Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Labour Party is delighted to announce dinner with three very special guests on the 16th June in what promises to be a wonderful evening of insightful opinion and quite a few laughs.
Gordon Brown is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Gordon Brown
Gordon entered Parliament in 1983 representing Dunfermline East and from 2005 he represented the new constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.
He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010 and is widely credited with preventing a second Great Depression through his stewardship of the 2009 London G20 summit. He was one of the first leaders during the global crisis to initiate calls for global financial action, while introducing a range of rescue measures in the UK.
Previously, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007, making him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history. During ten years at the Treasury, Gordon masterminded many of Labour’s proudest achievements including the Minimum Wage, Sure Start, the Winter Fuel Allowance, the Child Trust Fund, the Child Tax Credit and paid paternity leave. His record on global justice includes his negotiation of debt cancellation for the world’s poorest nations and the tripling of the budget for life-saving aid.
He is a passionate advocate for global action to ensure education for all and has served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Global Education since July 2012. He works closely with key partners to help galvanise support for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 to achieve quality, relevance, and inclusive education and learning for every child. He is Chair of the High Level Steering Group for the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies, Chair of the Inquiry on Protecting Children in Conflict and also serves as Distinguished Global Leader in Residence of New York University.
Richard Leonard is leader of the Scottish Labour Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Central Scotland region.
Richard Leonard
Prior to entering the Scottish Parliament Richard was an organiser for the GMB union representing workers in manufacturing, commercial and public services across Scotland and for five years he was Assistant Secretary of the STUC where he was responsible for economic affairs.
As a former Scottish TUC economist Richard has written extensively on the Scottish economy, contributing to publications and campaigns as diverse as the Scottish Left Review, the Red Paper on Scotland, for the Labour Party Socialist Environment Resources Association (SERA) pamphlets “Renewable Energy” (2003) and “Sustainable Jobs” (2002). His published articles include the Fraser of Allander Quarterly Economic Commentary and Scottish Affairs.
He has also served on the Boards of several economic regeneration companies and is the Secretary of the Keir Hardie Society, of which he was a founding member, and Vice Chairperson of the Scottish Labour History Society.
Ayesha Hazarika is a columnist, political commentator, stand-up comedian and former Special Advisor to the Labour party.
Ayesha Hazarika
Having started her career as a stand-up comedian playing clubs across the country, she then took what she thought was a natural diversion into politics as a Special Adviser for the Labour Party, working with them for eight years both in Government and Opposition. During her time in Westminster she worked for Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband, advising them on Prime Minister’s Questions, speeches, media and policy as well as heading up initiatives on topics such as Women and Equality.
Since leaving front line politics Ayesha has presented shows on LBC and appears twice weekly on the panel discussion show CNN Talk (CNN international). In print Ayesha writes a weekly column for the Evenings Standard and The Scotsman and has contributed to FT, Guardian, New Statesman and Grazia. She is also a much sought after pundit due to her unique position to analyse and comment on current affairs with great wit and insight appearing regularly across shows including Good Morning Britain (ITV), Sky Papers (Sky News), The Andrew Marr Show(BBC1), Newsnight (BBC2), The Agenda (ITV) and The Today Programme (BBC Radio 4) as well as using her comedy chops on Breaking the News (BBC Radio Scotland) and Matt Forde’s Unspun(Dave).
In 2016 Ayesha returned to her stand-up roots with her show Tales from the Pink Bus which was a sell-out hit at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival and the Women of the World at the Southbank Centre. She then extended this show, creating State of the Nation, which she toured throughout the UK in early 2017 including a hugely successful run at the Soho Theatre, which had extra dates added due to phenomenal demand. During the show, Ayesha lifts the lid on what life was really like behind the scenes at Westminster with brutal honesty and humour and asks what’s next for British politics. The show enjoyed a very successful run in Edinburgh in 2017, including a four star review from The Scotsman.
Tickets are priced at £40, includes a drinks reception and three course dinner, and will take place at Hamilton Academical Function Suite, New Douglas Park, ML3 0FT.
Tickets may be purchased here, via email to lesley@dailycom.co.uk or by phoning 07810 350840.
