Robert Richardson FIH MI @RBWR

We are incredibly proud that the Institute of Hospitality has more members than at any point in the last 20 years. 🎉 More than 17,000 global professionals have chosen to join us: from emerging talent to senior leaders, general managers, educators, and business owners. Thank you to all our members for choosing to be part of our growing, global community of hospitality professionals. If you want to be part of our hospitality family explore the benefits of membership. We are stronger together. instituteofhospitality.org/membership/new… #17kMembers #IoHmembership #imin #IoH #InstituteofHospitality

This morning, a campaign of hope, has trounced a campaign of division. This is a huge moment for the UK. Congratulations @AndyBurnhamGM, the new MP for Makerfield. A Leader who puts place before party.

🍺 MY FIGHT FOR HOSPITALITY CONTINUES- UPDATE!! 🍺  Over the last few years, I've been consistently campaigning for supports for hospitality, including through a VAT cut for hospitality.  At the end of the last parliamentary session a few weeks ago, my petition that I started finished with 20,000 signatures supporting it!! A HUGE amount! The industry has now come together and has united around the VATs Enough campaign- please ask your MP to support my EDM supporting their campaign. 52 have already signed with support from all the parties in Eng Scotland & Wales and DUP & TUV have signed. Let's get a full house!! edm.parliament.uk/early-day-moti…

@HIT_MD1 Well, exactly!

This conversation should never have started, but if it must, it should have ended at "volunteering at Oxfam". Given the MOD challenges and ministerial resignations this week, the civil unrest in NI, and the contraction of our economy should we not be focusing our attention elsewhere? Ridiculous!

@leonburton @UKLabour And that attitude, one not reflected internationally, is why our vital profession needs formal recognition from the Crown, and not the informal relationship we currently have.

The annual Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME) Conference is always a highlight, and this year was expertly hosted by the School of Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey. It was a pleasure to join the panel on "Achieving Excellence with Industry Bodies", sharing perspectives on collaboration between academia, business, and professional organisations, and reflecting on the global impact and work of the Institute of Hospitality. My thanks to Dr. Xuan Lorna Wang for her excellent chairing, and to my fellow panellists, Angela Maher FIH, Jane Pendlebury MIH and Juliane Caillouette Noble, for such an insightful and engaging conversation. #HospitalityFamily #InspireMotivateLearn #imin

After six years as Editor of IoH Magazine, Catherine Chetwynd MIH will retire in October. During her time in the role, Catherine has helped shape the magazine and share the stories, insights and voices of hospitality professionals from across our global community. As Catherine prepares to step down, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Katherine Price MIH as the magazine's new Editor. Read the full story at the link below. instituteofhospitality.org/katherine-pric… #IoHMagazine #Imin #HospitalityNews @RBWR

@neilhay3s @IoH_Online @RosieDuffield1 @Sacha_Lord I agree.

Our CEO, @RBWR joined @Sacha_Lord FIH and other hospitality leaders at a parliamentary round table convened by @RosieDuffield1 last week, with a clear message emerging: reducing hospitality VAT is the single most important step the UK Government could take to provide immediate relief for struggling businesses. If you agree that hospitality VAT should be reduced from 20% to 10%, please support @ChefTomKerridge's campaign and sign the petition. Follow the link below. instituteofhospitality.org/halve-vat-on-h… #VATsTheProblem #Hospitality #InstituteofHospitality #SaveHospitalityBusinesess

@leonburton @frozenwarning @IoH_Online @RosieDuffield1 And blocked.

A wonderful start to the week, enjoying breakfast at "Sunday in Brooklyn" with Elena Attanasio and David Todd from our partners, the Montgomery Group, discussing how the Institute of Hospitality will support this year's Independent Hotel Show in London, and opportunities to support their shows internationally as well. #IndependentHotelShow #StrongerTogether #HospitalityFamily #MeetingOurPartners

@samsingstoomuch @white_andrea_h @FromHospitality @andyjlennox @pub_that @BIIandBIIAB @MickKill @Sacha_Lord @ntiaofficial @IoH_Online @UKHospKate Last word: you've had an offer to meet, sorry you've not chosen to take me up on it.

To this "anonymous" Twitter account (samsingstoomuch), let me say this in what will be my only contribution to an increasingly unhinged tirade that I have been an unwilling visitor to throughout the day. I have already spent eight years of my life dealing with an individual who chose to stalk and harass me both online and in the real world. After enduring two weeks of their jury trial, where they received a 5 year restraining order, I have absolutely no interest in repeating that experience. So let me be clear: you are not relevant. You are a fake account criticising people who are working every day to support a profession that provides employment for 3.5 million people across the United Kingdom. If you disagree with what we do, that is entirely your right. Debate is healthy, disagreement is welcome, and scrutiny comes with leadership. My email address is [email protected]. Send me a message, put your name to your views, and I will happily have a conversation with you wherever is convenient. Wherever in the UK you want to meet, i will be there. So long as you are too, face to face, not behind a social media fake. Debate is the cornerstone of a democratic society. Anonymous abuse from behind a fake profile is not. The difference between us is simple: I stand publicly behind every word I say. The question is whether you are prepared to do the same.

@DMatiqu @FromHospitality @samsingstoomuch @andyjlennox @white_andrea_h @pub_that @BIIandBIIAB @MickKill @Sacha_Lord @ntiaofficial @IoH_Online Bless you Daniel, that's very kind.

@EmmaLewell Great to meet you in Parliament this week Emma, and thank you for your support at such a difficult time for our profession!

Really powerful hospitality roundtable organised by my friend and colleague @RosieDuffield1 this week. The sector needs a VAT cut. ✂️

Huge news. Finally...support for small business across the UK as @AndyBurnhamGM calls to slash business rates. "Labour have got it wrong on small business, they are the heart and soul of Britain." In my sector, this will help pubs, cafes, family run independent restaurants, live music venues etc. Full story below.

Reform's candidate for Makerfield walked into a BBC Question Time by-election special tonight and didn't walk out of it in one piece. Robert Kenyon arrived carrying the weight of a week in which his party leader called for "pure cold rage," refused to condemn disorder at PMQs, and told Times Radio the violence was "just the beginning." His job was to deliver Reform's message to a live audience two weeks before polling day. He did not manage it. Kenyon had already deleted all of his previous social media accounts after posts emerged in which he agreed with a user saying he wanted to "smell and lick" an intimate area belonging to Carol Vorderman, and others in which he directly identified as a sexist and attacked women who had undergone abortions. He had dismissed the posts as "squaddie humour." Vorderman sent an open letter to 6,000 female voters in Makerfield ahead of tonight's programme. Within minutes of the show opening, a woman in the audience told Kenyon she would rather have a career politician than a sexist. He was asked directly to apologise to Vorderman. He deflected. Later, a member of the LGBTQ+ community called him a sexist from the floor. He had been called it twice before Fiona Bruce reached the two-tier policing question, the one Farage spent the entire week building toward nationally. When it came, Kenyon fumbled it. The erms and the you-knows took over. The media training, visible throughout as a series of mechanical pivots to party lines, fell apart precisely when the stakes were highest. He eventually said he condemned the Southampton violence. It took two public accusations of sexism and most of the programme to get there. Farage could not say the same words in Parliament on Wednesday. On Reform's pledge of 30,000 extra police officers, Kenyon was asked how the party would fund and deliver it. His answer: that's a problem for whoever is in charge of that. The audience laughed. On the Green Belt question, local, specific, the kind of thing Makerfield voters actually care about, he pivoted to immigration. The room had already decided by then. An audience member put the sharpest question of the night: how can you trust a leader who took a £5 million donation not to sell off the Green Belt to the highest bidder? Kenyon's answer was that it's going through Parliament, so it's not his problem. Three times in one evening, on three different questions, some variant of not my problem. Andy Burnham did the opposite of all of it. He said plainly that if he wins Makerfield he will run for Prime Minister. He pointed to crime falling in Greater Manchester as the record he would take forward nationally. He said he would take a serious look at the knife exemptions for religious purposes. No pivots. No deflections. Actual positions, stated plainly, in front of an audience that responded to every one of them, including, at points, the Conservative candidate getting warmer applause than Kenyon in a Labour heartland. Kenyon said this morning that Makerfield was a win-win, that even a loss would give Labour a bloody nose. Tonight looked more like a write-off. The by-election is 18 June. Polymarket has Burnham at 74%. #bbcqt