Malcolm Rifkind Keynote Speaker

Sir Malcolm Rifkind is a distinguished British politician and commentator.

A former barrister, Sir Malcolm was first elected to the House of Commons in 1974 and joined the Cabinet in 1986 as Secretary of State for Scotland. In 1990 he became Secretary of State for Transport and in 1992 Secretary of State for Defence. From 1995-97 he was Foreign Secretary. He was one of only four ministers to serve throughout the administrations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In 1997 he was knighted in recognition of his public service.

Sir Malcolm lost his Edinburgh Pentlands seat to Labour in 1997. In 2005 he was adopted, and subsequently elected, as the Conservative candidate for Kensington and Chelsea. He was Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee of the House of Commons until the dissolution of the House of Commons on 12 April 2010. When the Kensington and Chelsea constituency was realigned to create the new seats of Chelsea and Fulham and Kensington, Sir Malcolm stood for the latter seat and was elected at the 2010 general election.

He is now the Co-Chair of the Trident Commission, where he is tasked with examining and reporting on the UK’s nuclear weapon capability, and a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation. Sir Malcolm is also the Co-Vice Chair of Global Panel America with former U.S. Under-Secretary of Defense Dr Dov S. Zakheim he supports governments and institutions to mediate disputes worldwide.