Providing insight into the extensive diplomatic career and grassroots political journey of Caroline Newton, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Henley and Thame, highlighting her experiences in international relations and local governance and her aspirations for promoting Britain’s place in the world.
One week before the Prime Minister announced the General Election is to be held on the 4th of July, Curia’s Director of Defence and Foreign Policy, Robert Clark, sat down with the Conservative party candidate for Henley and Thame, Caroline Newton. In a conversation covering topics ranging from Caroline’s academic background in modern African history to her time as a British diplomat in Europe and then as a local councillor, Caroline’s experience dealing with both grass-roots local issues, in addition to complex international relations and foreign policy, all highlighted how her career to date has led her to now stand as a highly credible parliamentary candidate, for the people of South Oxfordshire.
Diplomacy to Grassroots: a Unique Career Journey
Perhaps the most curious facet of Caroline’s career so far has been its almost reversal compared with many established Parliamentarians – beginning at the Foreign Office, leading to becoming a local district and county councillor, before ending back in government as a special advisor, and now running for Parliament. It’s this duality and breadth of experience that not only made Curia want to better understand Caroline’s experiences and ambitions for Parliament but also led her to being a highly respected candidate.
Much of Caroline’s early career was spent as a British diplomat, with a subtle focus on conflict prevention and de-escalation. Her thesis at the University of Cambridge in the late 1980s helped prepare the way for this, looking at the Mao Mao incident in Kenya, helping to debunk some of the legacy myths surrounding that period of the British Empire – including the notion that many Mao Mao attacks were against white settlers when, in fact, they were often against their own fellow tribes, with a “tension very much between modernity and the past”.
Starting at King Charles Street immediately after graduating from Cambridge, Caroline recalled to the Curia team how her first post as a diplomat centred around Gibraltar, which then took her to focus on the Falklands Islands. Her work on Gibraltar set her up nicely for the work in the South Atlantic, and she described it as “quite relevant really, given the nature of working with crown dependencies”. Amongst this diplomatic case work, Caroline even enjoyed a brief spell as an eminent expert on the migratory patterns of the illex squid, crucial to the fishing economies of the Falklands but a sensitive topic given Argentinian territorial claims.
After this, the mid-1990s saw Caroline deployed to the British Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. Her work here included travelling to a recently independent Ukraine at the onset of the Polish accession to the European Union, which created a new east-west economic European buffer or border with the non-EU former Soviet states. Highlighting here the differences in opportunities that greater economic cooperation between Poland and the EU brought millions of ordinary Poles, contrasted against the Ukrainians who enjoyed very close relations with Poland, Caroline really painted a picture of the differences in societal opportunity between Poland and Ukraine – even 25–30 years ago.
Deciding to leave the Foreign Office after this spell in a rapidly changing 1990s Europe, Caroline opted for more stability in her career and spent the following decade and a half first in broadcasting at the BBC and then in corporate governance, before becoming a district and county councillor in South Oxfordshire.
Finishing her time in local politics as the Chairman of the South Oxfordshire Conservative Association between 2019 and 2022, Caroline then moved into Number 10 Downing Street as a Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Broadcasting and Communications.
As war returned to Europe in February 2022 with Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine – a country Caroline knew well from her posting in Warsaw – her motivation to take the role was inspired in part due to the Government’s leadership role during those early days of the war.
It was then announced in February this year that Caroline had been selected as the Conservative Party Parliamentary candidate for her home constituency, Henley and Thame. She then swiftly began to reorganise in anticipation of this year’s General Election.
Highlighting the peace dividend of the 1990s in which she was posted in Europe, Caroline spoke of, and rightly recognised, the fact that defence and security is a far more important feature of the domestic political landscape now than it has been in the past. With ambitions to use her extensive experience in international affairs, communications, and grassroots campaigns – if successful come the 4th of July – Caroline has aspirations to promote Britain’s place in the world, alongside more constituency-focused priorities.
Promoting Britain’s Global Standing: Caroline’s Vision
Speaking to Curia, Caroline discussed these domestic priorities for her constituents in Henley and Thame in impassioned detail, telling our team, “Looking after the most vulnerable people (in society) has to be the point of it all, doesn’t it?” She highlighted her previous work as a councillor in the very same constituency she hopes to represent in only five weeks’ time, including prioritising social housing and welfare for people who really need help.
Above all of Caroline’s many impressive qualities that are required of a parliamentarian, she possesses great compassion. This side to her was explored during the live audience Q&A, when she spoke passionately about her desire – if successful – to chair a private members bill to help improve road safety, after a tragic fatal road accident involving her sister.
As this year’s General Election is expected to return an enormous new crop of parliamentarians to Westminster, it was this quiet compassionate side to Caroline – clearly evidenced by her many years as a local councillor working to help the most vulnerable in her society to attain social welfare and housing and coupled with her extensive international experience – that really set her out as an outstanding example of the future of British politics.
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