Rt Hon Rory Stewart OBE Keynote Speaker, Virtual Event Speaker

Few Speakers can offer Rory Stewart’s combination of first-hand experience, intellectual curiosity and unconventional career choices. After serving in the British Army and Diplomatic Service, Rory undertook a remarkable 21-month, 6,000-mile journey across Asia, including a solo walk through Afghanistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban. His experiences became the basis for his bestselling book The Places in Between and helped shape his distinctive understanding of culture, conflict and international intervention.

His subsequent career placed him directly inside some of the most difficult political and humanitarian challenges of recent decades. In Iraq, Rory served as Coalition Deputy Governor of two provinces following the 2003 invasion. He later founded Turquoise Mountain, an organisation focused on restoring historic areas of Kabul while creating opportunities for local communities. At Harvard, he became Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy before returning to public life in Britain.

Rory entered Parliament in 2010 and went on to hold a succession of government positions before becoming a Cabinet Minister. He also stood for Conservative Party leadership in 2019, challenging the political establishment before leaving frontline party politics. His book Politics on the Edge subsequently offered an insider’s examination of Westminster and the realities of modern political leadership.

Today, Rory is a Senior Fellow and Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs, where he teaches politics and international relations. His influence extends well beyond academia through The Rest Is Politics, where he brings nuanced analysis to the major political and geopolitical questions shaping Britain and the world. His latest book, Middleland: Dispatches from the Borders, explores politics, identity, community and the relationship between local and national interests.