Speakers

As the leading training provider of the UK Civil Service and as an organisation that is part of government, we have unique access to those at the centre. This spans Westminster, Whitehall and the devolved administrations and includes Ministers, Private Offices, policymakers and strategists in addition to leading political historians and academics. Our speakers contribute the voice of hard-earned experience together with the latest thinking and comment on what is happening on-the-ground in the world of policy and government.

Speakers at National School of Government conferences, events and training programmes have included the following:

Politicians

Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP
Rt Hon Baroness Amos
Rt Hon Hilary Armstrong
Rt Hon Baroness Ashton of Upholland
Norman Baker MP
Rt Hon the Lord Bassam of Brighton
Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
Rt Hon John Bercow, MP
Rt Hon Nick Brown MP
Rt Hon Des Browne MP
Dr Vincent Cable, MP
Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP
Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Rt Hon the Lord Davies of Oldham
Rt Hon John Denham MP
Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP
Chris Huhne MP
Rt Hon Charles Kennedy, MP
Rt Hon Jane Kennedy, MP
Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP
Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP
Gillian Merron, MP
Rt Hon Baroness Morris of Yardley
Lembit Opik MP
Rt Hon Nick Raynsford MP
Rt Hon Lord Rooker
Rt Hon Baroness Scotland
Baroness Thornton
Rt Hon Baroness Taylor of Bolton
Rt Hon Malcolm Wicks MP
Rt Hon Anne Widdecombe MP
Dr Tony Wright MP

Senior Officials, Political Commentators and Academics

Lord Adebowale CBE, Chief Executive, Turning Point
Alex Allan, Chair, Joint Intelligence Committee
Sir Ian Andrews, Second Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence
Sir Michael Barber, Partner, McKinsey & Company, former Head of Prime Minister's Delivery Unit
Rt Hon Tony Benn, former MP and political commentator
Sir Brian Bender, former Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Honourable Jocelyne Bourgon, Ambassador, Canadian Permanent Mission to the OECD, and the President Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Management Development
Lord Burns, former Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury
Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice
Alexis Cleveland, Director General Transformational Government, Cabinet Office
Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport
Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer and Director Standards and Quality, Department of Health
Sir John Elvidge, Permanent Secretary, Scottish Government
Dr Nigel Forman, former MP, author and political historian
Sue Gray, Director, Propriety and Ethics Team, Cabinet Office
Sir Peter Gregson, former Permanent Secretary, Department Trade and Industry
Professor Peter Hennessy, Professor of Contemporary History, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
Professor Dennis Kavanagh, Professor of Politics, Liverpool University
Stephen Laws, First Parliamentary Counsel
Irene Lucas, Director General, Local Government and Regeneration, Communities and Local Government
Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation
Sir David Normington, Permanent Secretary, Home Office
Sir Gus O'Donnell, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service
Sir David Omand, former Permanent Secretary, Home Office and Head of Security and intelligence, Cabinet Office
Peter Riddell, Chief Political Commentator, The Times
Robert Rogers, Clerk of Legislation House of Commons
Dame Sue Street, former Permanent Secretary, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Professor Ken Starkey, Professor of Management and Organisational Learning, Nottingham University
Sir Hugh Taylor, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health
Sir Stephen Wall, former UK Ambassador to the European Union
Sir Ian Watmore, former Permanent Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Michael White, Political Editor, Guardian