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Speakers

We hold regular events online and in person with invited speakers to discuss society’s biggest problems and come up with workable solutions.

The following people have spoken on an Onward platform.

Neil O’Brien MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, and previously co-founded Onward in 2018.
Eddie Hughes MP was a member of Onward’s Advisory Board and now serves as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Will Holloway is Special Adviser to Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP at the Department for International Trade. Prior to this he was Onward’s Deputy Director. 
Minette Batters is the President of NFU
Anthony Browne is the MP for South Cambridgeshire
Lord Gus O’Donnell served under three Prime Ministers and was Permanent Secretary to the Treasury under the Brown chancellorship
Dr Rhian Mari-Thomas is the Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute
Guy Opperman MP is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, and is the MP for Hexham
Harriet Baldwin is the MP for West Worcestershire
Danny Kruger is the MP for Devizes
Jessica Oghenegweke is the Commissioner of the Social Mobility Commission
Mark Gifford is the CEO of NCS
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Kt is the Minister of State at the Department of International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Jonathan Branton leads the Government and Public Sector Group at DWF
Dr Ben Caldecott is the Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme, and a member of the getting to zero steering group
Alan Haywood is the Head of ESG at BP
Gary Neville is a football pundit at Sky Sports
Alison McGovern is Member of Parliament for Wirral South
Lord Mervyn King of Lothbury is a Member of the Economic Affairs Committee in the House of Lords
Jo Gideon is the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central
Andrew Lewer is MP for Northampton South
Nickie Aiken is the Member of Parliament for Cities of London and Westminster
Bim Afolami is the MP for Hitchin and Harpenden
Ben Houchen is the Mayor of Tees Valley
Virginia Crosbie is Member of Parliament for for Ynys Môn.
Dr Caroline Johnson is the MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham
Helen Pidd is an Editor for The Guardian
Sir Richard Leese is the Leader of Manchester City Council
Philip Broadhead is the Councillor for Talbot and Branksome Woods, and Deputy Leader for the new BCP Council.
Andy Street CBE is Mayor of the West Midlands, and former Managing Director of John Lewis
Dr Russ Tucker is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Ivy Farm Technologies
Victoria Prentis is MP for Banbury and Attorney General.
Polly Neate is Chief Executive at Shelter
Vidhya is the founding Chief Executive of Power to Change, with extensive policy experience
Alison Jones is the Development Manager at the Little Hulton Big Local
Paul Scully MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Minister for London
Tracy Vegro is Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Solicitors Regulation Authority
Natasha Clark is a political correspondent for The Sun
John Glen MP is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and MP for Salisbury.
George Freeman is the MP for Mid Norfolk and the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation
Maggie Throup MP is the Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care.
Katherine Fletcher is the MP for South Ribble
Dr Séamus O’Neill is the CEO of the Northern Health Science Alliance.
Dr Kath Mckay is the MD at Bruntwood SciTech, Alderley Park
Andrew Bowie is Member of Parliament for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, and Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party
Jonathan Gullis is the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North
Secretary of State for International Trade, and President of the Board of Trade since 2021
Adrian Letts is the CEO of OVO’s retail energy business.
Jack Harries is a filmmaker and environmental activist
Mathieu Flamini is an environmental entrepreneur and former professional footballer
Emma Gatten is the Environment Editor for The Daily Telegraph.
Alexander Stafford is MP for Rother Valley.
Guy Newey is the Director of Energy Systems Catapult
Huw Merriman is the MP for Bexhill and Battle
Jamie Heywood is the Regional GM at Uber
Rt Hon Esther McVey MP is the Member of Parliament for Tatton.
Henri Murison is the Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership
Neelam Patel is the CEO of MedCity
Mims Davies MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the DWP and the MP for Mid Sussex
Dr Anna Valreo is an ESRC Innovation Fellow at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance
Mike Hawking is the Head of Policy and Partnerships at JRF
Chris Heaton-Harris is the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the MP for Daventry.
Phil Whittingham is the Managing Director at West Coast Partnership
Felicity Buchan is the MP for Kensington
Catherine McGuinness is the Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee for the City of London Corporation
Nadhim Zahawi MP is the Chairman of the Conservative Party and MP for Stratford-upon-Avon.
Juergen Maier is the Chair of Digital Catapult and the Former CEO of Siemens UK
Janet Godsell is a Professor of Operations and Supply Chain at the University of Warwick, and is the Dean of Loughborough’s School of Business and Economics
Ian Muldowney is the CEO and Engineering Director of BAE Systems Air
David Postings is the Chief Executive of UK Finance
Gareth Davies is the MP for Grantham and Stamford
Andrew Stephenson MP is the Minister of State at the Department for Transport and the MP for Pendle
Secretary of State, Department for Health and Social Care