Rory Stewart

The Right Honourable Rory Stewart OBE FRSGS FRSL
Stewart in 2023
Secretary of State for International Development
In office 1 May 2019 – 24 July 2019
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	Penny Mordaunt
Succeeded by	Alok Sharma
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State for Prisons In office 9 January 2018 – 1 May 2019 Prime Minister Theresa May Preceded by Sam Gyimah Succeeded by Robert Buckland Minister of State for Africa In office 15 June 2017 – 9 January 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May Preceded by Tobias Ellwood Succeeded by Harriett Baldwin Minister of State for International Development In office 17 July 2016 – 9 January 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May Preceded by Desmond Swayne Succeeded by Harriett Baldwin Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Rural Affairs and Resource Management In office 12 May 2015 – 17 July 2016 Prime Minister David Cameron Preceded by Dan Rogerson Succeeded by Thérèse Coffey
Further offices held Chair of the Defence Select Committee In office 14 May 2014 – 12 May 2015 Preceded by James Arbuthnot Succeeded by Julian Lewis Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border In office 6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019 Preceded by David Maclean Succeeded by Neil Hudson
Personal details
Born	Roderick James Nugent Stewart (1973-01-03) 3 January 1973 (age 51) British Hong Kong
Political party	Independent (from 2019)
Other political affiliations	Labour (before 1993) Conservative (2009–2019)
Spouse	Shoshana Clark ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	2
Relatives	Brian Stewart (father)
Education	Balliol College, Oxford
Website	rorystewart.co.uk
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1991–1992
Rank	Second Lieutenant (on probation)
Unit	Black Watch

Roderick James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSGS FRSL (born 3 January 1973), known as Rory Stewart, is a British academic, broadcaster, and former diplomat and politician. He is the Brady-Johnson Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs.^[1] He hosts The Rest Is Politics podcast with Alastair Campbell. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019, and between 2015 and 2019 he served as a minister in four departments of the British Government. He then became a Cabinet minister as Secretary of State for International Development from May to July 2019.

Born in 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 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 was 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.^[2] 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.^[3] When Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, Stewart resigned from the cabinet.

On 3 September 2019, Stewart had the Conservative Whip removed after voting to back a motion paving the way for a law seeking to delay the UK's exit date from the European Union.^[4] 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 announced that he would stand as an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election but withdrew on 6 May 2020 on the grounds of the election being postponed on account of COVID-19. His career in politics is described in his bestselling memoir Politics On The Edge (published in the US as How Not To Be a Politician).^[5]

Stewart was the President of GiveDirectly from 2022 to 2023, and was a visiting fellow at Yale Jackson from 2020 to 2022, teaching politics and international relations.^[6] In March 2022, Stewart and Alastair Campbell launched The Rest Is Politics, which has topped politics podcast ratings in the UK most weeks.^[7][8]