Labour MP Frank Field. Anthony Devlin/Press Association. All rights reserved.
Might I add to the excellent note by Michael Dottridge on the origins of the Modern Slavery Act? As with Wilberforce, a Clapham Sect was operative, who should claim the greatest credit for this initiative. Let’s call them the New Clapham Sect for that’s what they are. They are Sam Lawson Johnston, Harry Lawson Johnston, Edward Lawson Johnston, Jonathan Pugh-Smith, George Haddo, Oliver Scutt,Rory Codd, Charles Hart, Benjamin Grizzle and Cameron Young.
I only learnt about the New Clapham Sect on the day of the second reading of the Modern Slavery Bill, as it then was. The Legatum Institute had staged a major seminar which I was addressing, but I was called late in the debate, and came to give my contribution towards the end. Three of the New Clapham Sect attended: Sam, Jonathan and Oliver. Only afterwards did Jonathan introduce himself to me and modestly begin to draw back the curtain on the sect’s role.
