition of The 1000 will throw the spotlight on London’s “progress makers”. They are the people who have led the way in redrawing our capital’s skyline, infrastructure and interiors, from hard hats to soft furnishings.
Over the next four weeks, the Evening Standard will celebrate many of the influencers who feature in this year’s list, including the latest crop of rising stars, the new political elite and globetrotters who sell London to the world. The list will be unveiled in full on the night of the party — with editions in print, online, iPad and, for the first time, iPhone.
Sarah Sands, editor of the Evening Standard, said: “The 1000 book and party have become the story of London. Our list changes each year to reflec t the themes and personalities shaping our city. This year, as Crossrail powers through the c apital, we take our par t y underground and shine a light on the ‘progress makers’. We celebrate a London of tomorrow that is being created by those making a difference today.”
The Progress 1000 has three headline sponsors: Canary Wharf Group, global bank Citi and Crossrail. The book featuring the list of leading Londoners is sponsored by housebuilder Berkeley Group. Crossrail chairman Terry Morgan said: “We are delighted to host the Evening Standard Progress 1000 event at Canary Wharf Crossrail station. Crossrail is the most significant addition to London’s transport network in a generation.” James Bardrick, head of Citi in the UK, said: “From the Panama Canal to London’s Garden Bridge, we at Citi are passionate champions of bold ideas and enabling progress for over 200 years. We are proud to support a true celebration of the most influential Londoners in one of the world’s most exciting cities.”
This year’s part y continues the trend of hosting a broad mix of theatre directors, technology entrepreneurs and cabinet ministers at quintessential London locations that represent our changing city.
Two years ago, the event was the last to be held at Battersea Power Station before it was shut for an £8 billion redevelopment. Guests included Mayor Boris Johnson, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Sir Marcus Setchell, the doctor who delivered Prince George.
Last year it took place at the Francis Crick Institute, the medical research centre that will open this year. Among the guests were Chancellor George Osborne, Professor Stephen Hawking and BBC Trust chairwoman Rona Fairhead. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sent a video message.
AS THE ballot for the new Labour leader begins today, it is clear that the complexion of the UK’s main opposition party has already changed markedly since the general election defeat on May 7. We do not know how many of its 80,000 new members failed to vote for Ed Miliband’s party three months ago; we can, however, guess that a greater proportion will back its transformation into Jeremy Corbyn’s party in the coming weeks.
Renewal is vital in politics, which thrives on fresh ideas. Miliband talked about it himself in a speech in 2010, after another election defeat and another swell in membership. He said that a movement needed high ideals and to show how the country can be changed for the better. His ambition was to be once again the “people’s party”.
In his intervention yesterday, Gordon Brown returned to the theme. He indirectly warned Labour members that voting for Corbyn would sacrifice its potency as a political force for the purity of ideas. He invoked one of the party’s great leaders, Aneurin Bevan, who desired to be remembered “as a builder, not just a dreamer, and never again the sufferer”.
Deputy leadership hopeful Stella Creasy is correct when she says today that Labour must not fear its new members. The party could borrow some tips from the Greens, who have been effective in harnessing new grassroots support, especially in London.
The difference is that Labour is a party used to power and not just protest. It is vital to energise those who come to politics anew. But the cause they rally around takes Labour down a dangerous path unless it makes it more electable, not less so.