In the House: Your catch-up on who addressed Chatham House events this summer
News release
sfarrell.drupa…
1 August 2025
Remarkable speakers visited Chatham House for speeches, panels, webinars, livestreams and other events during June and July.
It’s been a busy summer at Chatham House, plenty to keep an international affairs think tank occupied. The auditorium and meeting rooms have been packed. Message boards and video channels have hummed with the back and forth of speeches, panel sessions, questions, answers, challenges, rebuttals and presentations of reports and expert commentary.
Here are just some of the people who attended events this summer, including at the flagship London Conference in June. You can watch some of their remarks on video.
President Zelenskyy speaks about his meeting with Keir Starmer and Ukraine’s relationship with the UK.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine:
‘We survive, but not only survive. We really live, and we love life.’
Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
‘It is vital that every member of NATO pulls their weight.’
Ahunna Eziokunwa, UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa:
‘Building more walls and defence as global solidarity plummets.’
Rt Hon Dame Emily Thornberry. Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee:
‘There’s not going to be a Palestine left to recognize unless we get on with it.’
Sir John Sawers, former head of MI6:
On Iran: ‘I think the Americans should frankly get on with it.’
Professor Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government, discusses the ‘explosive situation’ in the country during a talk at Chatham House.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of Bangladesh:
‘People were killed point blank on the street every day.’
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ben Hodges, Former Commander, US Army in Europe:
‘Europe is itself a superpower and it should quit whining and act like a superpower’
Nile Gardiner, Director, Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow
The Rt Hon Lord Robertson, former UK Defence Secretary:
‘A deadly game of brinkmanship’
Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico
Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia
Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman. Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King’s College, London
Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy Magazine
Ahunna Eziakonwa speaks at the 2025 London Conference.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, former lead impeachment manager after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol
Captain Valerii Churkin, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine
Barbara Leaf, former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, US State Department
Luigi Di Maio, EU Special Envoy for the Gulf
Farhad Alaaldin, Advisor, Foreign Affairs, Office of the Prime Minister of Iraq
Luis Vayas Valdivieso, Ambassador of Ecuador to the UK
Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, former Deputy Secretary-General for the Commonwealth
Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation
Dr Sivendra Michael, Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Fiji
Margaret Spring, Chief Conservation and Science Officer, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Colin Crooks, UK Ambassador to the Republic of Korea
Anne Applebaum, SNF Agora Fellow, journalist and author
Steve Tsang, Director SOAS China Institute
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, National Leader of Belarus, Head of the United Transitional Cabinet
Karen Maddocks, Head of NE Asia Department, FCDO
Stephen Hickey, Director Middle East and North Africa, FCDO