Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973), known as Rory Stewart, is a British academic, diplomat, explorer, author, former soldier, and former politician, who is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he teaches politics and international relations. Before this appointment, he served as a minister in four different departments of the UK government, before serving in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from May to July 2019. He was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019. Born in British Hong Kong, Stewart was educated at the Dragon School and Eton College. After studying at Balliol College, Oxford, Stewart worked for Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service as a diplomat in Indonesia and as British Representative to Montenegro. He left the diplomatic service to undertake a two-year walk across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. He later wrote a best-selling book, The Places in Between, about his experiences. He subsequently served as a 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 or The Prince of …
Rory Stewart
Author details
- Born:
- Jan. 3, 1973
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Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973), known as Rory Stewart, is a British academic, diplomat, explorer, author, former soldier, and former politician, who is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he teaches politics and international relations. Before this appointment, he served as a minister in four different departments of the UK government, before serving in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from May to July 2019. He was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019. Born in British Hong Kong, Stewart was educated at the Dragon School and Eton College. After studying at Balliol College, Oxford, Stewart worked for Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service as a diplomat in Indonesia and as British Representative to Montenegro. He left the diplomatic service to undertake a two-year walk across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. He later wrote a best-selling book, The Places in Between, about his experiences. He subsequently served as a 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 or The Prince of the Marshes. In 2005 he moved to Kabul to establish and run the Turquoise Mountain Foundation. He was the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights and the Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University from 2008 to 2010. In 2010 Stewart was elected to the House of Commons and in 2014 was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee. He served under David Cameron as Minister for the Environment from 2015 to 2016. He served as a minister throughout Theresa May’s government as Minister of State for International Development, Minister of State for Africa and Minister of State for Prisons. He ultimately 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 his 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 and when Johnson became prime minister, in July 2019, Stewart resigned from the cabinet. On 3 October 2019 Stewart announced he had resigned from the Conservative Party and that he would stand down as an MP at the next general election. He initially put himself up to be an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election but withdrew on 6 May 2020 on the grounds of the election being postponed due to COVID-19, saying he could not maintain the campaign so long against the big budgets of the Labour and Conservative campaigns. In September 2020 he became a fellow at Yale University, teaching politics and international relations.
