Nancy Pelosi, the 52nd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will speak at the Cambridge Union on Thursday 16th September 2021. The event, hosted in the Union’s historic debating chamber, will set in motion the Cambridge Union’s events program for the 2021/2022 year. The full Michaelmas term card has not yet been released.

The event will welcome all members of the Cambridge Union, offering both in-person viewing as well as access through a livestream. Given that the event falls outside of the Cambridge academic term, members will be given the opportunity to reserve a spot in advance.

Speaker Pelosi is the most senior sitting American politician to visit the Cambridge Union in its 206 years of existence. Having served as the top leader of the House Democratic Caucus continuously since 2003, Pelosi became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and served from 2007 until 2011. After her successful re-election to the Speakership in 2019, Pelosi was involved in the impeachment trials against former President Donald Trump.

Newly elected President of the Cambridge Union Society, Keir Bradwell, remarked: “it is an honour to welcome Pelosi to Cambridge. What she believes matters: she is one of the most influential people in American politics and has been for almost two decades.” During her visit, Speaker Pelosi will be made an honorary member of the Society.

The Union, like many other Cambridge societies, was forced to postpone and cancel in-person speaking events throughout 2020 and the first few months of 2021. Bradwell acknowledged that “Speaker Pelosi represents the first international speaker we have hosted since the pandemic began in Lent 2020.”

Additionally, the Union President commented that Pelosi’s visit signifies the “first time we will be able to run our chamber at maximum capacity.”