Andrew was invited back to the FSB stage after giving a speech to the conference almost 20 years ago. He once again stated his enthusiastic support for the FSB and the SME sector in the UK, citing that many of the great innovations enjoyed by the public come from the SME sector.

The main area of Andrew's speech was dedicated to his passion for improved education amongst young people. He said that every child he sees that has problems in education is a failure not of the child, but a failing education system. He also compared the drive and quality of foreign graduates that are far superior to the graduates the UK is producing. Andrew said that states such as India are steaming ahead of the UK in terms of young, bright and determined graduates.

Politically, Andrew feels that a general election will take place in 2010 and that Gordon Brown PM will be holding on to Downing Street as long as he can. He described this as the John Major syndrome.

Economically, he felt the UK economy was in bad shape but that we would not enter a situation of ‘depression', like the US economy did in the 1920's. He did say that the financial sector in the UK needs reforming, especially the banking sector. He also called on the increased diversification of the economy to help when our sector is hit hard.