Rt Hon Lord (William) Hague

William Hague was born and brought up in Yorkshire, where he served as the Member of Parliament for Richmond for 26 years. After attending a local comprehensive (and creating a sensation as a schoolboy-speaker at the Conservative Party Conference), he took a First Class degree at Oxford and then an MBA with distinction.

William has been a prominent political leader for more than 20 years, serving as Leader of the Conservative Party and as Foreign Secretary. After announcing in 2014 that he would step down from politics, he concluded his political career as First Secretary of State and Leader of the House of Commons.

In more than four years as Foreign Secretary, William dealt with a turbulent period in world affairs, encompassing the wars in Libya and Syria, the British withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Ukraine crisis, the struggle against international terrorism and Britain's relations with Europe. He was known for expanding Britain's diplomatic network and placing a renewed emphasis on British export success. He was also responsible for two of Britain's intelligence agencies. He visited more countries than any British Foreign Secretary in history.

William also led the negotiating team that created the coalition government in 2010. His combination of international and domestic political experience has given him a deep knowledge of the inside of politics, and of the reasons for growing instability in world affairs. He speaks with great authority on the impact of technological change, population movements, economic trends and the rise of religious intolerance on our economy and all of our lives.

Having known many global leaders, he speaks from rich experience about different styles of leadership, drawing on his hundreds of debates with Tony Blair and his first hand knowledge of the world's presidents from George W. Bush to Vladimir Putin.

William is also a well-known raconteur, described by Hillary Clinton as the 'David Beckham of witty toasts.' With his natural Yorkshire wit and comic timing he enjoys describing the pitfalls of politics and the disasters caused when the media, drink, politicians and debating are mixed together.

He is also an accomplished historian, having written two bestsellers and won the History Book of the Year Award.

William has left politics to return to his writing. He lives in Wales and Yorkshire with his wife Ffion. He also continues with his humanitarian work globally, including the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative which he co-founded with Angelina Jolie Pitt, and his work to combat the illegal wildlife trade.