18 Sep 2024 BFPG Annual Survey Launch Event
BFPG has today launched the sixth edition of its annual public opinion survey. Charting the trends in public opinion on foreign policy, it finds that Britons feel increasingly insecure in the global environment but are largely unwilling to make the trade offs required to increase defence spending. Instead Britons are placing renewed emphasis on the UK’s international partnerships, not least its relationships with the United States and the EU.
Join BFPG this evening for a panel event and drinks reception as we deep dive into the report’s findings and what it means for the UK’s position in the world.
5pm – 7pm, 19th September
Central London location
Speakers:
– Sir Wayne David, Former Shadow Minister for the Middle East and North Africa
– Laura Chappell, Associate Director at IPPR
– Robert Courts KC, Former Solicitor General for England and Wales
– Aphrodite Vamvakopoulou, Partner at Critical Publics
– Evie Aspinall, Director at the British Foreign Policy Group
There are very limited spaces left for this event. To express your interest in joining please email hello@bfpg.co.uk.
Meet our Speakers
Sir Wayne David is the former Labour Member of Parliament for Caerphilly. He was first elected in June 2001 and stood down at the general election in 2024. He most recently served as the Shadow Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, until May 2024, having also served in that role between April 2020 and December 2021. In opposition, he served on Labour’s frontbench for nearly 13 years including as the Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces and Defence Procurement, the Shadow Minister for Youth Justice, the Shadow Minister for Political Reform in the Shadow Cabinet Office team and the Shadow Scotland Office Minister. Sir David was also Wales Office Minister under Gordon Brown. Sir David was given a Knighthood in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours.
Laura Chappell is Associate Director for International Policy at IPPR, where she is building a new programme of work on progressive international policy. Before joining IPPR Laura spent 12 years working on international policy across three government departments. Areas of focus have included the IMF and multilateral development banks, fragility, state-building and the rule of law, private finance including blended finance and global debt markets, climate and nature including deforestation, carbon markets and sustainable agriculture, and economic development and investment in Africa. Laura has lived and worked across Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. She has led large, multi-country teams, and overseen portfolios of up to £700m. Laura has held a board seat on a financial institution in Uganda and had a regular column on India in Progress magazine. Laura has a masters in development economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies where she won the taught masters prize for excellence 2003 – 2004.
Robert Courts KC is the former Conservative MP for Witney and West Oxfordshire, from 2016 until 2024. Most recently, in December 2023, Robert was appointed His Majesty’s Solicitor General for England & Wales, serving in this role until the 5th of July 2024. Prior to his appointment back into government, Robert served on the House of Commons Defence Select committee. In September 2020, Robert was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport, with responsibility for aviation and maritime. Formerly, Robert was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport, and PPS in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from January to July 2018, and to the Secretary of State for the Environment from August 2019 until February 2020. Robert served on the International Trade Select Committee before becoming a Minister, and on the Backbench Business Committee from 2016 to January 2018. Before his election to Parliament, Robert was a self-employed barrister for twelve years.
Aphrodite Vamvakopoulou is a Partner and Intelligence Director at Critical Publics, enabling clients to navigate complex situations and operating environments. She advises multinational and other major entities on a wide spectrum of domains and industries such as energy, infrastructure, healthcare, environment, among others. Risk assessment, crisis preparedness and management, geopolitics as well as political, social, and economic analysis are among the fields she consults on.
She has worked extensively on monitoring and analysing international crises and regional conflicts, as well as on the development of early warning crisis modelling. Her research interests include decision making, deterrence and game theory, civil-military relations, security and resources security. Aphrodite read International Relations, Strategic Studies and War Studies in Athens, Aberystwyth and London.
Evie Aspinall is the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group, a non-partisan think tank focused on the intersection between foreign and domestic policy. An expert in public opinion, her research focuses on building domestic consent for the UK’s international activities and bringing a diversity of voices into UK foreign policy decisionmaking.
Evie holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MSc from King’s College London. Evie has worked at BFPG for four years, having previously worked at UN Women UK and the Future Leaders Network. She has also served as the UK’s Head Delegate to the Youth7, the G7’s official youth engagement group and as President of Cambridge University Students’ Union. She is a regular commentator in the media on issues pertinent to UK foreign policy.
