A notice far in advance, this one! But do make a note in your diary if you are interested. On the evening of Monday 20th May 2024 at ‘Tamarind Spice’ in West Ewell we are inviting people to a curry evening for men and women with a fascinating guest speaker. The Revd Jonathan Aitken has had one of the most high-profile and colourful careers in British public life. His career has spanned the worlds of books, newspapers, television, business, politics, Parliament, prison, theology, charitable service, prison reform and offender rehabilitation. Jonathan was a senior reporter and feature writer for the London Evening Standard serving as a war correspondent in Vietnam, Biafra and The Middle East. After journalism he went into business and became chairman of a merchant bank in the City of London. In politics, as well as serving for many years as an MP, he was then appointed Minister of State for Defence in 1992 and joined the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1994. His political career ended when he told a lie on oath in a libel action. Subsequently he pleaded guilty to charges of perjury and served a prison sentence in 1999 after which he came to a life-transforming experience of faith. Since then he been a writer of award-winning biographies (e.g. of Richard Nixon and Margaret Thatcher) a lecturer and broadcaster and co-founded the charity ‘Chance to Change’ which promotes the care, resettlement and rehabilitation of ex-offenders. In 2018 he was ordained and is now a priest and part time prison chaplain at HMP Pentonville. For Jonathan’s full bio – please see https://www.jonathanaitken.org/ooks
