The Hon. Nicholas Soames has always had a keen interest in the Middle East. He was elected as the Honorary President of the Conservative Middle East Council in 2007 and previously served as its Chairman from 1997 to 2003.

Understanding the Middle East is crucial and in order to understand this diverse region we must maintain our historic ties there, particularly with the countries of the Gulf region such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait.

Hugo Swire MP became Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council in December 2008 having previous served as the Hon. Secretary since 2004. After successful careers in the Armed Forces and as the Director of Sotheby’s, Hugo gained the seat as the Member of Parliament for East Devon in 2001.

Swiftly occupying positions on the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, as Shadow minister for the Arts, Opposition Whip, Principle Private Secretary, Shadow Arts Minister and more recently Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Hugo has gained popularity and success in the Party.

Lord Astor has served as an Opposition Spokesman in the House of Lords since 1998 and he is currently the Opposition Spokesman on Defence matters. Following an army career with the Life Guards from 1965 – 1970 he went to France where he worked for 11 years.

Hugh Robertson won an Army Scholarship to University and served in The Life Guards from 1985-1995 seeing active service in Northern Ireland, The Gulf War, Bosnia and with the UN in Cyprus.

He also commanded The Household Cavalry on the 1993 Birthday Parade, 1993 State Opening of Parliament and was awarded The Sultan of Brunei’s Order of Merit for his work on the 1992 State Visit.