Rory Stewart MBE earns honorary university doctorate

On Thursday, November 23 the 50-year-old was presented with his honorary doctorate by Professor Julie Mennell, vice chancellor of the University of Cumbria.

In his acceptance speech, the co-host of the popular The Rest is Politics podcast urged Cumbria to embrace diversity, on a day where students from more than 50 countries were graduating. 

Mr Stewart has worn many hats in his life as a politician, soldier and academic but seemed most proud of his mortarboard on Thursday morning. 

He said: "I feel very honoured and humbled. Cumbria is a very special place and Cumbrians are special people. It's such an amazing culture because I think Cumbria is an amazing combination of understated, quietly good-humoured, dignified people. In some ways, it's like the backbone of Britain. To receive an award from a place that I admire so much is really moving."

Rory Stewart is presented with his honorary doctorate by Vice Chancellor Professor Julie Mennell (Image: University of Cumbria/Becker Photo Carlisle)As the University welcomed students from across the world, the former Tory leader candidate encouraged the border city to be a frontier, with the University at its heart. 

He said: "We had students graduating today from almost 100 countries, it's incredible. It's a real sign that Cumbria, which can feel rural and perhaps less diverse than other parts of the UK, is bringing in talent from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

"It was really extraordinary. You could see all that talent and the joy from all of them being exposed to Cumbria. The joy of being in Carlisle Cathedral, the joy of bringing their families with them. Now people from Cameroon, or Nigeria, or Bangalore, have that link to Cumbria."

However, he also recognised that there needs to be more job opportunities to keep young professionals in Cumbria, rather than losing them to the likes of Manchester or London. 

He said: "It's a difficult challenge because Cumbria mustn't lose what makes Cumbria great. There is no point in Cumbria pretending it can be London or Manchester, it's not. It's a very special, beautiful part of the country. It would be a mistake to chase growth in a way that wrecked the landscape because our landscape is the centre of our outdoor education, our tourism industry and what many of us love about the area.

"So we need to find job opportunities and business opportunities for Cumbrians. We need to also accept that many young Cumbrians may go away for a few years and come back, and we shouldn't be upset about that."

Rory Stewart on stage at Carlisle Cathedral (Image: University of Cumbria/Becker Photo Carlisle)

Mr Stewart was also vocal in his support for the University's ambitious redevelopment plans, which aim to open a new campus in Carlisle by 2026. 

He said: "I think it's tremendous. It's a really good way of thinking about how Cumbria can stay relevant to young people and how it can create a niche for itself in the world. I don't think we're going into a world where the answer is to make Cumbria into some huge megacity.

"I think the answer is things like education, science and technology, research, innovation, outdoor learning and health. All these things that the University of Cumbria is specialising in. It's a very smart way to build an economy around knowledge and services. It's exactly the kind of development that Cumbria should be doing."

Finally, he offered some advice to those graduating from the University this week. 

He said: "The two most important things in work are loyalty and hard work. We can get carried away with how smart we are or the qualifications we have but in the end, what is rare in the world is to have people that you can rely on. If you can demonstrate in professional life loyalty and hard work, nothing can hold you back."