The annual SMMT dinner has come around once more. It’s at the Hilton on Park Lane and this year I’m a guest of GKN (best known in automotive for driveline components like constant velocity joints). It’s usually fun, a few people to see over a glass or two of bubbly stuff.

SMMT President Joe Greenwell will be making a speech. Good luck to him. This is a major political set-piece speech so he will be making points about how the industry needs to invest, collaborative initiatives are the way forward, that there is a vital role for UK automotive in sustaining Britain’s economic recovery and so on. The challenge is to focus in on the things that matter, to keep it reasonably short, to say at least one thing that makes people prick up their ears and to get a couple of safe gags or anecdotes in.

Also speaking is Scottish comedian, director and writer Armando Iannucci (he was behind the satirical movie In the Loop, which I thought was very good). I just hope he has a very free brief to say what he likes.

Now then, where’s my dickie-bow…