Sir Dennis Walters founded the Conservative Middle East Council in 1980 and served as Chairman until 1992 when he was appointed Honorary President. In 2007 he stood down from this role and became an Honorary Life Patron. Under his Chairmanship, the Conservative Middle East Council was a very dynamic organisation. In the wake of the Venice Declaration CMEC was set up to provide a balanced perspective on the Arab Israeli conflict in the Conservative Party. As well as having experience in the Middle East, Sir Dennis frequently visited Washington and spoke on several occasions to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sir Dennis was born in 1928. He was educated at Downside and St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge where he graduated with a 1st Class Honours Degree in Modern Languages. He worked as Personal Assistant to the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Hailsham between 1957 and 1959 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Westbury in 1964. He continued to serve Westbury until he retired from the House of Commons in 1992. During his time in Parliament he spent over ten years serving on the Conservative Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee as Secretary or Vice-Chairman.

Widely acknowledged as one of the leading British experts on the Middle East, Sir Dennis was Chairman of the Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding between 1970 and 1982. He also served as Chairman to the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Association and was Founder and Director of the Middle East International magazine, which provided news, analysis and commentary on the Middle East from 1971 until its closure in 2005.

Sir Dennis’ has been a member of the Kuwait Investment Advisory Board (KIO) since 1969 and he is currently a Middle East Consultant to JCB. He has served as joint Chairman with the Saudi Arabian Ambassador of the British-Saudi Committee and joint Chairman with the Kuwaiti Ambassador of the British-Kuwait Friendship Society. Knighted in 1988, his autobiographical memoirs “Not Always With the Pack” were published in 1990. Sir Dennis has five children.