10th Annual Antcliffe Lecture

Mon 17 March

Churchill College

Join us for the 10th annual John Antcliffe Lecture in British Politics delivered this year by Baroness Catherine Ashton LG GCMG, PC on the subject ‘Challenges in UK Foreign Policy’.

Baroness Catherine Ashton served as the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy from 2009 to 2014 and now holds several portfolios in foreign and security policy. She is a Distinguished fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington DC and a consultant to the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. As a member of the House of Lords she serves on the European Affairs Committee and Chairs the Space & the UK Committee

On behalf of the UN Security Council, she chaired the negotiations that ultimately resulted in the agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme. She also worked with the Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo leading to the Brussels agreement, for which she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Previously, she was the first female EU Commissioner for Trade.

Prior to becoming an EU commissioner, she was a UK government minister in the House of Lords. She served in the Education and Justice departments, before being promoted to the Cabinet as Leader of the House of Lords.

Catherine has received many honours, notably from the King of Jordan, Germany, and the UK where she is the first woman Chancellor of the Order of St Michael & St George. In 2023 King Charles III made her a member of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry.

Cost: Free