Alex Chalk MP, KC in conversation with The Right Honourable Lord Finkelstein OBE

Daniel Finkelstein OBE is a British journalist and politician. He is a former executive editor of The Times and remains a weekly political columnist. He is a former chairman of Policy Exchange and he is chair of the think tank Onward.

He was made a member of the House of Lords in August 2013 sitting as a Conservative.

Between 1995 and 1997 Daniel was Director of the Conservative Research Department and in that capacity advised Prime Minister John Major and attended meetings of the Cabinet when it sat in political session. Daniel became among the earliest advocates of the 'modernisation' of the Conservative Party, laying out the principles of change in a series of speeches and columns in The Times.

Daniel is in Cheltenham for the Literature Festival – presenting his new book covering his parents turbulent history. Daniel Finkelstein’s father was deported to Siberia and endured the horrors of the Soviet Gulag. His mother Mirjam — a schoolfriend of Anne Frank in Amsterdam — was sent to Belsen concentration camp. Daniel will be recounting their devastating wartime experiences of persecution, resistance and survival at the Festival later in the day.

If you would like attend (£25) or to bring a guest (£25 each).