- After Dinner Speakers
Topics:
- Politics
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Matthew Parris
Born in Johannesburg, MATTHEW PARRIS was educated in Britain and Africa, graduating from Clare College, Cambridge before going on to study International Relations at Yale.
Member of Parliament
Two years at the Foreign Office were followed by a spell at the Conservative Research Department. After a period in Margaret Thatcher’s office, Matthew was elected MP for West Derbyshire in the 1979 General Election. He gave up his seat in 1986 for a media career when he was offered the role of presenter of LWT’s political interview programme, ‘Weekend World’. Following this, he was the parliamentary sketch writer for The Times from 1988 to 2001.
Media Career
Matthew is a frequent contributor to many other publications including The Spectator and has been named ‘Columnist of the Year’ at the British Press Awards on numerous occasions. He is also a frequent television and radio broadcaster.
Travel
Aside from politics, Matthew’s other great love is travel. He has led expeditions to Mount Kilimanjaro, Peru and Bolivia as well as to Zaire and the Sahara. A keen runner, he has also competed several times in the London Marathon, achieving a personal best of 2 hours 32 minutes.
Author
His first book, Inca-Kola recounts his travels in Peru. He has published several compilations of his pieces in The Times and has also edited Scorn, a book of quotations about curses, jibes and general invective. Other literary credits include Great Parliamentary Scandals, Five Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo and Off Message: New Labour, New Sketches.
Speaker
Matthew is an excellent speaker – humorous and interesting – and is in great demand as an after dinner speaker for corporate events.
‘Thank you very much indeed for the excellent after dinner speech at the FLA’s Annual Dinner... you went down extremely well with everyone and the evening was a roaring success'
Finance and Leasing Association
‘I have recently had three very pleasant experiences, for all of which you have been responsible. The first was listening to your speech, which was a tour de force. The second was standing in front of the microphone you had just vacated and taking the applause which you had so richly deserved. The third was opening a sheaf of letters over the past few days, all remarking on the excellence of your contribution.’
British Venture Capital Association
