Greg Wright: Curtain call for event that put Yorkshire on global map

As Dr Hans Blix approached the platform, few would have been prepared for the ruthless elegance of his assault on the decision to attack Iraq on the basis of flawed intelligence.

His delivery was calm, dispassionate and utterly devastating. He was providing a first-hand account of the most controversial event of modern times for the benefit of a Yorkshire business audience. At the time, I commented that the former weapons inspector had come not to bury the reputations of George Bush and Tony Blair but to gently drain away their credibility.

I will never forget my first visit to the Yorkshire International Business Convention. In the summer of 2004, the world was still reeling from the consequences of the war in Iraq, and Mike Firth, the YIBC organiser, had pulled off the stunning coup of attracting one of the key players in the drama to Harrogate.

We are facing the end of an era, as the YIBC makes its curtain call in Leeds this summer, although the sister event in Bridlington Spa will keep the flame burning.

As Firth ruefully acknowledged yesterday, they have almost run out of former US Presidents to invite. Perhaps the event has become a victim of its own success. How do you top Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who ended the Cold War, and Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon? Mr Firth also managed to attract Desmond Tutu, who played a key role in demolishing apartheid, and Rudy Giulaini, who provided inspirational leadership for New Yorkers in the aftermath of September 11.

Nobody will forget Bob Geldof’s last-minute appearance in 2007. He dropped in by helicopter from the G8 summit in Germany and brought the crowd to its feet with a passionate attack on the economic forces that condemn millions to poverty.

Instead of mourning the loss of YIBC in Leeds, let’s pay tribute to a fabulous event that placed Yorkshire on the global corporate map.

But who was the event’s greatest speaker? For me, none was more powerful than Dr Blix, who seemed the epitome of the doggedly polite Swedish civil servant.

If he’d been given more time to carry out his task, the world would be a different place.

Dr Blix, who led the UN inspection team which made a futile bid to resolve the Iraq crisis peacefully, said war had been a costly way of proving Saddam had no WMD.

In Britain and the US there was “mutual intoxication” between the intelligence agencies and the policy makers, Mr Blix told the audience.

He warned that the war and occupation may have stimulated rather than stifled terrorism. Launching the invasion to topple Saddam without broad international support damaged the UN’s authority and injured the global war on terrorism, Dr Blix argued.

His words have a grim resonance today, and historians will note that they were spoken in Yorkshire.

Mike Firth was characteristically upbeat yesterday, even joking that the decision to keep the East Yorkshire YIBC event alive could be interpreted as “Bridlington Town 1, Leeds United 0”.

He’s certainly expecting plenty of media interest when the Dalai Lama heads to Leeds on June 15 for this year’s event.

So why has Bridlington survived when Leeds has bitten the dust? Well, they’re a close-knit bunch in East Yorkshire, and the event in Bridlington is expected to attract 650 people – quite an achievement in the current economic climate – which is not much smaller than the anticipated audience in Leeds.

So, by managing expectations, the East Yorkshire event, which was originally just a spin-off, seems viable. In recent years, the speaker list in Harrogate, although impressive, hasn’t quite matched the stellar heights of the Clinton and Gorbachev years. Belt-tightening caused by the slump means that fewer companies are going to pay to send their staff and guests to the YIBC.

Some of the event’s supporting speakers have been disappointing. US poker player Phil Hellmuth’s underwhelming performance in 2006 must still haunt the organisers.

So perhaps now is a wise time to bow out, with a Nobel Peace Prize laureate taking centre stage.

I believe YIBC’s legacy will live on outside East Yorkshire.

Mr Firth hopes to hold high profile events with a single speaker in the not too distant future.

A few years from now, I can picture former President Obama’s advisers scanning the map in search of European speaking engagements.

Now, where was that place President Bush senior visited back in 2006?

Didn’t he say it was the British equivalent of Texas?