Sir Julian Brazier

Sir Julian Brazier is a former MP and government minister. A scholar in maths and philosophy at BNC, Oxford, he worked in the City and in management consulting, co-authoring a major study comparing defence procurement in six NATO nations and Sweden. He served for 13 years as an officer in the TA, including five with Special Forces.

Entering Parliament in 1987, he become the PPS to Gillian Shephard in 1990 in the Treasury and then Department of Employment. He stepped down in 1993 over defence cuts and co-authored a call for a more considered approach. In 1986, he led the opposition to the sale of the MoD housing estate, a campaign which failed to stop the sale but saw the leases extended, from the 25 years announced, to 200 years and the proposed site exchange mechanism abandoned.

He served two Parliaments on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee (1997-2001) and (2010-14), with nine years as a shadow minister in between – including five as spokesman for aviation and shipping. In 2010/11, he was vice chair of the Future Reserves 2020 Commission, and then, 2014-16, MoD Minister for Reserves. He served four years as Honorary Colonel of a specialist Army Reserve unit.

The author of a range of papers on defence published by RUSI, the CSJ, the CPS and others, he has been privileged to address RMCS Shrivenham, CHACR and RMA Sandhurst, twelve American universities, the Australian Defence College, and Land Warfare Centre.

He is chairman of a security company, Pathway Risk Management, is a Distinguished Fellow of RUSI, serves on the Council of the Air League, the board of South East Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association and is a patron of the Ukraine Freedom Company, a not-for-profit organisation delivering vehicles and supplies to Ukraine.

For more information, access Brazier on Defence.