We are honoured to host a keynote speech by the Rt Hon. Nick Thomas-Symonds, MP, Paymaster General of the United Kingdom and Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations in the Cabinet Office. The event will be introduced and chaired by Professor 'Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President, International, Engagement and Service, King's College London. A discussion with the audience about EU–UK relations will follow, moderated by Professor Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King's College London; Director, UK in a Changing Europe.

Keynote Speaker

Rt Hon. Nick Thomas-Symonds, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations)

After Labour’s victory in the July 2024 General Election, Nick was appointed as Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Minister for the Constitution and European Relations).

He was first elected as the Labour MP for Torfaen in May 2015 and was re-elected in June 2017, December 2019 and July 2024. He was born and brought up in the Welsh Valleys constituency of Torfaen, where he has always lived. Before being elected as an MP, Nick was a trained barrister and historian.

Nick represents the constituency he grew up in. He was born in Panteg Hospital and brought up in Blaenavon. He went to St. Alban’s R.C. High School, Pontypool before studying PPE at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, graduating in 2001. Out of university, Nick worked as a Tutor/Lecturer in Politics at his old college (2002-2015), specialising in twentieth-century British government.

Nick also trained as a barrister and was a practising tenant at Civitas Law in Cardiff, Wales’s first specialist civil and public law Chambers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2012 and has written three biographies of Labour Politicians, Attlee: A Life in Politics (2010) and Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan (2014) and in September 2022 he published Harold Wilson: The Winner.

In Opposition, Nick served as Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, Shadow Solicitor General, Shadow Minister for Security, Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade. Before the 2024 election, Nick was appointed as Shadow Minister Without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, where he began the work to reset Britain’s relationship with the EU, and create manifesto policy on the UK-EU relationship and the constitution.

He is married to Rebecca, and they have three children, Matilda, Florence and William.

Chair

Professor 'Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President, International, Engagement and Service, King's College London

Professor ’Funmi Olonisakin is Vice President, International, Engagement and Service (IES) at King’s College London. She is also Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at the African Leadership Centre in the School of Global Affairs at King’s.

Previously, Professor Olonisakin worked in the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in New York, between 1999 and 2003. From 2003 until 2013, she was Director of the Conflict Security and Development Group at King’s College London.

In January 2015, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, appointed Professor Olonisakin as one of seven members of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) on the Review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture; and in 2016, as a member of the Advisory Group of Experts for the United Nations Progress Study on Youth, Peace, and Security.

Discussion Moderator

Professor Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King's College London; Director, UK in a Changing Europe

Before coming to King's, Anand was a Professor of West European Politics, and founding Director of the European Research Institute at the University of Birmingham. Prior to that he was University Lecturer in European Politics and Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford. He has held visiting positions at New York University, Columbia University and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, amongst others. He is an associate fellow of Chatham House and Senior Associate member of Nuffield College, Oxford. He is co-editor of the journal West European Politics.

Anand is director of the UK in a Changing Europe, a unique initiative funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council that aims to make the findings of social scientific research available and accessible to all non-academic audiences interested in Brexit, the Brexit process and its implications.

Venue and Information

The event will be held in Bush House Lecture Theatre 1, room BH (S)1.01. A reception with drinks will follow. We encourage all attendees to stay, enjoy a drink and network.

Please note, King's events are free, which means we routinely overbook to allow for no-shows and avoid empty seats. Admission is on a first come, first served basis, so please arrive in good time to avoid disappointment. We will not be able to admit those without tickets.

There may be some photography at this event for archival and promotional purposes. If you would prefer not to be photographed, please let a member of staff or the photographer know on arrival.

King’s Europe Week

King's Europe Week is the flagship annual event co-organised by the Department of European & International Studies (EIS), the Jean-Monnet Centre of Excellence on Next Generation EU–UK Relations and the European (JMCE), and the Intenational Studies King's Association (EISKA). King's Europe Week brings together policy-makers, researchers, media and businesses to discuss, debate and analyse the present and future of Europe in a changing global order.