In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with former diplomat, traveller, author and politician, Rory Stewart, a man whose life so far has been both conventional and highly unconventional.

Born in Hong Kong, Rory spent his childhood in Malaysia and Scotland, and passed through a number of establishment institutions including Eton, Balliol, the Black Watch, the Foreign Office and, according to speculation, the Secret Intelligence Service. He was a summer tutor to Princes William and Harry. And yet he has also repeatedly gone off-piste and done interesting and sometimes remarkable things, including walking 10,000km across Asia, and running as an independent candidate for mayor of London.

Rory and Michael speak about Rory's prescient response to the Covid-19 crisis, the disappointment of political life, the hollowing of the centre ground in British politics, and the Black Lives Matter movement.