The Lafayette Club
The Lafayette Club, also stylised as The LaFayette Club, is a free speech and leadership forum in the town of St Andrews, Scotland, whose membership is drawn primarily from members of the University of St Andrews.
Founded in 2016, the club holds regular speaker events and topical discussions with leaders in the fields of politics, business, social change and journalism.
History
The club was founded by two undergraduate students at the University of St Andrews, Daniel Rey and Ben Thrasher, keen to promote the values of liberty and democracy held by Marquis de Lafayette, of which the club is subsequently named after. The club aims to educate, inspire and stimulate the student body through socio-politically relevant talks from leaders in their respective fields.
The first event was held in February 2017 with Robby Mook, the Campaign Manager for Hillary 2016, and the first event held in conjunction with the University was with Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister of Australia, in November 2017.
The Lafayette Podcast
As of December 2017, the Lafayette Club has released nine podcast episodes. Each episode consists of an interview with a guest on a current affairs issue. Guests have included Armando Iannucci, Gideon Rachman, Mark Thompson, Richard Haass, Olivier Blanchard and Ángel Gurría.
Speakers
# |
Speaker |
Position |
Title of Talk |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Robby Mook |
Campaign Manager for Hillary 2016 |
A Conversation with Robby Mook - The Hillary Clinton 2016 Campaign Manager |
2 |
David Mepham |
UK Director of Human Rights Watch |
Human Rights in the Age of Trump and Brexit |
3 |
Christopher de Bellaigue |
Journalist and Author |
The Islamic Enlightenment |
4 |
Tawakkol Karman |
Nobel Peace Laureate |
An Update on The Yemeni Crisis |
5 |
Anna Neistat |
Director of Research at Amnesty International |
Human Rights on the Front Line |
6 |
Adrian Wooldridge |
Political Editor of The Economist |
An Update on British Politics |
7 |
Kevin Rudd |
Former Prime Minister of Australia |
The United States and China – The Future of the Global Order |
8 |
Iain Mackay |
Chief Financial Officer of HSBC Group |
Banking, Brexit and the Role of the CFO |
# |
Speaker |
Position |
Title of Talk |
|---|---|---|---|
# |
Ronny Abraham |
President of the International Court of Justice |
tbc |
# |
Bjarni Benediktsson |
Prime Minister of Iceland |
tbc |
# |
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe |
Former Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Group |
tbc |
# |
Tony Elumelu |
Chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa |
tbc |
# |
Adrian Hasler |
Prime Minister of Liechtenstein |
tbc |
# |
Joseph Muscat |
Prime Minister of Malta |
tbc |
# |
Fabian Picardo |
Chief Minister of Gibraltar |
tbc |
# |
Shashi Tharoor |
Former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Indian Politician |
tbc |