Crises and challenges in the First Island Chain: A British response

The Council on Geostrategy is delighted to invite you to our next public panel event, ‘Crises and challenges in the First Island Chain: A British response’ on the 22nd October, 6:00pm-7:00pm, in the Palace of Westminster. 

This event celebrates the launch of a Policy Paper written by Gray Sergeant which explores the potential challenges and crises which might arise in the Indo-Pacific region at the turn of the decade and the tools which HM Government could deploy in response as part of United States (US)-led efforts to counter Chinese revisionism across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.

The panel will be chaired by The Rt. Hon. the Lord Spellar, and will include Gray Sergeant, Research Fellow on the Indo-Pacific, Neil Brown, Geopolitical Strategist, Deltroit Asset Management, Dr Laura Southgate, Senior Lecturer at Aston University and Jessica Toale MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary, at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.

Speakers

More speakers to be announced in due course

Neil Brown

• Geopolitical Strategist, Deltroit Asset Management
  Neil Brown is Geopolitical Strategist at Deltroit Asset Management, following several years in a similar role at CQS. Previously, Neil served as an officer in the Royal Navy, including: operational deployments in three air defence destroyers and logistics command of a Carrier Task Group; legal roles as a Court Room Advocate and Judge, and as senior military lawyer for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and global military operations in 2004. He later led the Royal Navy’s Legal Services and the Naval Staff. His last role was in the Cabinet Office, developing a British national strategy for engagement with Gulf Cooperation Council States. Neil graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in Law, was commissioned into the Royal Navy at the Britannia Royal Naval College, called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, and was a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.

Gray Sergeant

• Research Fellow (Indo-Pacific Geopolitics), Council on Geostrategy
  Gray Sergeant is a Research Fellow in Indo-Pacific Geopolitics at the Council on Geostrategy and leads the Indo-Pacific Project. He is also a PhD candidate in the Department of International History at the London School of Economics (LSE). His academic work focuses on British-American diplomatic relations towards the People’s Republic of China during the early Cold War. He previously studied International Relations and History at the LSE before completing a Masters in Chinese Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He has spent time in Taiwan, first as a Mandarin language student at National Taiwan University and then as a Human Rights and Democracy Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. He co-founded, and previously served as Chair of, Hong Kong Watch.

Dr Laura Southgate

• Senior Lecturer (International Relations and Security of Southeast Asia), Aston University
  Laura Southgate is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University specialising in the international relations and security of Southeast Asia. Prior to this, she was a lecturer in international security at Cranfield University, based at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Her research focuses on the international relations and security of Southeast Asia, regionalism and the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), international relations theory and state sovereignty and intervention. She earned a PhD in International Relations from the University of Otago, and an MA in International Relations and Security from the University of Liverpool.

Jessica Toale MP

• Parliamentary Private Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO)
  Jessica Toale is a Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth West since 2024. She also serves as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office. Previously, Toale was a political adviser to Labour MP Ivan Lewis, working on international development and foreign affairs. In 2020, she co-founded the Labour Foreign Policy Group, showcasing her deep engagement in shaping the party’s stance on global issues. She also served as a Westminster City Councillor from 2022 to 2024 and was Deputy Cabinet Member for Culture, Heritage, and the Arts. Toale has extensive experience in international development, having advised multiple organisations and played key roles in policy development. She holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of York and a Master’s in Urbanisation and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Chair

The Rt. Hon. Lord Spellar

• The Rt. Hon. Lord Spellar was Member of Parliament for Warley (1992-2024). He was Vice Chair of the Defence Select Committee from 2020 to 2024, having previously been a member from 2015 to 2019. He was the Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2010 to 2015. Before that, he was appointed as the Minister for Northern Ireland from 2003 to 2005 and the Minister for Armed Forces from 1999 to 2001. He was appointed as a life Peer in 2024.

Tickets

Please note that we reserve the right to withdraw registrations.

Venue