People

Meet the CMEC team

Parliamentary Committee

Honorary President - The Rt Hon. the Lord Soames of Fletching

Lord Soames has very extensive experience of the Middle East. He was elected as the President of the Conservative Middle East Council in 2007 and previously served as Chairman from 1997 to 2003.

He began his career in the Army, where he served with the 11th Hussars. Upon leaving the Army, he worked as Equerry to the Prince of Wales, as a stockbroker, as personal assistant to Sir James Goldsmith and the then Senator Mark Hatfield. He left his service in 1978 and went on to become a Director at Lloyds Brokers and then Assistant Director at the Sedgwick Group.

Lord Soames served as an MP without interruption between 1983 and 2019, representing first Crawley, and then Mid Sussex. His Parliamentary career saw him serve as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, as Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Shadow Secretary of State for Defence.

Chairman - The Rt. Hon. Kit Malthouse FCA MP

The Rt Hon Kit Malthouse FCA MP is the Conservative Member of Parliament for North West Hampshire, a seat he has held since 2015. 

Kit’s political career began with his election to Westminster City Council in 1998, where he served as Deputy Council Leader from 2004 to 2006. He was subsequently elected to the London Assembly in 2008, representing West Central, and became Deputy Mayor for Policing under Boris Johnson. In this role, he implemented assertive and successful crime reduction strategies and made big steps forward in police accountability in London. Later, he served as Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise, focusing on boosting London’s economy and supporting business growth, with a particular emphasis on financial services and life sciences. 

As an MP, Malthouse has held several high-profile ministerial positions and has been a strong advocate for public service reform. His roles include Minister of State for Housing, where he boosted national performance to a decadal high; Minister of State for Policing and Crime, where again instituted radical law enforcement policies, and successfully led the largest every expansion of police officer numbers; and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, overseeing key aspects of government strategy during the difficult summer of 2022. He served briefly as Secretary of State for Education, before declining to serve in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, when he returned to the back benches. 

Kit has also built a business career alongside politics, first qualifying as a chartered accountant, and then starting a midlands based finance company, which he still owns today. He is married with three children and his spare time is spent sailing and enjoying the countryside. 

Kit has been a long-standing supporter of CMEC and taken a particular interest in Middle East affairs since he moved to the back benches.

Honorary Vice President - Baron Risby of Haverhill

Baron Risby of Haverhill served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 to 2010. He has held a number of shadow ministerial positions, including Opposition spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport, for Foreign Affairs, and Shadow Minister for the Treasury. He was Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2005 - 2010 and served as governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy from 2000 to 2009. In 2010 was appointed to The House of Lords. 

Lord Risby was appointed The Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy for Algeria in 2012, and from 2019 served as the first dedicated UK trade envoy to Lebanon, strengthening economic relationships and business opportunities. He served on the EU External Affairs Committee in the Lords between 2015 and 2018 and was a member of the International Agreements Committee between 2020 and 2022. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Council on Geostrategy. 

Lord Risby graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge, and prior to entering parliament, worked in the financial sector in The City for more than twenty years. 

Vice Chairman - Andrew Bowie MP

Andrew Bowie is the MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. He has held several ministerial roles in government. He is currently Shadow Minister for Energy, and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. Prior to the General Election in 2024, Andrew was Minister serving in the department of Energy Security and Net Zero and was formerly Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Exports. Before entering Parliament, Andrew served in the Royal Navy as an officer for 3 years, a career that took him around the world to Brazil, Bahrain, Gibraltar and The Falklands. He studied politics and history at the University of Aberdeen.

Vice Chairman - Martin Vickers MP

Martin Vickers is the MP for Brigg and Immingham, serving continuously as an MP since 2010. He sits on the Backbench Business Committee, and plays an active role in a variety of All Party Parliamentary Groups,  including Kosovo and Albania, Gibraltar, Poland, and Lebanon. 

Director - Charlotte Leslie

Charlotte is a former Conservative MP, serving Bristol North West from 2010 - 2017.  She sat on Select Committees for education, health, and specialised in the Middle East. She was a vice chair of CMEC, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Saudi Arabia, and was awarded the Spectator's "Backbencher of the Year" award for work on health.

Prior to entering politics, Charlotte worked in television production at the BBC. She studied Classics at Balliol College, Oxford. In 2023, Ukraine's President Zelensky appointed her as one of seven global "Grain From Ukraine" Goodwill Ambassadors. 

Advisory Board 
 

  • Marcus Booth - Conservative Party Treasurer
    Marcus Booth is a Partner of a leading US law firm in the EMEA Corporate M&A team. He is a Conservative Party Treasurer, and co-chair of the Business and Entrepreneurs Forum of the Conservative Party. 
     
  • The Rt. Hon. Alistair Burt - Former Minister of State for The Middle East and North Africa 
    Alistair Burt was Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, together with the Department for International Development from June 2017 to March 2019. He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office from May 2010 until October 2013.  In the interim, between May 2015 and July 2016 he was Minister for Health. He is Pro-Chancellor of Lancaster University. 
     
  • Rob Butler OBE - Former MP for Aylesbury
    Rob Butler was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Aylesbury until 2024. He previously worked as a television presenter and journalist for the BBC and Channel 5, before founding a communications firm, and working in public relations. 
     
  • Leon Cook - Founder, Atticus Partners
    Leon Cook is the founder of the award-winning government affairs and communications agency, Atticus Partners. He is an Executive Committee member of the PRCA Public Affairs Board, and a board member of Conservatives Abroad, the Conservative Party's global network of members and supporters living overseas. A politics and history graduate, he has worked extensively across the Middle East and North Africa. He stood for the Conservative Party at the 2024 General Election. 
     
  • Con Coughlin - Author, and Executive Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor of The Daily Telegraph
    Con Coughlin is an experienced journalist who has covered Middle East affairs since the mid- 1980s. He is the defence editor of The Daily Telegraph, and author of several books, the most recent being "Assad - The Triumph of Tyranny". 
     
  • Corina Goetz - Founder of Star-CaT
    Corina Goetz  is CEO of Star-CaT, a Middle Eastern Advisory, Training and Consultation company. For more than 20 years she has worked with leaders from the Gulf, Royal families and business people. Her achievements include helping a company grow from zero clients to a $6 million annual turnover. As a German, and non-Arabic speaker, she knows how hard it can be to understand a culture so different to that of the West. Since founding Star-CaT, she has worked world-wide, educating and assisting businesses in doing better business in the dynamic Gulf region.
     
  • Sir John Jenkins KCMG LVO - Former British Diplomat 
    Sir John is a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, for whom he writes on Islamism and extremism. He helps lead the Westphalia Programme at Cambridge University’s Centre for Geopolitics, and is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. Between 1980 and 2015 he served as a British diplomat in Abu Dhabi, Malaysia and Kuwait. He was appointed Ambassador to Burma, HM Consul-General in Jerusalem, Ambassador to Syria, FCO Director for the MENA, Ambassador to Iraq, Special Representative to the National Transitional Council and subsequently Ambassador to Libya and then to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2014 he was asked by then Prime Minister, David Cameron, to lead a Policy Review into the Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islamism. From 2015-2017 he was based in Bahrain as Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies – Middle East. In 2017 he was also a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, teaching Middle East Politics. Sir John holds a BA and a PhD from Jesus College, Cambridge. He studied Arabic, Malay and Burmese at SOAS and other institutions in London.
     
  • Lina Khatib - Associate Fellow for the MENA Programme, Chatham House 
    Lina Khatib is Associate Fellow MENA Programme at Chatham House, and an analyst,  writer, and commentator. She is an internationally recognised expert on policy, politics, governance, security, culture, communications, and public diplomacy in relation to the Middle East with a track record of senior leadership at world-leading policy institutions.
     
  • Lt. General Sir Simon Mayall - Author and retired British Army Officer
    Sir Simon Mayall served for 40 years in the British Army. He was the first Defence Senior Adviser for the Middle East. In 2014, after the fall of Mosul to ISIS, he became the Prime Minister’s Security Envoy to Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government. He was responsible for establishing the Royal Navy base in Bahrain, Britain’s first permanent military base ‘East of Suez’ since 1971. He has written two books "Soldier In The Sand" (2020), and "The House of War" (2024)
     
  • Katherine Mulhern - Founder and CEO ' Restitution'
     Katherine Mulhern is the Founder and CEO of Restitution. Prior to this she served as the Executive Director at the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) . With a background in law and international legal studies, Katherine has held various partner positions at prestigious law firms such as Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, and Hogan Lovells.
     
  • Simon Penney CMG - Former HMG Trade Commissioner to The Middle East
    Simon Penney was His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HTMC) for the Middle East. He was appointed in May 2018. Simon was also His Majesty’s Consul General (HMCG) to Dubai, appointed in January 2021. Simon spent the majority of his career in the banking sector with extensive experience leading corporate and financial institution groups and teams across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Simon’s previous roles in the Middle East include: Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at First Gulf Bank and Chief Executive Officer, Middle East and Africa with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Simon was also CEO for ABN AMRO Bank in South Africa before which he led teams in the UK. Before this, he worked in consulting at PwC and in project finance within the construction industry.
     
  • Jonathan Rose - Barrister
    Jonathan Rose is a barrister at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square. His areas of expertise are business crime, investigations and resolutions, and professional discipline and regulatory. He has significant trial experience of civil fraud, commercial dispute resolution and criminal cases.