Speaker details

Biography

Alex Carlile was born in Wales in 1948. After education at Epsom College, he graduated LLB AKC at King’s College London. Lord Carlile was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn (where he is now a bencher) in 1970 and became a Q.C. in 1984. He sat as a Recorder of the Crown Court, a Deputy High Court Judge, and Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Between 2001-2011, he was the UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. He was the Independent Reviewer of the Government’s new PREVENT policy and the Independent Reviewer of National Security Policy in Northern Ireland. From 1983-1997 he was the Liberal (then Liberal Democrat) MP for Montgomeryshire in Mid Wales. He was Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 1992-7. He is now a Crossbench peer. He was appointed a Life Peer in 1999 and was awarded the CBE in 2012 for services to national security. Lord Carlile is involved in several charities and related activities. He is President of the Royal Medical Foundation of Epsom College, and a member of the Commission on the Integration of Refugees. He was until 2022 the Chairman of the Lloyd’s of London Enforcement Board. Lord Carlile was appointed Chair of the House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee in January 2025. Before this, he was a member of the House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and, as an MP, served on a wide range of parliamentary committees. Lord Carlile is a Trustee of The Security Institute, a Fellow of King’s College London, and a Fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust. He holds Honorary Doctorates of Laws in universities in Manchester, Wales, Chester, and Hungary