Rory Stewart
Updated: Wikipedia source
Roderick James Nugent "Rory" Stewart (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, broadcaster, writer, and former diplomat and politician. He teaches and co-directs the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. Since 2022, Stewart has co-hosted the The Rest Is Politics podcast with Alastair Campbell. Stewart served as a British Member of Parliament between 2010 and 2019, and in the British government, between 2015 and 2019. Born in Hong Kong, Stewart was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College, and the University of Oxford. Stewart worked as a British diplomat in Indonesia and British Representative to Montenegro. He left diplomacy to undertake a two-year walk across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, and wrote a best-selling book, The Places in Between, about his experiences. He served as Deputy Governor in Maysan and Dhi Qar for the Coalition Provisional Authority following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and wrote a second book covering this period, Occupational Hazards. In 2005, he moved to Kabul to establish and run the Turquoise Mountain Foundation. He was a Professor of Human Rights, and director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, at Harvard University from 2008 to 2010. Stewart served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border between 2010 and 2019, representing the Conservative Party. In 2014 he was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee. He served under David Cameron as Minister for the Environment from 2015 to 2016. He was a minister throughout Theresa May's government: as Minister of State for International Development, Africa, and Prisons. He joined the Cabinet and National Security Council as Secretary of State for International Development. After May resigned, Stewart stood as a candidate to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 2019 leadership contest. His campaign was defined by unorthodox use of social media and opposition to a no-deal Brexit. He stated at the beginning of his campaign that he would not serve under Boris Johnson. When Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, Stewart resigned from the cabinet. In September 2019, Stewart had the Conservative Whip removed after voting to delay the UK's exit from the European Union. In October 2019, Stewart resigned from the Conservative Party and stood down as an MP at the 2019 general election. He announced he would stand as an independent in the London mayoral election, but withdrew in May 2020 on the grounds of it being postponed to 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. Stewart was the president of GiveDirectly from 2022 to 2023 and a visiting fellow at Yale Jackson from 2020 to 2022. In 2023 he published a book, Politics on the Edge.