Leadership or Survival: What should the UK prioritise in foreign and national security policy after Covid-19?

Duration: 1 hour 6 mins

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Description:	An online panel discussion of where the UK should focus it attention as it reshapes its international role in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.


Created:	2020-05-07 23:33
Collection:	Centre for Geopolitics
Publisher:	Centre for Geopolitics
Copyright:	Centre for Geopolitics
Language:	eng (English)
Keywords:	foreign policy; national security; international politics; geopolitics;


Abstract:	The UK was already preparing to reshape its international role on leaving the EU. Now the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted certainties, caused economic shocks and created new frictions in the global order. The Integrated Review of Foreign Policy, Defence, Security and International Development has been postponed, but it is a near certainty that resources will shrink. In the light of all this, the Centre for Geopolitics will look at what matters most for the UK as it seeks a new place in the world. Join us as our panel discusses where the UK should focus its attention: on Europe, on strengthening international institutions, on aid, development and investment in developing countries, on building new trade relationships or on defence and security? How will it balance collective security against a new need for strategic autonomy? How important is geography? And if there are opportunities after Brexit and during Covid, how does the UK identify and exploit them? The panel: Sir John Sawers GCMG John Sawers is Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory, which he founded in 2019 to advise corporate leaders on geopolitics and political risk. He is also a Non-Executive Director of BP. He spent the bulk of his career in diplomacy and intelligence, culminating as Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 (2009-2014). Prior to that he was the UK's Ambassador to the United Nations, Political Director of the Foreign Office, Special Representative in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, Ambassador to Egypt and Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair. Since leaving public service he has been advising global companies and investors. John Sawers studied at the universities of Nottingham, St. Andrews and Harvard. Rory Stewart OBE Rory Stewart is running as an independent candidate for Mayor of London. This follows almost ten years as an MP, during which time he served as Secretary of State for International Development, Prisons Minister, Minister for Africa, and Minister for the Environment. Rory resigned from the cabinet in July 2019 and thereafter from the Conservative Party. Before politics, Rory served in the UK Diplomatic Service, working overseas in Jakarta and in Montenegro. In 2002 he walked for 21 months across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. In 2003 he was the coalition Deputy-Governor of two provinces of Southern Iraq following. From 2005 to 2008 he was the Chair and Chief Executive of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation based in Kabul. He has written four books and presented three BBC television documentaries. Suzanne Raine Suzanne Raine is an Affiliate Lecturer at the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge University. She served for 24 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues. This included postings in Poland, Iraq and Pakistan. She specialised in counter-terrorism, holding a number of senior domestic appointments including Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre from 2015-2017 and was a senior member of the UK government assessment community. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Imperial War Museum and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The Chair: Bridget Kendall MBE Bridget Kendall was appointed the first female Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2016. Educated at Oxford and Harvard, she joined the BBC World Service as a trainee in 1983 and became the BBC’s Moscow correspondent in 1989, covering the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as Boris Yeltsin’s rise to power. She was then appointed Washington Correspondent before moving to the senior role of BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, reporting on major conflicts such as those in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. She remains a regular broadcaster and is the main host of BBC radio’s weekly flagship discussion programme, The Forum.

Abstract:

The UK was already preparing to reshape its international role on leaving the EU. Now the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted certainties, caused economic shocks and created new frictions in the global order. The Integrated Review of Foreign Policy, Defence, Security and International Development has been postponed, but it is a near certainty that resources will shrink. In the light of all this, the Centre for Geopolitics will look at what matters most for the UK as it seeks a new place in the world.

Join us as our panel discusses where the UK should focus its attention: on Europe, on strengthening international institutions, on aid, development and investment in developing countries, on building new trade relationships or on defence and security? How will it balance collective security against a new need for strategic autonomy? How important is geography? And if there are opportunities after Brexit and during Covid, how does the UK identify and exploit them?

The panel:

Sir John Sawers GCMG

John Sawers is Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory, which he founded in 2019 to advise corporate leaders on geopolitics and political risk. He is also a Non-Executive Director of BP. He spent the bulk of his career in diplomacy and intelligence, culminating as Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 (2009-2014). Prior to that he was the UK's Ambassador to the United Nations, Political Director of the Foreign Office, Special Representative in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, Ambassador to Egypt and Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair. Since leaving public service he has been advising global companies and investors. John Sawers studied at the universities of Nottingham, St. Andrews and Harvard.

Rory Stewart OBE

Rory Stewart is running as an independent candidate for Mayor of London. This follows almost ten years as an MP, during which time he served as Secretary of State for International Development, Prisons Minister, Minister for Africa, and Minister for the Environment. Rory resigned from the cabinet in July 2019 and thereafter from the Conservative Party. Before politics, Rory served in the UK Diplomatic Service, working overseas in Jakarta and in Montenegro. In 2002 he walked for 21 months across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. In 2003 he was the coalition Deputy-Governor of two provinces of Southern Iraq following. From 2005 to 2008 he was the Chair and Chief Executive of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation based in Kabul. He has written four books and presented three BBC television documentaries.

Suzanne Raine

Suzanne Raine is an Affiliate Lecturer at the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge University. She served for 24 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues. This included postings in Poland, Iraq and Pakistan. She specialised in counter-terrorism, holding a number of senior domestic appointments including Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre from 2015-2017 and was a senior member of the UK government assessment community. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Imperial War Museum and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

The Chair: Bridget Kendall MBE

Bridget Kendall was appointed the first female Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2016. Educated at Oxford and Harvard, she joined the BBC World Service as a trainee in 1983 and became the BBC’s Moscow correspondent in 1989, covering the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as Boris Yeltsin’s rise to power. She was then appointed Washington Correspondent before moving to the senior role of BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, reporting on major conflicts such as those in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. She remains a regular broadcaster and is the main host of BBC radio’s weekly flagship discussion programme, The Forum.

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