About
Join us for a private breakfast with the Rt Hon Sir Ed Davey MP, leader of the Liberal Democrats. He will be speaking about his life story, his motivations and Liberal Democrat policy priorities, in conversation with Dinesh Dhamija.
With 72 seats in the last General Election, the Lib Dems are the third-largest party in the House of Commons, having surged by 64 seats under Ed’s leadership, behind the Conservatives’ 121 seats.
About Sir Ed Davey
Ed is a lifelong campaigner for strong public services, a fair economy and a thriving natural environment. He describes the core values that drive him as compassion, community and fairness.
He has been a carer for most of his life: first for his mum, who died of cancer when he was a teenager; then for his Nanna in her final years; and now he and his wife Emily care for their severely disabled son John. He was first elected to Parliament by the people of Kingston and Surbiton in 1997. Since then he has helped tens of thousands of people across the constituency, winning investment in Kingston’s A&E and maternity unit, getting new health centres built, and securing a new service to support family carers.
When he became Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed vowed to be the voice of carers. He draws on his long experience of caring to stand up for other family carers and fight for investment in the NHS and social care.
Ed has led the Liberal Democrats to a record number of MPs at the 2024 General election, following on from four historic by-election victories over the Conservatives in the 2019-2024 Parliament in Chesham and Amersham, North Shropshire, Tiverton and Honiton and Somerton and Frome.
About our host Dinesh Dhamija
The discussion will be led by Dinesh Dhamija, is the founder, former Chairman and CEO of Ebookers.com, one of Europe’s most successful internet travel agencies. He is also the founder of the Copper Beech Group, a company which manages investments in sustainable education, ecotourism and real estate.
He is currently promoting two large-scale solar farms near Bucharest, Romania, with capacities of 270 MW and 350 MW, spanning approximately 1,200 acres, in his capacity as CEO of Rusero Solar. He was the Chair of the India Caucus at the European Parliament when he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Liberal Democrats, and published The Indian Century last year. Based in 12 countries, Ebookers became one of the largest travel agencies in Europe. Sales went from $23 million in 1999 to $1 billion in 2004. Dinesh also had a 1,000-person business process at this point, with an outsourcing operation in India. Dinesh sold Ebookers in 2005 for $471m from an initial investment of $5million.
Dinesh is also a committed philanthropist. He is a donor and trustee of several charities, including TiE, a global network supporting entrepreneurship, where he previously served as Vice Chair of the Global Board based in Silicon Valley. He is also the founder of Shiksha, which provides education to over 1,200 disadvantaged children in India, and Chikitsa, which offers free medical care to more than 120,000 people through 15 clinics.
Registration details
When: Wed 1 October | 7:30am arrivals, 8 – 9:30am breakfast and speeches, 9:30am close
Where: The East India Club, 16 St. James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4LH
Tickets: £0 for Corporate Members. £35 for Members. £45 for Non – Members. Please note this event is highly likely to be oversubscribed so a strong preference will be given to Members to attend. Book Here