Chloe Smith Keynote Speaker

Rt Hon Chloe Smith advises businesses and charities from her experience in the UK Parliament and Government. She’s been a senior legislator with over a decade of complex ministerial experience including running both the newest and the biggest departments in the UK government with a budget of hundreds of billions. She worked at the heart of Westminster for fifteen years, winning election five times in her constituency of Norwich North.

As a Cabinet minister, she built and led the new government department for Science, Innovation and Technology. She now focuses on tech, innovation, and science, including the global and domestic cutting edge of AI. Blending in her time heading up electoral policy in the UK, she speaks on AI and elections in this global bumper election year. She was jointly named the most influential person in technology in the UK in 2023.

She provides insight into the global economy, labour market, pensions and the future of work from her service as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work.

She is passionate about disability, diversity and talent in business – and she brings a unique viewpoint as a custodian of the Equality Act and from her track record of helping people into jobs.

She is an experienced speaker and panellist, in print and broadcast media including the BBC, the Times, Sky, and in corporate, academic and think tank settings as well as an Honorary Fellow with the University of East Anglia.

In the top list of 2022 Women in Westminster, the year she overcame breast cancer, Chloe is an advocate for women in leadership. She speaks publicly to encourage others to check for signs of cancer and seek support. She was one of the first in her party to take maternity leave from Parliament, and has played an historic role in providing the first ever maternity cover for a department at the Cabinet table.

Chloe also shares her expertise as Minister for the Constitution and Devolution, from the coalition government to coronavirus via Brexit. She’s an energetic speaker who explains the challenges of public service in a demanding, dynamic era.

First the youngest MP in the Commons at 27, one of the youngest ministers since Pitt at 28 and in Cabinet at 40 before leaving Parliament, she illustrates the millennial generation in politics.

She’s known as a compassionate, thoughtful, effective and determined leader who listens, and forges consensus – like when she broke ground by recognising British Sign Language in law. Her style is described as inclusive, inquisitive, inspirational and decisive.

Chloe is a trustee and works with a range of charities, and helps to govern a multi-academy schools trust.

As an MP, Chloe has represented Britain internationally through the Inter-Parliamentary Union, training overseas sister parties in Africa and Eastern Europe through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and, via the UN, assisting new MPs in Burma in developing their Parliament. As a senior minister, she led the UK delegation at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Before entering Parliament, Chloe worked for international consultancy firm Deloitte, advising private businesses, government departments and public bodies. Chloe stood down from Parliament in 2024.