Founder’s Day - The 2024 Sion College Lecture

Populism: Conflict and Hope

Speaker: Rory Stewart

Wednesday 20th November at The Dutch Church

7 Austin Friars, London EC2N 2HA

Evening Prayer at 5.30pm

Rory Stewart is the Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy at Yale University. A former UK cabinet minister and diplomat and Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border, he served as an Infantry Officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, was a professor at Harvard University and has written a number of bestselling books. His book The Marches and his BBC documentary Borderland focus on the history of Cumbria. He co-presents the UK’s top podcast, The Rest Is Politics, with Alastair Campbell, and is also a Senior Advisor to GiveDirectly - the fastest growing non-profit in the world last year, specialising in cash transfers to the extreme poor, particularly in Africa.

Previously, Rory was Secretary of State for International Development, Minister of State for Justice, Minister of State in Foreign Office and DFID, Minister for the Environment and Chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. After the army he joined the UK Diplomatic Service, serving in Jakarta, as British representative to Montenegro in the wake of the Kosovo crisis, and as the coalition Deputy-Governor of two provinces of Southern Iraq following the intervention of 2003. He left the diplomatic service to undertake a two-year walk across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal.

Rory’s books also include: The Places in Between, Occupational Hazards or The Prince of the Marshes, Can Intervention Work? and The Marches. His most recent book, published in September 2023, is Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within.

Entry to the Dutch Church will be from 5:15pm, with Evening Prayer at 5:30pm. After this there will be a drinks reception downstairs, followed by the lecture in the Church at 6:30pm and a buffet dinner at 7:45pm. The evening will finish with departure by 9:30pm.

Fellows and members are invited to apply for places for guests (maximum one guest each). However, please note that guest applications can only be accepted if there is space after applications from fellows and members.

If you have not yet registered for online payment you will be asked to do this and your registration will need to be validated by the Administrator before you can use the facility. You will only need to register once, and for any applications for subsequent events you will need only to log in. Payment is taken by PayPal, but you do not need a PayPal account. 

Please note

• Successful applicants (Fellows/ Members) will be notified by Wednesday 6th November, 2024
• Cancellations notified after Tuesday 12th November, 2024 will not be refunded
• Applicants will be notified if they have been given a guest place by Wednesday 13th November
• Attendees will be expected to honour any food choices submitted in advance
• It is Sion College policy that no events are recorded

Sion events are often over-subscribed and each place is generously subsidised. If you are offered a place but are unable to attend for any reason, please let the office know so that your place may be offered to another applicant. In the event of failure to attend without notice after being reserved a place, the Court will require a refund of the subsidy.  Application for a place at any Sion event constitutes acceptance of this proviso.

Event Details