Public sector Speakers

The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP is Member of Parliament for Blackburn, having previously served in successive senior Cabinet positions in Labour governments from 1997 through to 2010

Jack Straw is one of the most experienced British and European politicians. During his long career including continuous Cabinet-level roles, he has taken a leading part in many momentous political decisions in both national and international politics.

He has a reputation for clear thinking and professional, pragmatic good sense.

After a prominent radical role in national student politics in the 1960s, he qualified and worked as a barrister, did three years as an advisor to two Cabinet Ministers (Barbara Castle, and Peter Shore), and was then on Granada TV’s flagship “WORLD IN ACTION” programme. He was a London borough councillor, and Deputy Leaders of the Inner London Education Authority.

He first entered Parliament as a Labour MP representing Blackburn in 1979. He had a number of Shadow Cabinet roles before becoming Home Secretary after the Labour Party’s 1997 election victory, and then Foreign Secretary in 2001 and Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal in 2006. He served as Lord High Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from 2007 until 2010.

Now again in Opposition, Jack Straw continues to play a leading role in national politics, on home and foreign policy, and not least in issues involving the UK’s Muslim population (his constituency Blackburn has a sizeable Muslim community). His deft personal style combines with his immense domestic and foreign policy insight (he was closely involved in key decisions before and after the intervention in Iraq) to make him a formidable and fascinating expert speaker.

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After three decades in Parliament and successive Cabinet positions, Jack Straw is one of the most experienced and insightful British and international political figures.

Jack Straw read law at Leeds University and in the 1960s became a national student leader known for radical positions, to the point of being described by the Foreign Office as a “troublemaker acting with malice aforethought” for his political activity involving Chile. After qualifying as a barrister he had various media roles and entered Parliament in 1979 as the MP for Blackburn. He was Shadow spokesman on Education, then Environment and Shadow Home Secretary before being appointed Home Secretary after the Labour Party won the 1997 general election.

His time as Home Secretary had its fair share of controversies (including new measures to increase police powers to deal with suspected terrorists) but also saw the European Convention in Human Rights incorporated into British law.

Appointed Foreign Secretary in 2001, he soon played a leading role in the dramatic and difficult foreign policy problems arising from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and then the interventions in Afghanistan and then Iraq. He publicly defended these decisions, although later in January 2010 he told the Iraq Inquiry in London that the 2003 decision to go to war “had haunted him”. In 2006 he was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal with responsibility for parliamentary reform. He returned to the Opposition benches after Labour lost the 2010 general elections

Jack Straw has attracted publicity for some of his policy positions concerning Muslim issues, not least his call in 2006 for Muslim women not to wear the full veil: “I felt uncomfortable about talking to someone ‘face-to-face’ whom I could not see”. His close relations with his very diverse Blackburn constituency (including his position as honorary vice president of Blackburn Rovers football club) mean that he has given a lot of thought to sensitive community relations issues in a modern democracy. In 2009 on the BBC’s Question Time TV programme he was a member of the panel which included British National Party leader Nick Griffin.

Although often criticized for his firm approach to a number of civil liberties questions concerning suspected terrorists and then his high-profile role in supporting the Iraq intervention, Jack Straw remains a popular figure in the UK and Europe, not least for his wry sense of humour: as Home Secretary he joked that his large department was “full of civil servants working diligently on projects that might ruin my career”.

His disarmingly understated, professional style as well as his formidable intellect and practical experience in so many policy areas give him a unique profile, not only in the UK and European Union but also at the international level. Few active politicians today match his insight and breadth of senior policy knowledge. He has many striking personal anecdotes and thoughtful examples of what works in politics – and what does not.

FORMER ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER METROPOLITAN POLICE FORCE

Tarique Ghaffur spent over three decades in UK policing diligently and passionately working towards making communities safe within Greater Manchester, Leicestershire and London. He found it a personal honour to lead thousands of dedicated and skilled police officers and detectives dealing with community reassurance, investigations, law enforcement, counter terrorism and global security issues.

Tarique made history by becoming the highest ranking Asian and Muslim Police Officer in United Kingdom for which he received several high achievement awards.

Tarique Ghaffur has a BA (Hons) in Public Administration, MA in Criminology, Honary doctorates in Law and Criminal Justice Degrees from Manchester Metropolitan, Leicester and East London Universities. He was awarded the Queens Police Medal (QPM) in and in Commander of British Empire (CBE).

Tarique is a graduate of FBI Academy, veteran of several overseas assignments, and countless international advisory presentations.

A unique combination of recognised role model, an operational leader and all round `hands on’ and `individual` practitioner makes Tarique a unique speaker on professional issues related to leadership, crises response, policing, community dynamics and race relations. He intelligently uses a mixture of real life experiences, stories, case studies and humour to put across his material and often tests conventional thinking by being forthright and controversial on emotive and serious subjects thereby promoting learning. Tarique regularly writes articles on security related matters which are published within authoritative publications. His recent article on Airport Security was published within the Huffington Post.

Career

Tarique Ghaffur joined Greater Manchester Police in 1974 and worked in CID, undercover and uniform roles up to the rank of Chief Inspector in inner city areas including Salford and Moss Side. He led a goodwill mission to India and was commended for his work to tackle street robberies, public disorder and crime investigations.

In 1989 he transferred to Leicestershire Constabulary, where as a Superintendent and then Chief Superintendent, Tarique Ghaffur gained experience in both operational commands in Loughborough and Leicester City, as well as heading a major force re-organisation to implement community based policing. He graduated from FBI Academy, Quantico and was part of team that inspected Jamaica Constabulary Force.

In 1996, Tarique transferred to Lancashire Constabulary as Assistant Chief Constable where he was appointed head of operational policing for the force and for a short period was also responsible for Human Resources. Whilst in Lancashire, Tarique Ghaffur headed a major anti-terrorist operation in relation to the Blackpool Labour Party Conference. He also led a major corruption enquiry into a public organisation.

In 1998 Tarique was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable and worked at the Home Office Police Technology Organisation as operational adviser to develop technology for Policing.

In 1999, Tarique Ghaffur was selected to be a Deputy Assistant Commissioner and transferred to the Metropolitan Police Service. He initially assumed command of territorial policing in South London and in 2000 was appointed as the Commander of Westminster Borough (3,500 staff) with massive responsibility for the government security zone, demonstrations and public events including Nottinghill Carnival and New Year’s Eve celebrations. His innovative leadership made major impact on reducing overall crime in the City of Westminster.

Tarique Ghaffur was promoted to Assistant Commissioner in 2001 and took command of the Policy, Review and Standards Directorate. Amongst a broad portfolio, Tarique Ghaffur worked closely with senior criminal justice partner Heads in London and nationally to formulate an effective and collaborative partnership. He put in place innovative solutions to improve partnership between the Police and Private Sector.

In November 2002, Tarique Ghaffur set up the Specialist Crime Directorate (3200 detectives), to provide a distinct response to tackling all aspects of serious and organised crime in London, including homicide, drugs and gun crime. He was responsible for the institution successful innovative programmes to tackle organised crime around such issues as drugs, human trafficking, Heathrow Airport and serious fraud. He also developed Operational Quadrant to build confidence in South Asian communities in London through effective law enforcement and community engagement.

Tarique Ghaffur has overseen a number of high profile investigations, including the Damilola Taylor and Victoria Climbié cases. In 2004, Tarique Ghaffur carried out a comprehensive crosscutting review of race and diversity within the MPS and played a major part in supporting casualty recovery, investigations and building Community relations after 7 July bombings in London.

Until September 2008, Tarique Ghaffur was responsible for Central Operations (7,000 staff) delivering ‘Capital City Policing’ and `security’ around policing of Airports, Diplomatic missions, security of State buildings. He was also responsible for firearms, public order, traffic, communications and contingency planning. His officers planned for and dealt with over 5000 public events (football, cricket, rugby, concerts, carnivals, New Years Eve celebrations, royal visits, state occasions, demonstrations). Tarique led in co-ordinating the aftermath of foiled terrorist attacks in central London in 2006.

Also, he was the Operational Co-ordinator Lead for the 2012 Olympics for which he has produced a comprehensive and holistic security and safety strategy to protect London and UK during 2012 Olympics. In 2008 he visited the Olympic Games in Beijing and produced an authoritative lessons learnt report. In 2007, He visited India with Mayor of London as one of London’s Ambassadors.

Through over 30 years of policing allied to his personal life, Tarique Ghaffur has created a real sense of proportion around vulnerable communities. He has become recognised as a positive role model, resulting in his receipt of a number of community awards from all sections of the community and high profile public profile on Race Issues within the Police Service. He is well known in South Asia, Middle East and Africa and has become an expert on protecting and securing major cities from terrorist attacks and major emergencies.

Tarique Ghaffur has a BA (Hons) in Public Administration, an MA in Criminology and three honorary doctorates from Universities of Leicester, Manchester Metropolitan and East London. He has attended the International FBI course in the USA and been awarded a Certificate in Criminal Justice Education (University of Virginia). In 2001 Tarique Ghaffur received the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) and in June 2004 was awarded the CBE (Commander of British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen.

Tarique Ghaffur has written a number of influential articles on policing and communities, as well as delivering a considerable number of international, national and local presentations on a range of policing issues including changing nature of serious and organised crime, global security and terrorism. Tarique Ghaffur has a strong interest in Asian music and sports – particularly squash – where he has won numerous awards and represented the police service at the national level.

Tarique Ghaffur retired from the Police Service in November 2008 and has since set up a Foundation to promote shared responsibility for security and safety amongst vulnerable communities in UK. He is also a Chairman of Community Safety Development Global Limited which provides innovative security knowledge, solutions and training.

Ian MacFadyen is a respected consultant, coach and commentator. He has advised governments in the UK and overseas, coached senior public officials, and commented in print and television on public services, reform and the Budget.

His public service career finished in Namibia, advising the government, and South Africa, helping design a poverty relief programme.

He set out to be a lawyer and volunteered in a law centre, appearing at the Old Bailey. But, he was engrossed in advising ministers by the time he got the degree. He went on to work closely with government lawyers and advise ministers on employment protection and other matters while working on policy in the Prime Minister’s Efficiency Unit in the Cabinet Office.

He brought to that work direct experience of commissioning health services in County Durham and having to justify decisions face to face with the public. His audiences ranged from several hundred to a single person. He won many people over and replaced a decade of animosity with cooperation. Earlier he advised on artificial limb services, hospitals, addictions, medicines, delinquency and manpower in the Department of Health and Social Security. He began by assessing benefits.

In Luton he founded a battered wives refuge. In east London, he was a Liberal council candidate. In Leeds in 2010, he is chair of the Liberal Democrats’ city-wide campaign group.

He was on the management committee of a charity for young homeless people in London. In east London, he was a successful chair of governors at a popular multi-ethnic, multi-faith school. Currently he is an elder and trustee of a church charity in Leeds.

Welsh and Scots by background, brought up in England and internationalist in outlook, his talks, writing, consultancy, coaching and workshops, draw on local and global references. With amusing anecdotes and quotations from a wide range of sources including Calgacus and the Beatles he shares his deep understanding of politics, current affairs, government, leadership, the public sector and reform. His style is relaxed. Successes include persuading a political commissar outsourcing could advance the revolution, winning over trades unions and persuading a most senior government figure to change his mind.

Mark Oaten was Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Winchester for 13 years and at one time considered favourite for party leadership. He is a recognised leading expert on the subject of Coalition governments- his book Coalitions was first published in 2007.

Oaten now lectures and advises a wide range of clients on the practical workings of successful coalitions.

He is currently a member of the Council of Europe representing the UK. He is a Board member of the British Healthcare Trade Association, Alcohol Concern, Mental Health Matters, the prison charity Unlock, the Council for Administration and a Director of the Charity Finance Directors Group.

Mark lectures at Wroxton College in Oxford and provides commentary and reviews for Sky and BBC Television.
During his time in parliament he was Chairman of the Liberal Democrats, Shadow Home Secretary and a member of the Business Select Committee.

After many years in high-level diplomacy Charles Crawford has a unique profile as an imaginative, dynamic and even provocative speaker who has addressed audiences large and small in English, Polish and Serbian

After an Honours degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University he qualified as a Barrister before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

From 1985-87 Charles served as Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe’s official Speechwriter, contributing ideas/language for speeches by the Foreign Secretary (major set-piece speeches, Parliamentary debates and less formal after-dinner remarks)

His first job on joining the FCO in 1979 was to head the Indonesia Section, followed by his first posting, to communist post-Tito Yugoslavia. He returned to London in 1984 and after a year on the Aviation Desk was appointed FCO Speech-writer. He was posted to South Africa in 1987 as part of the Embassy team led by Ambassador Robin Renwick working to end apartheid.

Returning to London in 1991 he worked in the FCO Department dealing with the Soviet Union as communist rule collapsed. He then spent three years in Moscow as Political Counsellor and then served three times as HM Ambassador: in Sarajevo (1996-1998); in Belgrade (2001-2003) and most recently in Poland (2003-2007).

In 1987 he wrote the FCO’s first Guide to Speech-Writing, a dynamic text full of real-life examples on how to write speeches – and how to weed out lugubrious mistakes. Two decades later it remains a core part of the FCO’s speech-drafting training

He subsequently contributed to speeches by members of the Royal Family and successive Prime Ministers, as well as different Ministers and other senior personalities in public and commercial life

He left the FCO at the end of 2007 to start a new career as writer, consultant, mediator and trainer. In 2009 he joined the UK Conservative Party candidates list

In recent months Charles Crawford led training courses for senior EU and other officials and private clients aimed at improving their communication skills. He has written for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Independent, DIPLOMAT and Total Politics.

In 2009 his audiences included the Headmasters Conference and Conservative Friends of Poland, as well as private groups and academic gatherings

In 2010 he and other former British Ambassadors in partnership with ADR Group launched a new senior strategic dispute resolution panel, ADRg Ambassadors

Charles Crawford’s trenchant observations on public policy issues are now available to a growing readership on his blog




Such honesty has no place in modern government…it’s bloody dangerous!
Andrew Dodge (Samizdata)

The most telling critique of this delusional foreign policy comes in regular instalments in the form of a blog by the former British ambassador to Poland, Charles Crawford. It’s called www.charlescrawford.biz, and if you want to know just how much in despair many of our diplomats are, this is the place to look
Dominic Lawson (The Times, 2010)

In 2005 a humorous FCO email he wrote as Ambassador to Warsaw (a satirical speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair damning other countries’ selfishness on EU Budget issues) caused a stir when it was leaked to the Sunday Times

His FCO written work was praised at the highest levels in London, NATO and the EU for its uncompromising dynamic style:

“fabulously readable and interesting analysis, with practical application … just about the best scenesetter [No10 staff] have ever seen”

“acrobatic and eye-catching in his use of language”

As a speaker Charles Crawford draws on dramatic episodes from his diplomatic career to explain wider policy themes, paradoxes and trends. His presentations are interesting and thought-provoking, but above all memorable

He is strong on foreign and public policy issues such as:

o Communism (and Vampires)
o Dealing with extremists and war criminals
o Climate change and PPP (perverse precautionary principles)
o Amazon Space: how the Internet is changing the strategic policy context
o International negotiation (as explained by Shrek, the Joker and Clint Eastwood)
o UK/European Union relations: Too Big (not) to Fail

Dr Eamonn Butler is Director and co-founder of Britain’s leading free-market policy think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, and a leading author and broadcaster on economics and social issues. Westminster insiders look forward each week to his wry online commentary on politics and politicians.

Eamonn is the winner, with his colleague Dr Madsen Pirie, of the 2010 National Free Enterprise Award, for the greatest contribution to furthering the market economy. He is Vice-President of the Mont Pelerin Society, an international association of distinguished economists and entrepreneurs, founded in 1947 by the Nobel Prize winner F A Hayek.

After leaving St Andrews University in the 1970s with degrees in Economics, Psychology and Ethics, he joined the brain drain out of bankrupt Britain, becoming a policy analyst at the US House of Representatives in Washington. “There, I saw how laws are made,” he says.

He returned to edit an insurance magazine in the City, and to co-found the Adam Smith Institute, which for ten years became the chief intellectual force behind privatisation, internal markets, contracting out, and other foundations of the Thatcher Revolution.

Eamonn is author of books on a wide range of subjects, from economics through psychology to politics. These include easy-read introductions to the economists Milton Friedman, F A Hayek and Adam Smith, and a short explanation of how markets work, called (modestly) The Best Book on the Market, which he wrote to be “so simple that even politicians can understand it.”

He is also co-author of Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls (which traces economic incompetence back to Hammurabi of Babylon) and a series of IQ testers including The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book.

Recently, he has published a popular paperback explaining what has gone wrong with the UK, The Rotten State of Britain (2009), and what he calls a DIY manual for fixing it, The Alternative Manifesto.

His ability to explain complex economic and political issues in a simple, amusing and controversial style has led to Eamonn appearing on speaking platforms in every continent, he says, “except Antarctica – though if the global warming nuts are right, I could break my duck there soon.”

He is an experienced broadcaster, appearing regularly on current-affairs programmes, including The Today Programme, Newsnight, The Week, Any Questions, The PM Programme, Question Time Extra, Five Live Breakfast, Five Live Drive Time, News at Ten, Jeff Randall Live, and Sky News. His articles have appeared in national newspapers including The Times and Sunday Times, The Daily (and Sunday) Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail and Mail on Sunday, the London Evening Standard, The Scotsman, The Herald and (his personal favourite because “I’ve followed Oor Wullie since I was six and The Broons since I was seven”) The Sunday Post.

His writing for specialist journals such as Financial World and Private Banking has courted controversy recently by maintaining that the financial crisis was caused entirely by “incompetent politicians and regulators” rather than by “greedy bankers”. His insights into the world of political economy and centre-right policy thinking make him much in demand as a speaker and commentator for corporate clients.

In February 2010, Total Politics magazine ranked Dr Butler at 30th on a list of key unelected figures whose work and views exert measurable political influence today.

The Rt Hon Dr Vincent Cable is unable to accept or consider commercial speaking offers for the duration of his tenure as a Government Minister.

The biographical information detailed here refers to his career prior to appointment as Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills in May 2010.



Vince Cable is the highly respected economic spokesman, former acting leader for the Liberal Democrats and Member of Parliament for Twickenham in west London. His experience in the field of economics is drawn from serving as Chief Economist for Shell for two years up to 1997. Following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell in 2006 he was acting party leader until Nick Clegg’s election. Cable has been deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and LibDem Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2006, he was more recently elevated to ‘Saint Vince’ for his views following the banking crisis.

Edwina Currie was born in Liverpool and graduated from Oxford and London Universities. She taught economics and economic history and was a tutor for the Open University. Birmingham City Councillor (1975-1986), Chairman of Central Birmingham Health Authority and served as MP for South Derbyshire from1983 – 1997.Edwina is a well known broadcaster and author. She writes regularly for the national press and many magazines related to Women, health and politics.

She has written several books, including “Life Lines” published in 1989, on her time as Health Minister. “What Women Want” on women’s roles and “Three Line Quips” witticisms from the House of Commons.

Her first novel “A Parliamentary Affair” went to Number 1 in the best-seller lists and has sold over 250,000 copies in English and been translated into German, Italian, Polish and Russian. Her second “A Woman’s Place” (1996) and third “She’s Leaving Home” (1997) set in her native Liverpool, were also best-sellers. The fourth novel “The Ambassador” a tongue-in-cheek look at the world in the near future. Her books are borrowed over 100,000 times a year from libraries. Her novel “Chasing Men” appeared in February 2000.

Edwina presents her own programme “Late Night Currie” for BBC Radio Five Live. She is also frequently heard on Radio 4 and Radio 2. On television she has presented “Sunday Supplement” for central TV and “Espresso” for Channel 5, “Menu from Heaven” for ITV in April/May 1998 and her BBC daytime TV series “What Now”.
From 1985-86 Edwina was PPS (aide) to Sir Keith Joseph at the Department of Education and science from 1986-88 she was a government minister at the DHSS (later the Department of Health) under Margaret Thatcher. She resigned after warning about food safety in eggs. John Major invited her to rejoin the government in 1992 but she declined. She lost her seat in the 1997 General Election.

A pro-European, in June 1994 she was a candidate for the European Parliament for Beds and Milton Keynes. The Conservatives won 18 out of 87 seats and she was not returned. 1995 – 1997 Edwina was Chairman of the Conservative Group for Europe and 1995 – 1999 was vice chairman of the all-party European Movement.
She has been the subject of several full-length documentary profiles including “The Other Half” (1984 John Pitman), Channel 4 “Dispatches” (1989 Michael Cockerell), “Vanessa’s Day with…..” (1997 Vanessa Feltz). She frequently appears on other radio and TV stations.

December 1988 Edwina Currie was runner-up to Mrs Thatcher in BBC Radio 4’s “Woman of the Year” poll; the following year she came sixth in the same poll (between Mother Theresa and Raisa Gorbachev). In 1990 Curry was chosen as “Campaigner of the Year” in The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards for her work on homosexual equality.

John Reid was born in Lanarkshire. The son of a postman and a factory worker he attended St. Patrick’s High School in Coatbridge and went on to read History at Stirling University, gaining a PhD.

Dr Reid has served at almost every level of the Labour Party, from branch to constituency. From 1979 to 1983 he was Research Officer for the Labour Party in Scotland subsequently becoming political adviser to the Labour Leader, Neil Kinnock from 1983 to 1985. He went on to become Scottish Organiser of Trade Unionists for Labour from 1986 to 1987. He was tipped for success from his first election to the Commons in 1987 and soon became a defence spokesman, where he spent seven years in opposition before joining the Ministry of Defence when Labour came to power in 1997.

He was largely responsible for the Strategic Defence Review, and was made minister for transport in 1998. He impressed PM Tony Blair with his robust performance and joined the cabinet as Scottish secretary after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament. Following Peter Mandelson’s second fall, he became Northern Ireland Secretary.

He moved from the province shortly after being forced to suspend devolution in October 2002. His trouble-shooting skills were turned instead to more purely political questions, as Tony Blair appointed him Labour Party Chairman and Minister without Portfolio.

In March 2003, he was given his fourth different Cabinet role, when he was appointed Leader of the House of Commons following Robin Cook’s resignation.

And less than three months later he became health secretary when Alan Milburn quit the government.
Reid has been a Lanarkshire MP for the past 18 years, representing Motherwell North and Hamilton North and Bellshill. Following the Boundary Commission’s decision to disband his previous seat, he was elected as MP for Airdrie and Shotts at the 2005 general election.

His 10-year ministerial career saw him undertake nine different ministerial jobs, his appointment as health secretary in June 2003 took him into his fourth cabinet job in less than a year.

1989-1990 Opposition Spokesman on Children
1990-199 Opposition Spokesman on Defence
1997-1998 Minister of Defence
1998-1999 Minister for Transport
1999-2001 Secretary of State for Scotland
2001-2002 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
2002-2003 Party Chair and Minister without Portfolio
2003 Leader of the House of Commons
2003-2005 Secretary of State for Health
2005-2006 Secretary of State for Defence
2006-2007 Secretary of State for The Home Department (Home Secretary)

Michael Portillo was born in North London in 1953. His father, Luis, had come to Britain as a refugee at the end of the Spanish Civil War, and his mother, Cora, was brought up in Fife. She met Luis while she was an undergraduate at Oxford.

Michael attended a grammar school, Harrow County, and went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he gained a first class degree in History. Leaving Cambridge in 1975, he worked for a shipping company for a year before moving to the Conservative Research Department in 1976, staying three years.

At the General Election in 1979 he was responsible for briefing Margaret Thatcher before her press conferences and for the next two years was special adviser to the Secretary of State for Energy.

He worked for Kerr McGee Oil (UK) Ltd from 1981 – 1983. He contested the Birmingham Perry Bar seat at the 1983 Election.

Michael returned to politics as a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Nigel Lawson) and in December 1984 won the by-election in Enfield Southgate, caused by the murder of Sir Anthony Berry MP in the Brighton bombing. Michael represented the seat for thirteen years but was defeated in the 1997 Election.

He joined the Government in 1986, and remained a member until 1997. He was a whip, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Social Security, Minister of State for Transport, Minister of State for Local Government and Inner Cities; and as a Cabinet Minister was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Employment, and Secretary of State for Defence. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1992.

After his 1997 electoral defeat, Michael returned to Kerr McGee as an adviser. He also turned to journalism. He wrote about walking as a pilgrim on the Santiago Way, and working as a hospital porter. He had a weekly column in The Scotsman. He had a three part series for Channel 4 about politics Portillo’s Progress, and a programme in BBC2’s Great Railway Journeys series, which was partly a biography of his late father, and radio programmes on Wagner and the Spanish Civil War.

Michael was re-elected to Parliament in a by-election in Kensington and Chelsea in November 1999 and was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer February 2000 – September 2001. Following the Conservatives’ election defeat in 2001, Michael unsuccessfully contested the leadership of the party. In 2005 Michael left the House of Commons.

Michael has made a number of television programmes for BBC2 including Art that shook the world: Richard Wagner’s Ring, Portillo in Euroland, Elizabeth I in the series Great Britons, When Michael Portillo became a single mum, and Portillo Goes Wild in Spain (a natural history programme). For BBC4 he has made several series of Dinner with Portillo, a discussion programme. In 2006 he joined The Moral Maze team on BBC Radio 4. In 2003 he began the weekly political discussion programme This Week on BBC1 with fellow presenters Andrew Neil and Diane Abbott MP. Beginning in 2004 Michael became a weekly columnist on The Sunday Times and was the theatre critic of The New Statesman between 2004 and 2006.

Michael is a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia (which organises the identification of massacre victims) under the chairmanship of Jim Kimsey, and sits on of the Board of BAE Systems plc.

Charles Leadbeater is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy and drawn on that experience in writing his latest book We-think: the power of mass creativity, which charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning.

We-think, published in 2007, was the latest in a string of acclaimed books: Living on Thin Air, a guide to living and working in the new economy; Up the Down Escalator, an attack on the culture of public pessimism accompanying globalisation and In Search of Work, published in the 1980′s, which was one of the first books to predict the rise of more flexible and networked forms of employment.

In 2005 Charles was ranked by Accenture, the management consultancy, as one of the top management thinkers in the world. A past winner of the prestigious David Watt prize for journalism, Charles was profiled by the New York Times in 2004 for generating one of the best ideas of the year, the rise of the activist amateur, outlined in his report The Pro-Am Revolution.

As well as advising a wide range of organisations on innovation including the BBC, Vodafone, Microsoft, Ericsson, Channel Four Television and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Charles has been an ideas generator in his own right. As an associate editor of the Independent he helped Helen Fielding devise Bridget Jones’s diary. He wrote the first British report on the rise of social entrepreneurship, which has since become a global movement.

Charles has worked extensively as a senior adviser to the governments over the past decade, advising the 10 Downing St policy unit, the Department for Trade and Industry and the European Commission on the rise of the knowledge driven economy and the Internet, as well as the government of Shanghai. He is an advisor to the Department for Education’s Innovation Unit on future strategies for more networked and personalised approaches to learning and education. He is a co-founder of the public service design agency Participle.

A visiting senior fellow at the British National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts, he is also a longstanding senior research associate with the influential London think-tank Demos and a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School.

Charles spent ten years working for the Financial Times where he was Labour Editor, Industrial Editor and Tokyo Bureau Chief before becoming the paper’s Features Editor. In 1994 he moved to the Independent as assistant editor in charge of features and became an independent author and advisor in 1996.

Charles’s current research focuses on how mass, user driven innovation is reshaping organisations, with users increasingly co-creators of products and services. He is also exploring the emergence of China, India and Korea as sources of research and innovation, through a two-year, £350,000 research programme, the Atlas of Ideas, funded by the British government and a consortia of companies.

Adrian Gilpin works with many of the world’s leading organisations such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Prudential Property Investment Managers and Barclaycard. Through coaching their senior management teams he has helped them perform to the peak of their ability. He is the co-developer of the Aspell-Gilpin Profiler – the world’s most advanced personality profiling technique.

Adrian coached the board of Bookham Technology through the largest ever public floatation of any UK technology business. He also works regularly within the public sector: all three forces of the MOD, the NHS, Housing Associations, and also social enterprises. Adrian’s personal passion is to impact the long term thinking about how we educate our children; and therefore he is also a regular speaker at national and local education conferences.

He is Chairman of the Institute of Human Development and the bestselling author of Unstoppable: The Pathway to Living an Inspired Life.

Adrian’s presentations are a unique mix of story-telling, movie clips, wisdom, common sense and a deep understanding of what makes human beings tick and perform at their best. He spends much of his time on conference platforms challenging the old models of corporate leadership and offering practical and inspiring alternatives for managing change in business, education and society.

Sir John Banham is the Chairman designate of Johnson Matthey PLC, Cyclacel Limited (the UK-based cancer therapeutics company) and Spacelabs Inc. (a world leader in heart monitoring equipment, based in Seattle, USA). He is also the senior independent director of AMVESCAP PLC and a non executive director of Merchants Trust PLC.

Former Director General of the CBI, he set up a number of initiatives which focused on developing closer relationships between ‘Government and Business’ and ‘Business and Education’. After leaving the CBI, he was Director/Chairman of a wide cross-section of companies, including: National Power, National Westminster Bank, Westcountry Television, and Labatt Breweries. At Tarmac, Whitbread, Kingfisher and Geest he created significant shareholder value. He led the Audit Commission and the Local Government Commission for England and saved the taxpayer well over £1 billion a year.

Sir John started his career in the Foreign Office in 1962 after gaining a first class Honours Degree in Natural Sciences and in 1964 spent a year with J Walter Thompson, learning marketing and from there moved to Reed International, where he went on to become Director of Marketing for the Wallcovering Division of the Group.

In 1969 he joined the management consultants, McKinsey & Co., becoming a Principal in 1975 and the youngest ever British Director in 1980. During this period he gained wide industrial experience in the UK, the United States and Europe. He was directly responsible for major consultancy assignments with a variety of leading UK companies in engineering, aviation, food processing, mineral extraction and other manufacturing and service groups at critical stages in their development.

Sir John was the first Controller (Chief Executive) of the Audit Commission when it was established in 1983, set up to monitor efficiency and seek better value for money in local government. Under Sir John’s leadership it identified improvements worth over £2 billion a year and launched a range of reforms now being implemented in local government finance, the management of secondary schools, Council housing and community care. He held that position until 1987, when he left to become the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry.

On leaving the CBI in 1992, he took up the position of Chairman of the Local Government Commission for England which he held until his departure in March 1995 when the Secretary of State for the Environment announced his intention to reform the Commission since its review of the counties in Shire England had now been largely completed.

In addition to his Chairmanships, Sir John is Director of Merchants Trust Plc and a Non-Executive Director of National Westminster Bank Plc and National Power Plc. He serves as Chairman of the Remuneration Committees for National Westminster Bank Plc and National Power and Kingfisher Plc.

Sir John is a Managing Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation and Honorary Treasurer and Member of the Council of the Cancer Research Campaign. He holds an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Bath (1987) and an Honorary Doctor of the Science degree from the University of Exeter, as well as being an Honorary Fellow of his old college, Queens College, Cambridge. Sir John became the first Fellow of Cornwall College when it became independent in 1993.

Sir John has written numerous publications including ‘The Future of the British Car Industry’ (1975), ‘Realising the Promise of a National Health Service’ (1977), together with a number of reports for the Audit Commission on education, housing, social services and local government finance (1984-87). He has also co-authored many reports for the CBI on the UK economy, skills and education, transport, the infrastructure, urban regeneration, manufacturing (1987-92) and local government. In addition, Sir John Banham is the author of ‘The Anatomy of Change: Blueprint for a New Era’ (1994).

Sir John Banham was knighted in 1992, was born in Torquay and lives in West Cornwall. His recreations include country walking, classical music, gardening and writing all of which he very much enjoys when not working or engaged in his other successful sideline of after-dinner and conference speaking events.

Greg Dyke became Director-General of the BBC in January 2000, having joined the previous year as Deputy Director-General and Director-General designate. He resigned as Director-General on 29 January 2004 following criticism of the BBC reportage of the invasion of Iraq. Dyke was the most popular DG in recent history both within the organization where he commanded huge loyalty, and with the public who respected his integrity. Dyke’s ability to manage the BBC’s sometimes ‘tricky’ people and get results quickly is a positive reflection of his management background. He was educated at Hayes Grammar School and later at York University where he read Politics. After an early career as a journalist, he started his broadcasting career in 1977 at London Weekend Television. He became Editor-in-Chief of TV-am in 1983 and the following year Director of Programmes for TVS (Television South).

He returned to LWT in 1987 as Director of Programmes; in 1990 he became Managing Director; and from 1991 to 1994 he was Group Chief Executive of LWT (Holdings) plc. After the Granada take-over of LWT, Greg Dyke joined Pearson Television as Chief Executive. During his time in the post, from 1995 to 1999, he built it into the largest non-US independent production company in the world.

He also guided the consortium, which created Channel 5 and became its first Chairman. While at Pearson, Greg Dyke undertook a review of the Patients’ Charter of the National Health Service at the request of the Secretary of State for Health.

Greg Dyke was recently made the new Chancellor of the University of York – he will take over in August 2004 from Dame Janet Baker. The Chancellor is the formal head of the university, whose official duties are to confer degrees on behalf of the university, and to chair the University’s Court

He has been Chairman of the Independent Television Association (1992-94); Chairman of GMTV (1993-94); and at various times a director of Pearson plc, Channel Four Television, ITN and BSkyB. He was a non-Executive Director of Manchester United Football Club (1997-99) and has been a Trustee of the Science Museum since 1996.

He became a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 1998 and a Fellow of the National Film and Television School in 2002.

Educated at Nottingham High School and Cambridge. The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP is a barrister-at-law, having been called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1963 and becoming QC in 1980. He has practised on the Midland Circuit, based in Birmingham.

Kenneth Clarke first became active in politics at Cambridge where he was President of the Union. Life in the House of Commons began on his election as MP for Rushcliffe in the 1970 general election and he has retained the seat to this day.

His career within the House has been a long one and he held positions within the Department of Transport before being appointed Minister for Health in 1982. Kenneth Clarke joined the Cabinet in 1985 as Paymaster General and Minister for Employment, and following the 1987 general election, became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Trade & Industry. He subsequently held the posts of Secretary of State for Health, Education & Science and Home Office before becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in May 1993, a position he held until the general election of May 1997.

On 19 January 2009, he rejoined the Conservative Party front bench team as Shadow Business Secretary.

Among the most energetic of former Conservative cabinet ministers in broadening his business interests since the election, Kenneth Clarke has recently been appointed non-executive chairman of Uni-Chem, non executive deputy chairman of BAT and a non-executive director of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust.

Renowned for his powerful performances in the House and credited with having taken the UK economy to a healthy state, Kenneth Clarke is one of the most impressive people on the political scene today.

Famous also for his lively sense of humour and “the chuckle”, Kenneth Clarke’s vast experience of world economic and political affairs make him a much requested keynote speaker at senior-level conferences.

Anthony Browne is Policy Director for the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s office. He is one of the key political advisors to the office, providing policy advice to the Mayor and Deputy’s and researching and developing new policies for London.

Browne is a former director of think tank Policy Exchange. He was previously a national journalist for fifteen years, having been chief political correspondent and Europe correspondent for the Times, Health Editor, Environment Editor and Deputy Business Editor of the Observer, and Economics Correspondent for BBC TV and radio. He has written policy reports on issues ranging from NHS reform to immigration for a range of think tanks including Adam Smith Institute, Social Market Foundation and Civitas.

Nick Ross is best known as one of the UK’s foremost broadcasters. founder and is President of HealthWatch. He started working life as a children’s psychiatric nurse before reading Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, which recently awarded him an honorary doctorate. While at Queen’s he was a sabbatical deputy president of the Union at the time of the birth of the troubles and his involvement in the civil rights movement in the north of Ireland led to his first broadcasting exposure.

He presented the BBC’s top-rated factual programme, Crimewatch UK and has anchored a wide sweep of news-related programmes, chiefly for the BBC, including the breakfast and early evening news programmes, Watchdog and Newsnight, A Week in Politics, Westminster with Nick Ross (television coverage of parliament and Whitehall, for which he was a member of the parliamentary lobby) and the main party conferences. He was named “Broadcaster of the Year” in 1997 for his Radio 4 phone-in Call Nick Ross, earned “Best documentary” for an autobiographical history of the troubles in Northern Ireland, and his programmes have won or been nominated for awards almost every year since, including the National Television Awards 2005.

He founded the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at UCL, is an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, and is a regular keynote speaker at police and academic meetings around the world. While his public association is with crime prevention, his background is in health science and the promotion of science itself. He has been a member of the UK’s Committee on the Public Understanding of Science, the Clothier Committee on the Ethics of Gene Therapy, the Department of Health’s Gene Therapy Advisory Committee, the Health of the Nation Wider Working Group, the NHS Review Team, and several other national advisory boards or task forces.

For 6 years, until October 2005, he was a member of Britain’s main bioethics committee, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and is currently a member of the Royal College of Physicians Medical Ethics Committee, the Academy of Medical Science study on the use of non-human primates in medical research, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a trustee of the UK Stem Cell Foundation.

He regularly chairs meetings for the UK Department of Health and for the NHS, and has moderated at international conferences on rheumatology, paediatric endocrinology, depression and, most recently, neurology.

He was a founder and is President of HealthWatch, an independent body that promotes evidence-based medicine, and is chairman, president or patron of a number of health-related charities including SANEline (a help-line for mental illnesses) and the Defeat Depression Campaign, and the James Lind Library. He has been a lay adviser to the Health Education Authority, a member of the RCP Medical Audit Committee, the BMJ/King’s Fund Rationing Agenda Group, and of a King’s Fund Consensus Panel on breast cancer, a director of the Health Quality Service, and chairman of the Science Book Prize.

Blind since birth and describing not being able to see as simply ‘an inconvenience,’ David Blunkett became one of very few blind MPs to reach the front bench and Cabinet, previously chairing the Labour Party nationally and managing education and employment in Tony Blair’s first government.

David Blunkett was elected as the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside in 1987. However his political career began in local government as a member of Sheffield City Council where he worked for eighteen years, seven of those years as leader of the council.

In Parliament David led Labour’s assault on the poll tax as Opposition Local Government Spokesman. Promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in 1992, he took on, in turn, responsibility for Health, Education and then Education and Employment.

Following the 1997 Labour election victory, David became Secretary of State for Education and Employment. There he oversaw massive improvements in the basic standards of literacy and numeracy, substantial class size reductions and the introduction of tuition fees. With Labour returned in 2001, David became Home Secretary, where he concentrated on fighting terrorism, crime and anti-social behaviour, and managing immigration and asylum. David resigned as Home Secretary in December 2004 and then took a leading role in fighting Labour’s 3rd term election campaign in spring 2005.

From May to November 2005 he was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions where he set a clear vision for reform of the welfare state, and established a nationwide debate to find a long-term solution to pensions challenges.

Lord Adair Turner (Adair) of Ecchinswell

Adair Turner (Lord Turner) is Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, the regulatory body which oversees the financial services industry in the UK. He is also Chairman of the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee.

In March 2009 the FSA produced a report recommending a revamp of global banking regulation in response to the credit crunch and collapse of global banking luquidity.

Adair Turner will lead the FSA as it wrestles with the challenge of rebuilding a tarnished reputation and negotiates changes to the regulatory regime. The former McKinsey director is seen by many in the industry as a positive mix of industry experience and political nous, key to the FSA as the UK reviews its system for sharing financial regulation between the FSA, the Bank of England and the Treasury, and on the international stage.

Adair Turner is also Chairman of the Overseas Development Institute. He is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and at Cass Business School, City University.

He became a cross-bench member of the House of Lords in 2005. He was Chairman of the Pensions Commission from 2003 – 2006, and of the Low Pay Commission from 2002 – 2006. His book ‘Just Capital – The Liberal Economy’, was published by Macmillan in 2001.

Until September 2008 Adair Turner was a non-executive Director at Standard Chartered Bank; from 2000-2006 he was Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, and from 1995-99, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. Prior to that, between 1992 and 1995, he built the McKinsey’s practice in Eastern Europe and Russia as a Director.

Adair Turner is also trustee of the World Wildlife Fund UK, Chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Investment and Vice-Chairman of Britain in Europe, the leading pro-euro lobby group. Adair is a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund UK, Chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Investment and Vice-Chairman of Britain in Europe, the leading pro-euro lobby group. His recent book ‘Just Capital – The Liberal Economy’ is published by Macmillan.

John Spiers is a Visiting Professor at the University of Glamorgan. He was appointed in 2001 to the Board of the new National Care Standards Commission, on which he served until 2004. Professor Spiers appointed the first-ever Patient’s Advocate in an NHS Hospital, in 1991. This became a model for the NHS.

He took a First Class Honours degree in History at the University of Sussex. In 1969, whilst a graduate student there, he founded the scholarly prize-winning book publishing firm The Harvester Press, which he ran for nearly 20 years until its highly lucrative sale in 1989.

He is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, specialising in health care and public policy. In 2001 he was a founder member of the Advisory Council of Reform. He has previously served for 5 years as Health Policy Adviser to The Social Market Foundation, and as Chairman of The Health Policy Committee of The Centre for Policy Studies. In 1999 was an Adjunct Scholar at The Cascade Policy Institute, Portland, Oregon, studying American health care policy.

He was a member of the John Major’s Prime Minister’s Citizen’s Charter Advisory Panel. He was Chairman of Brighton Health Authority, Brighton Health Care Trust, the NHS SE Region David Salomons Management Centre, and The Patients Association, whose re-launch he led in 1995.

Prof. Spiers latest book Who Decides Who Decides is a radical argument for the reform of health and social care in Britain. The work, released in October 2008 has won applause from many of our society’s most progressive thought leaders.

Taking full account of the final report on the future of the NHS by Lord Darzi, John Spiers presents cutting-edge arguments for how the public can obtain the standard of care that the state has promised for over 60 years and failed to deliver.

The changes he urges include:

• individual financial empowerment with everyone holding a tax-based health savings account
• ending local Primary Care Trust monopolies, to be replaced by competing purchasers
• an independent Disclosure and Information Commission
• the contestability of the management of large district hospitals and of A & E
• a new rapprochement between medical professionals and service users in a market

The book examines: ●What is the case for choice, ●How can choice be made real for the individual, ●What impact can genuine, individually financially-empowered choice have on effective funding, purchasing, delivery, and outcomes, ●How can a genuine market grow and thrive, ●How can the quest for choice include the large numbers of NHS and social care staff on whom success depends?

Professor Spiers is familiar through extensive consultative studies of European healthcare models and especially favours the inclusiveness, individual access and responsiveness to the individual which insurance models guarantee. Technology is key to the future of health management efficiencies, consumer education and informed choice driven access to best care services.