Champagne Afternoon Tea and Talk 2026

Join us for a sumptuous Champagne Tea and Talk with our guest speaker Dominic Asquith.

We invite you to hear more about his incredible story:

Date: Saturday 31st January 2026
Time: 2:00pm for 2:30pm
Location: Merchants Hall, The Promenade, Bristol, BS8 3NH
Tickets: £35 per person for Champagne and a sumptuous tea

By kind permission of The Master

In a world of wars, polarised politics and shifting power, it is increasingly difficult to make sense of the world around us. Drawing on four decades at the heart of international diplomacy across the Middle East, South Asia and beyond, Sir Dominic Asquith will unpack the forces reshaping today’s world – from global conflict and migration to economic shocks and rising geopolitical tension – and explore their implications for us all.

In 1983 he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and completed Arabic language training. He subsequently served in Syria and Oman (1986-89), before returning to London to work on EU issues and then (1990-92) Private Secretary to the Foreign Minister responsible for the then Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and Counterterrorism. Following that he served successively in Washington as First Secretary (1992-96), Buenos Aires as Deputy Head of Mission (1997-2001), Riyadh as Deputy Head of Mission (2001-2004) and Baghdad as Deputy Special Representative and Chargé d’Affaires (2004). He returned to London as Director for Iraq (2004-06) before returning to Baghdad as Ambassador (2006-7). He was then appointed successively as Ambassador in Cairo (2007-11) and Benghazi/Tripoli (2011-12).

In 2013, he retired from Government service and did a variety of jobs in the private sector advising companies on the Middle East. In 2016 he was asked to return to Government service as High Commissioner in Delhi, which he did for four years, at the end of which he returned to the private sector as Partner in Macro Advisory Partners, advising clients on the increasingly complex and unpredictable geopolitical environment in which they are operating.

Since 2020 he has been on the Board of Trustees for Orbis UK, a charity involved around the world in providing access to eye care and preventing blindness.

He is married to Louise with four children and 8 young grandchildren.