Join us for a conversation with Lord Rose, one of Britain’s best-known retail leaders, about the connections between food security, farming and supermarket power. Drawing on a career spanning some of the country’s biggest retailers, Lord Rose will bring a rare inside perspective to the decisions that shape what reaches our shelves, how it is sourced, and the pressures facing the people who produce it.

Lord Rose joined Marks & Spencer as a management trainee in 1972, later returning as Chief Executive in 2004 and going on to become Executive Chairman. His career has also included leading Argos, Booker and Arcadia, chairing Ocado, and serving as Chairman of Asda. He was knighted in 2008 for services to retail and corporate social responsibility, and entered the House of Lords as a life peer in 2014.

The discussion will explore how secure and resilient our food supply really is; the pressures on British farmers; and the influence supermarkets have over prices, sourcing and the future of farming. It will also ask what a fair and sustainable relationship between retailers, producers and shoppers might look like and how we balance affordability today with the long-term health of British food production.

With decades of experience at the centre of the retail industry, Lord Rose offers a distinctive vantage point on these questions.