As part of our online activity, St George’s House is hosting a series, In Conversation, with people distinguished in their field of activity.  We hope that these Conversations will give viewers and listeners an opportunity to learn a little more about the people involved and the issues with which they are engaged.  Each conversation lasts for forty-five minutes.  You can enjoy them below.


 

Munira Mirza

Munira is Chief Executive of Civic Future. She was the Director of the No 10 Policy Unit between 2019 – 2022, and served previously as Deputy Mayor for London. She studied at Oxford University, earned a PhD at the University of Kent, and has worked for 20 years in senior positions in government, academia, business and the cultural sectors. She has appeared in a wide range of media and published widely, including The Politics of Culture: The Case for Universalism (2011). She has served on the boards of the Royal Opera House, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Royal College of Music and the West London Children’s Zone. She is Honorary Professor at the Strategy and Security Institute at Exeter University.

Professor Pat Price

Leading on from the 2023 St George’s House Annual Lecture, given by Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Chair of Cancer Research UK, the latest In Conversation features renowned Oncologist Professor Pat Price.

Following training in general medicine in Cambridge and in oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Professor Price undertook her research degree at the Institute of Cancer Research and was awarded the Cambridge University medal for best laboratory-based MD in 1991.

In 2000, Professor Price established the first Ralston Paterson Chair in Radiation Oncology at the Christie Hospital and set up the new Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre at the University of Manchester.

She has been working to redefine cancer treatment for 34 years and is now involved with Imperial College in a large-scale international research programme to develop new quantitative in vivo imaging technology, and a unique investigation aimed at developing laser-based productions of high energy ions for new therapy in cancer. She has an international reputation in the molecular imaging of tumour biology and is currently a director of a molecular imaging advisory company.

Healthcare is Pat’s priority and that shows in every aspect of her life. She has run the last seven London Marathons, regularly leading a team “Running for Radiotherapy” to raise awareness for cancer treatment and radiotherapy. The current Miles4Radiotherapy team hopes to lead 1000 front line staff around the country, clocking up miles and raising money to ensure all cancer patients in the UK get access to the best radiotherapy where they live.

 

Minette Batters

The state and fate of UK agriculture is a regular feature of public discourse. Climate change, post-Brexit withdrawal from the Common Agricultural Policy, emerging trade agreements, changing patterns of food consumption are just some of the issues facing the food and farming sector. There could not be a more opportune time to speak to the President of the National Farmers Union.

Minette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. The mixed farming business includes a 100-cow continental cross suckler herd, as well as sheep and arable. Diversification includes the conversion of a 17th Century tithe barn into a wedding and corporate events venue, and horse liveries. Minette co-founded the campaigning initiatives ‘Ladies in Beef’ and the ‘Great British Beef Week’.

Campaigning on behalf of NFU members about the importance of British food and farming has been a key driver for Minette throughout her time at the NFU. In 2020 she led one of the most successful petitions ever, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts – resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. She has also regularly engaged with different media genres including appearances on Desert Island Discs, Question Time, and Any Questions.

She has been an NFU member from grassroots through to County Chairman and Deputy President. She was elected President in February 2018. Minette is also an ambassador of Farm Africa and was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2021.

 

Sir David Haslam

The NHS is an iconic British institution. The COVID pandemic stretched it to the limit and we constantly hear that it is at breaking point. Sir David Haslam is the author of, Side Effects – How Our Healthcare Lost Its Way And How We Fix It.

Sir David Haslam is former chair of NICE, a former president of the Royal College of GPs and a former president of the British Medical Association. He practised as a General Practitioner in Cambridgeshire for over 35 years, has written over 2000 articles and papers for the medical and lay press and has been invited to speak at conferences in 33 different countries.  In 2014 he was named by Debretts and the Sunday Times as one of the 500 most influential and inspirational people in the United Kingdom.

 

Lord King of Lothbury

Lord King of Lothbury, Mervyn King, was Governor of the Bank of England from 2003-13 and is currently Professor of Economics and Law at New York University and School Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. His most recent book, The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Global Economy was published to significant acclaim in 2016. Lord King was made a life peer in 2013 and appointed a Knight of the Garter by Her Majesty the Queen in 2014.

 

Professor Hugh Montgomery OBE

Hugh is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at University College London and Director University College London Centre for Human Health and Performance. He has published more than 550 papers and has won over eight (inter)national awards.

He obtained a first class BSc in Cardiorespiratory Physiology and Neuropharmacology in 1984, before graduation from the Middlesex Medical School in 1987. He obtained his higher research degree from University of London in 1987 and a MDRes in 1997.

Hugh has chaired two Lancet Commissions on Human Health and Climate Change, and now the 42-institition 27-country Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. He has briefed policymakers (inter)nationally and co-leads the University College London MSc module on Climate Change and Health.

Hugh was a founder member of the UK Climate and Health Alliance. He led the first international meeting on Climate Change, Health and Security and was appointed London Leader by Greater London Authority’s Sustainable Development Commission.

Hugh has contributed to many international ‘COP’ negotiations and led Project Genie, an educational initiative on climate change for children. He also co-led the ITV documentary on Floods and Climate Change in 2020 and initiated the 2022 Regent’s Declaration Process. Hugh was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list,  in part his for work on climate change.

 

Lord Butler of Brockwell

Robin Butler, Lord Butler of Brockwell, is one of our most distinguished public servants. His life at the heart of government began when he joined the Civil Service in 1961. Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. Lord Butler  went on to observe at first-hand the Thatcher revolution between 1983 and 1990, and he retired from Whitehall soon after New Labour came to power in 1997.

During a remarkable career, he served as Private Secretary to Edward Heath, Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher and as Cabinet Secretary under Mrs Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair. He has had a ringside seat at some of the most significant moments in British political history over four decades and was famously, of course, chairman of the 2004 inquiry into Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

After leaving the Civil Service, Lord Butler has held numerous positions, not least as Master of University College, Oxford from 1998-2008. His interest in politics and the machinery of politics remains undimmed. He was announced as a life peer in 1998 and raised to the peerage as Baron Butler of Brockwell, of Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth. Lord Butler sits as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords.

 

Lord Barwell

Since 2016, British politics has witnessed a barrage of crises, resignations and general elections. As Brexit became log jammed, Theresa May’s premiership was perhaps the most turbulent of all. Following the disastrous 2017 election, she turned to Gavin Barwell to restore her battered authority. He would become her Chief of Staff for a period punctuated by strained negotiations, domestic tragedy, and immense political drama.

Gavin Barwell was MP for Croydon Central from 2010 until he lost his seat in the 2017 election. Chief of Staff at No 10 for two years, he now sits in the House of Lords. His book, Chief of Staff, has just been published. It offers a riveting view of British, European and global politics that will effect the UK for generations to come. From deals with the DUP to the white knuckle ride of Brexit negotiations; from dealing with Trump to the machinations of Mrs May’s own ministers, this is the ultimate insider’s view of life at the heart of government.

 

General Sir Peter Wall

St George’s House has hosted a number of Consultations on how military veterans fare re-entering society after service. General Sir Peter Wall, President of Combat Stress, champions work around veterans and mental health. A veteran himself, with a distinguished service record, our conversation covered his military career, his work on behalf of veterans, and his views on the UK’s military role in this 21st century.

Peter Wall retired from the British Army after a career spanning 40 years.  He joined the Royal Engineers from Sandhurst Military Academy in 1974 and read Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He finished his military career as the Army’s Chief from 2010 to 2014. He has served all over the world, including operational command tours in Rhodesia, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Peter is now Director of Amicus, an advisory business which specialises in imparting military and commercial leadership expertise, with emphasis on strategic planning and execution, leadership development, and organisational health.

Peter is a director of General Dynamics, the US defence and aerospace corporation, and President of Combat Stress, the military veterans’ mental health charity.

 

Sue Pritchard and Professor Tim Lang

The Future of Food – Health, climate change, farming, global trade deals, Brexit and publication of the National Food Strategy all have significant implications for the future of the food we eat, the future of farming and the future of the countryside. Join Sue Pritchard of the Food Farming and Countryside Commission and food policy guru Professor Tim Lang who will discuss the future of food in the latest of our St George’s House: In Conversation series.

Sue is the Chief Executive of Food, Farming and Countryside Commission and is focused on leading the organisation in its mission to bring people together to find radical and practical ways to transform our food system and improve our climate, nature, health and economy. Sue brings extensive experience working with leaders in businesses, governments and enterprises, blending the academic and the practical for sustainable systems change. Sue lives with her family on an organic, permaculture, livestock farm in Wales, which accounts for pretty much all of her time outside of FFCC, and is a grounding reminder of the gritty realities of turning ideas into workable actions.

Tim has been Professor of Food Policy at City University London’s Centre for Food Policy since 2002. He founded the Centre in 1994. After a PhD in social psychology at Leeds University, he became a hill farmer in the 1970s in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire which shifted his attention to food policy, where it has been ever since. For years, he’s engaged in academic and public research and debate about its direction, locally to globally. His abiding interest is how policy addresses the mixed challenge of being food for the environment, health, social justice, and citizens. What is a good food system? How is ours measured and measuring up? His current research interests are (a) sustainable diets, (b) the meaning of modern food security and (c) the implications of Brexit for the food system.

 

Baroness Falkner of Margravine

Kishwer Falkner is Chair of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission. She also serves as a Member of the House of Lords where she is a Cross Bench member and is a regulator at the Bank of England on it’s Enforcement Decision Making Committee. In the Lords, she took the Liberal Democrat whip from 2004-2019, leading on foreign affairs and serving on several parliamentary committees including Chairing the EU Sub-Committee on Financial Affairs, and as a Member of the EU Select Committee, Constitution Committee, the Joint Committee on Human Rights; and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.

Kishwer was formerly Policy Director at the Liberal Democrats; a senior political researcher at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and has held Fellowships at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford (2010), at the Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2006), as a distinguished fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and at the Institute of Politics, King’s College, London.  Kishwer’s academic background is in International Relations, obtaining degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Kent.

 

Philippe Sands, QC

Philippe Sands QC is Professor of Law at University College London and a practising barrister at Matrix Chambers. He appears as counsel before international courts and tribunals, and sits as an international arbitrator.

He is author of Lawless World (2005) and Torture Team (2008) and numerous academic books on international law, and has contributed to the New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, the Financial Times, The Guardian and the New York Times.

His latest books are East West Street: On the Origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide (2016) (awarded the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize, the 2017 British Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and the 2018 Prix Montaigne) and The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive (2020), also available as a BBC podcast.

Philippe is President of English PEN and a member of the Board of the Hay Festival of Arts and Literature.

 

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia

Jayne-Anne is the Founder and Executive Chair of Snoop, Chair of HMRC and Non-Executive Chair of Goldacre. From 2007 to 2018 she was the CEO of Virgin Money.

A Chartered Accountant, she spent six years at Norwich Union (now Aviva) before becoming one of the founders of Virgin Direct in 1995. Three years later, she set up the Virgin One account, which was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001. She subsequently spent five years at RBS before returning to Virgin as CEO of Virgin Money.

In November 2016 she was appointed as the UK Government’s Women in Finance Champion, and in July 2017 she became a founder member of its Business Diversity and Inclusion Group. In 2018 she was named Leader of the Year at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards.

She is Chair of the Prince’s Foundation and Senior Independent Director of the Tate. She sits on the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Council, Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board, CRUK Corporate Board, Financial Inclusion Policy Forum, Lloyds Culture Advisory Group and Salesforce Advisory Board.

She was made a Dame in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list.

 

Professor Sir David Omand, GCB 

Sir David Omand GCB is Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, PSIA Sciences Po in Paris and the Norwegian Defence University in Oslo. His posts in British government service included UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator in the Cabinet Office after 9/11, Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Deputy Under-Secretary of State for Policy in the Ministry of Defence, Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence and Defence Counsellor in the UK Delegation to NATO Brussels. He served for seven years on the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).

He has published three books, Securing the State (London: Hurst 2010) and (with Prof Mark Phythian) Principled Spying: the Ethics of Secret Intelligence (Oxford 2018). His latest book How Spies Think: 10 Lessons from Intelligence was published by Penguin Viking in October 2020.

 

 

 

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, KCMG

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart KCMG is a leading British businessman. Born in Antigua where he began his early education, Sir Mark then went to school in Shropshire where his interest in geology began. A degree from Cambridge followed by a PhD was prelude to the life of a travelling exploration geologist. He worked in Franco’s Spain, in Oman, Brunei, Australia, Nigeria, Turkey, Malaysia, and even the North Sea before taking up senior management roles in a range of companies. These senior roles with Shell included Exploration and Production Coordinator and Group Managing Director in the early 90s. In 1998 Sir Mark became Chairman of the Shell Group, a position he held until 2001, remaining on the board until 2005. He was non-executive chairman of Anglo American from 2001–2009 and serves on the board of Saudi Aramco.  He also served on the Board of St George’s House.

In 2014, Sir Mark published his book, Responsible Leadership – Lessons from the Front Line of Sustainability and Ethics, in 2014. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote that the book ‘reminds us of the urgent need for responsible corporate leadership’ while former President of Ireland Mary Robinson called it, ‘an insightful book…highly relevant to the twin challenges of a post-2015 sustainable development agenda and a robust climate agreement.

 

 

David Nabarro and Fiona Godlee

Climate change has been recognised by the World Health Organisation and by the major UK professional health bodies as “the defining health challenge of our time”, which poses a dangerous and immediate threat to the health of populations in the UK and worldwide. The combined climate and nature loss crises are drivers of zoonotic diseases and disease transmission, which in combination has created a Planetary Emergency, now exacerbated by the Covid-19 global pandemic. This has emphasised the need to make a clear link in the minds of Governments and their publics around the world between human health and planetary breakdown. Furthermore, the essential measures needed to improve planetary health will also improve human health.

In September, St George’s House hosted an online consultation on the theme of Health and Climate Change, which was held in partnership with a project for Collaborative Action on Climate and Health (CATCH) and supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch). Introduced by our Programme Director, St George’s House: In Conversation builds on this consultation and brings together David Nabarro who will be interviewed by Fiona Godlee, Editor of the British Medical Journal.

David Nabarro is the Co-Director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation at the Imperial College London and supports systems leadership for sustainable development through his Switzerland based social enterprise 4SD. From March 2020, David was appointed Special Envoy of WHO Director General on COVID-19. He secured his medical qualification in 1974 and has worked in over 50 countries – in communities and hospitals, governments, civil society, universities, and in United Nations (UN) programs.

David worked for the British government in the 1990s as head of Health and Population and director for Human Development in the UK Department for International Development. From 1999 to 2017 he held leadership roles in the UN system on disease outbreaks and health issues, food insecurity and nutrition, climate change and sustainable development. In October 2018, David received the World Food Prize together with Lawrence Haddad for their leadership in raising the profile and building coalitions for action for better nutrition across the Sustainable Development Goals.

Fiona Godlee is the Editor in Chief of The BMJ. She qualified as a doctor in 1985, trained as a general physician in Cambridge and London, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. She has written and lectured on a broad range of issues, including health and the environment.  Among other positions, Fiona is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge, honorary fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and a by-fellow of King’s College Cambridge. She is on numerous advisory or executive boards, including the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and the Climate and Health Council.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, MBE – Writer and Broadcaster

Rabbi, writer and broadcaster, Jonathan Romain is minister of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire. He writes for The Times and The Jewish Chronicle and is often heard on the BBC. His many books include The Jews of England and Faith and Practice: A Guide to Reform Judaism Today.

In 2004, he received the MBE for his pioneering work nationally in helping mixed-faith couples, a theme covered in his book Till Faith Us Do Part (HarperCollins). He is chaplain to the Jewish Police Association, and in 1999 was part of a small group of British Jews invited to an audience with Pope John Paul II. He is also President of the Accord Coalition (which campaigns for inclusive education) and Vice-chair of Dignity in Dying (which campaigns to permit assisted dying in the UK)).

For several years he was a judge for both The Times Preacher of the Year Award and the BBC’s Frank Gillard Awards, and was a member of the BBC’s Standing Conference on Religion and Belief (2009-12). He is a past Chairman of the Assembly of Rabbis UK (2007-9) and is on the Council of St. George’s House, Windsor Castle. His last two books, Confessions of a Rabbi (Biteback) and Inclusive Judaism (Jessica Kingsley) have had wide coverage in the media.

 

 

 

Dr Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder – the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

Equipped with little more than a notebook, binoculars, and a fascination with wildlife, Jane Goodall braved a realm of unknowns to give the world a remarkable window into humankind’s closest living relatives the wild chimpanzees of Gombe, western Tanzania.. Through more than 60 years of groundbreaking work, Dr. Jane Goodall has not only shown us the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction; she has also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment. Today she works to raise awareness about environmental crises, urging each of us to take positive action on behalf of all living things and planet we share. Through her global humanitarian and environmental programme Roots & Shoots now active in more than 65 countries, young people of all ages are empowered to become involved in hands-on programmes for the community, animals and the environment. www.janegoodall.org.uk  www.rootsnshoots.org.uk

Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

 

Internationally renowned virologist Professor Peter Piot is Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also a Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission on research and innovation for COVID-19. Described once as a rock star virologist, in 1976 he co-discovered the Ebola virus in Zaire while working at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and led research on HIV/AIDS, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. He has received many awards in recognition of his work and in 2012 published an autobiography, No Time to Lose, which was translated into numerous languages. Earlier this year Professor Piot contracted Covid-19 from which he is now thankfully recovered.

In conversation with our Programme Director, Professor Piot will talk about his life and work.

Listen here to the Online Conversation