Sir Simon Fraser & Rt. Hon. Gisela Stuart on UK Foreign Policy After the Pandemic

In November 2019, the British Foreign Policy Group brought together our two inaugural Presidents, Sir Simon Fraser and Rt. Hon. Gisela Stuart, to discuss their visions for UK foreign policy after Brexit. The discussion was held in the spectre of the forthcoming General Election, as we headed towards ‘Brexit Day’ on the 31st of January, and with the Government’s Integrated Review of our Defence, Security, Development and Foreign Policy underway.

We are delighted to reconvene Sir Simon and Gisela again, to discuss the new paradigms of foreign policy in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. How will this global crisis shape the UK’s priorities, our opportunities, and the challenges of the international landscape we seek to re-enter as ‘a truly Global Britain’? How can we anticipate the future of the liberal world order, and what role should the UK play in its defence and promotion? And how can the UK Government build public consent for its vision of our place in the world?

This is an online webinar, held via Zoom. The discussion will be moderated by Sophia Gaston, the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions of the speakers. Please register your details, with the email address associated with your Zoom account, to receive the link to participate in the webinar.

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Speakers:

• Sir Simon Fraser GCMG: Sir Simon is a founder and managing director of Flint Global, a business advisory firm. He is also one of the founding trustees of the Patchwork Foundation, a newly established charity which works to promote and encourage the positive integration of under-represented, deprived and minority communities into British democracy and civil society. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). In his public service career, Sir Simon was the Head of the UK Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service, and before that he led the UK Department for Business and held a succession of senior roles in the British Government and the European Commission. He was the UK Civil Service Champion for Inclusion and Diversity.
• The Rt Hon Gisela Stuart: Gisela is the Chair of Wilton Park, the UK’s leading international forum for strategic discussion. She was the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1997 to 2017. In parliament, she served on the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees. In 2015 she was appointed by the Prime Minister to join the Intelligence and Security Committee, and was made a Privy Councillor. In the 2016 referendum, Gisela chaired the official ‘Vote Leave’ campaign. For more than 10 years she was Editor of the weekly political magazine The House. She still chairs Change Britain and sits on the advisory board of the Global Strategy Forum, a forum focussing on foreign affairs, defence and international security issues.

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