David Owen

David Owen was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth for 26 years from 1966-92. Under Labour Governments, he served as Navy Minister, Health Minister and Foreign Secretary. He was co-founder of the Social Democratic Party and its Leader from 1983-87 and 1988-90. He was created a Life Baron – Lord Owen of the City of Plymouth – in 1992 and sits as an independent Crossbencher in the House of Lords. From 1992-95 Lord Owen served as EU peace negotiator in the former Yugoslavia working alongside the UN appointed peace negotiator, Cyrus Vance. Together they co-authored the Vance-Owen Peace Plan. David Owen was educated as a physician at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and St Thomas’s Hospital, London where he was a Neurological and Psychiatric Registrar from 1964 to 1966 and Research Fellow in the Medical Unit from 1966 to 1968. Lord Owen concentrates his main efforts on speaking on international affairs and focussing on his business interests. He is currently Chairman of Europe Steel, non-executive Director of Hyperdynamics Corporation and consultant to Epion Holdings. He served as non-executive Director of the US healthcare company, Abbott Laboratories from 1996-2011.