Sir Gerald Howarth

Sir Gerald Howarth gained his pilot’s licence at the age of 17 and has over four decades of experience working closely with the British defence and aerospace industry, including twenty years as the MP for BAE’s Farnborough base. As the Conservative Member of Parliament for Aldershot, Sir Gerald served as Chairman of the APPG on Aerospace, Vice Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Shadow Minister for Veterans and later for Defence Procurement, before being appointed Minister for International Security Strategy by then Prime Minister, David Cameron, in 2010. In this role, Sir Gerald was directly responsible for the UK’s defence exports, defence diplomacy and EU defence issues.

Sir Gerald is a patron of the all party UK Defence Forum, a Trustee of the British Forces Foundation, a Trustee of Vulcan to the Sky, a Joint Patron of Aerobility (The British Disabled Flying Association), President of the British Air Display Association, President of the Historic Aircraft Association and a council member of The Air League. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mrs Thatcher and is currently President of Conservative Way Forward.